Photo Credit: Baron Spafford

 2024 was a year of celebrating The Granada’s storied 100-year history while paving the way for another hundred.

The theater is a busy venue, home to eight resident companies and national producers of a wide range of performing arts. And a significant change this year was the addition of The Granada producing 20 special Centennial performances encompassing music, movies, and interactive events.

 

New Theater Fans

The diversity of programming drew in the Santa Barbara community, opening up the historic theater’s charms to a new audience.

“For our Centennial events, 36 percent of the tickets we sold were to first-time visitors to The Granada,” said Ashley Dawson, Director of Marketing & Database Services at The Granada.

The most popular show for new theatergoers was the screening of Holes, which drew children, teens, and Millennials. The Granada’s Festival weekend and the showing of The Polar Express were also popular with first-time buyers.

“These new visitors went for our family-friendly events,” said Dawson. “One of our major goals with this year’s programming was to reach a wider, younger audience, and this proves that we did that.”

Several Centennial events had special ticket prices that helped drive sales from new buyers.

“Offering a wider range of ticket prices helped us attract first-time guests, allowing them to experience the magic of The Granada,” Dawson said. “We hope to continue special promotions next year to get these new visitors to return to other shows.”

 

Going Beyond the Expected

This year, The Granada got to show the community that while it is a world-class venue for classical music, ballet, opera, and Broadway, it also stages comedy shows, movies, and local bands.

In fact, the most well-attended performance of the year was The Centennial All-Star House Band.

“The band consisted of all Santa Barbara locals and legends,” said Dawson. “We set up a dance floor, and the audience danced all night. It was very engaging and inviting.”

 

Getting the Word Out

Photo Credit: Baron Spafford

Celebrating 100 years is something to shout from the rooftops, so before the year even began, the Granada team knew they had to change their strategy to get the word out about this momentous year-long event and all the programming that would be available for the entire Santa Barbara community.

“We needed to engage with the younger generation, and social was the best way to do that,” said Dawson.

Working with a creative agency, The Granada developed and implemented a new social media strategy. The results were impressive: The theater’s reach on Instagram skyrocketed by an incredible 838 percent, and on Facebook, its page saw a 50.7 percent increase in reach.

“There’s so much history here, and social media gave us a platform to share that,” explained Dawson. “People kept coming back to learn more. Weaving in that storytelling along with our performance announcements helped build our engagement.”

And when other organizations learned what The Granada was doing through social media, they wanted to get involved.

“We had several local organizations and businesses, as well as nationally recognized artists, reach out to collaborate,” said Dawson. “Using social media has really opened up opportunities for us.”

The Granada is still solidifying its programming for 2025, but according to Dawson, the community can expect the diverse line-up of shows to continue with a mix of stage, film, and music, along with more Granada Presents shows.