PROGRESS: Sioux City Symphony courts a younger audience

"I think we've brought a younger audience to the symphony this year than we have in years past, which was a goal of ours," Morgan said.

No longer reserved for patrons wearing top hats and monocles, evening gowns and fur capes, Morgan enthusiastically says the symphony has become more democratized of late. 

"You can wear whatever you want," he said. "It's not a black tie-optional place. You know, you can come in jeans and a T-shirt, and we don't judge you. I've had so many people this year come up to me and say, 'I've never come to the symphony before, but now that I know I can wear jeans, I come a lot more often.'" 

Morgan said the symphony reached out to a 30-something audience through marketing and re-thinking some of the programming it offers. 

"We've done some things where we've made it an event to come here, whether it's parties beforehand or afterwards at Jackson Street Brewing Company," he said. "We had the Haunted Orpheum, you know, for our Halloween show. The gala after 'West Side Story.' There's a big party, the Irish Fest before (Cherish the Ladies)." 

These extra add-ons to symphony performances make it more of an appealing experience for audience members in their 30s and 40s, Morgan said, and they make the night more complete and offer an opportunity for socializing with fellow symphony fans. 

And Morgan has found that, in general, improved outreach and communication with the community has been beneficial. 

"Us getting the word out that you can get a ticket for $15 was a massive thing, you know -- where people thought they were $90," he said. "This year we've really pushed the fact that you can get a ticket for fifteen bucks. I think that got a lot of people here."

This season, the symphony included some shows with broad appeal, including "Fantasia" and "West Side Story." And next season, there's something even bigger in the works -- a showing of the film "Star Wars" set to live music performed by the symphony. 

"Nobody's seen 'Star Wars' like this before -- nobody," Morgan said. And the "Star Wars" franchise in general has an extremely large fan base -- as he puts it: "Ages 5 to 80 like 'Star Wars.'" 

Morgan said the biggest challenge is getting people to come to a symphony show if they've never been before. After that hurdle's been cleared, the symphony might have a new, regular patron. 

"I'm pretty confident, if they sit in those red seats and they give us a chance, they're going to come back, because our orchestra is that good," he said.