Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide novel insights into arts consumption behaviour and patterns of communication displayed by arts consumers using Peterson’s theoretical framework, and to identify differences in the use of communication channels across arts segments. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted an a priori market segmentation study, with two variables serving as segmentation criteria, namely, the frequency of and the variety of arts events attended. The authors tested for differences in communication patterns. Findings – Four segments were created: low-frequency univores, low-frequency multivores, high-frequency multivores and high-frequency omnivores. They differ in their communication patterns and online behaviours, including their online activities before and after attending arts events. Printed materials and e-mail newsletters were the most effective communication channel for raising awareness of all arts consumers. Research limitations/implications – Understanding these communication patterns can help arts marketers to increase the attendance of low-frequency segments and broaden the variety of arts events attended by the univore and multivore segments. The generalisability of the findings is limited as the survey was conducted among online Australian arts consumers only. Originality/value – The paper adds the dimension of arts consumption frequency to the taxonomy of omnivores and univores proposed by Peterson, which is based on the variety of consumed arts only. The paper contributes to communication and arts marketing literature by identifying key differences in communication patterns across segments of arts consumers and the most promising communication channels to engage them.

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In any consideration of theatre in the French Caribbean, the name Césaire is bound to be mentioned. Aimé Césaire's La Tragédie du roi Christophe (1963) is the most widely- known play in French by a black dramatist, and is now even in the repertoire of the Comédie-Française, and his plays figure widely in checklists of ‘African’ theatre. A revealing contrast can be made between the epic dramas of Aimé Césaire, written for an international audience, especially the newly independent black nations of the 1960s, and the work of his daughter, Ina. He tackles from the standpoint of Négritude major themes of historical drama: the nature of sovereignty, the forging of nationhood; he storms the heights of tragic poetry in French. She is attentive, not to the lonely hero constructing his Haitian Citadel of rock, but to the Creole voices of the grassroots. She brings to the stage the lives of ordinary women, the lore and legends that sustained the slaves and their descendants. Her achievement should of course be assessed away from her father's shadow, but the ‘divergent orientation of the two generations’ also suggests the greater confidence today in the role of Creole language and oral literature, and in a serious theatre within Martinique.

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