What is audience development?

Relationships of course!

Existing Audiences and Existing Activities

Loyalty / retentionMarket penetration

New Audiences and Existing Activities

Strategies for access

Existing Audiences and New Activities

Cross-overEducation / participation

New Activities and New Audiences

Strategies for inclusion

Who is missing out on what we do already

Who are we missing out on because of what we do and what we don’t do?

In a proverbial nutshell …

Practical reasons

Cost

Availability of transport and distance

Lack of interest amongst family and friends

Lack of education in the arts

Not for me

Physical and Social

Barriers to attendance

Underlying Reasons

Class distinction “for the wealthy”

Inferiority and fear of not understanding

Displacement and fear of being out of their group or class

Effort – more like work than leisure

Risk

Beliefs and Attitudes

Barriers to attendance

Participation in the arts, at any level, involves risk: money

time emotional confidence

social confidence intellectual confidence

lack of control

Forecasts (The Henley Centre) suggest that the level of this risk is likely to grow in the future

It is widely agreed that risk is often a necessary component of art and creativity - the need therefore is to help people take the risk

and make them feel safe

Managing risk

The need for varying entry levels into and transitional guides in arts:

Sampling (‘The Best of…..’) Increased relevance of content

Streamlined options Edited choice (eg Classic FM)

Flexibility Advice

Mediation ‘Cultural mentors’

Brand

Building cultural self-confidence

Developing awareness of choice

Developing interest

Creating suitable points of entry

Increasing confidence through return visits

Sustaining the habit

Audience development is a process...

Planning Consultation

Clear, achievable objectives Implementation: consider

Product - “the whole night out” Price – not just the cost of a ticket

Place Promotion

People Process

EvaluationSource:Heather Maitland ‘A Guide to Audience Development’

… and a process for the organisation

Why does it all go wrong? Audience development as a Marketing function

Lack of differentiation Finance

The project cycle Lack of sustainability

Emphasis on quantity not quality

If it’s all so straightforward …

Audience Development as a Marketing function

Expectations for delivery placed at marketing level and no higher

Not taken on board across organisation

Not developed with organisational buy-in

Opportunities

Integration of education, programming, marketing and services

Development of core policy at Board and Chief Executive level

If it’s all so straightforward...

Lack of differentiation

Audience Development needs are not all the same

Each organisation has a different role to play

There isn’t a single model or blueprint

Opportunities

There are examples of good practice

Collaboration is key, but needs understanding of shared aspirations

If it’s all so straightforward...

Finance

Project funding can be seen as substitute for internal resourcing

Difficult for organisations to invest in activities which don’t reap

immediate results

Opportunities

Internal resources may have to be re-thought

There is a wider understanding now of the need to invest long-term

If it’s all so straightforward...

The Project Cycle

Activities often seen as the solution rather than a stage in the process

Unrealistic expectations - project “results” - sometimes led by the funding

opportunity rather than organisational need

Opportunities

Audience Development can be more than a first phase or “quick fix”

Find out what’s already been done and get the information

If it’s all so straightforward...

Lack of sustainability

Stranded new audiences and dashed expectations

Perhaps it is better not to intervene at all?

Opportunities

Follow through - build relationships after projects have ended

Involve the whole organisation in project legacy and development

If it’s all so straightforward...

Emphasis on quantity not quality

Climate of measurability puts undue emphasis on “how many?”

Easy to dismiss Audience Development as a failure and not invest

Opportunities

Engage with the audiences you want to develop, include them

Set long-term realistic targets in consultation

Investigate best practice

If it’s all so straightforward...

Keep Audience Development on the agenda for everyone

Lobby for internal and external resourcing

Look at your own budgets and resources

Set targets - but make them meaningful and realistic

Initiate collaboration

Don’t see it all as Marketing and/ or Education staff responsibility - it has to

be cross-organisational

It’s a matter of survival

What can we do about it?

Test Drive the Arts – Arts About Manchester

The Big Night Out – The Kelvin Ensemble

Source: Heather Maitland ‘A Guide to Audience Development’

Practical Examples

Overcoming barriers to first time attendance

Non-attenders in postcode sectors with high density of likely attenders

Targeted by recommendation, door to door drops and in-person visits

Offered free tickets at a variety of events as a catalyst for future

attendance

Test Drive the Arts

The Hallé Orchestra offered a mini-subscription: 3 concerts for £10

Next season those who took up deal are offered 50% off full price

subscription; then for the second season 25% off; then full price in the third

season

Those who did not take up the mini-subscription offer after the first year

are offered single ticket deals

Test Drive the Arts

1000 households received the Hallé Orchestra offer

560 took it up

60% of the Test Drive audience took up the mini-subscription offer

50% of these took up the three quarter price offer

60% of those took up the half-price offer

60% of these continued to subscribe at full price

Test Drive the Arts

Expanding and broadening audiences for a student orchestra

Targeting students and other young first time attenders

Following qualitative research on attitudes to classical music, the orchestra

devised a new marketing mix

The Big Night Out

Product – ticket price included concert, programme book and a post-

concert ceilidh (party and dance)

Price – kept low for target audience

Promotion – fresh, clear single message – The Big Night Out

Place – moved to a larger, grander venue

The Big Night Out

Attendance at the concert increased by 250%

60% of the audience were under 25

Project attracted attention of sponsors who have funded repeat

The Big Night Out

Questions

What is audience development?