‘It was the revolutionary fundraising model that swept Barack Obama to power – and it could help arts bodies in Britain stay in business.’ Are you constantly looking for the right funding route but coming up empty handed? Are you looking for alternative routes to fund your project that doesn’t rely on public bodies? Would you like [...]

September has been so jam packed with events, I felt it best to chart them from the beginning and work my way through! From Skye to London via Inverness, I have seen work that has ranged from community knitting to dresses made from 20,000 pins, from exquisitely crafted jewellery to automata made from scrap. Starting off [...]

What is it that stops, prevents, or puts people off attending or participating in the arts? One of the biggest hurdles we face when considering marketing or audience development is how to attract those who have not engaged before or have become a lapsed attender. Of course there are numerous reasons why individuals may not be [...]

Some of the more tricker aspects of Audience Research is thinking about the types of questions that you might like to ask your audience, or even knowing what questions to ask in the first place. Tomorrow I am off to Melrose in the Scottish Borders to talk to a network of venues and promoters in the [...]

 Typically in the marketing and audience development field we collect data about audiences based on attendance, sales and the demographics of our audiences. Sometimes there will be questions added into surveys and box office systems about the quality of the performance, whether the audience member enjoyed the performance, and possibly about how they heard about [...]

The Family Friendly Iniative – Making Your Arts [...]

“Culture and creativity are important drivers for personal development, social cohesion and economic growth.” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Back in 2007 the Education and Culture Directorate-General of the European Commission commissioned the TNS Opinion & Social to carry out a survey of public opinion on culture and its value within Europe. 26,755 people [...]

Carrying on with the theme of segmentation, at last week’s Arts Marketing Association Conference (you can still watch all the keynote speeches here … AMA Conference 2011 ), I attended a breakout session presented by Andrew McIntyre, of Morris Hargreaves McIntyre . If you haven’t come across this particular consultancy agency then it’s about time you were introduced. Morris Hargreaves [...]

Knowing who your audience is, and who it could be, is not only essential when marketing, promoting or selling, but it also makes it much easier for you when thinking about potential new markets or opportunities. One particular group which presents us a regular opportunity is Scotland’s tourism market. We all feel the surge as tourists [...]

Thank you for visiting the Audience Development Blog – this is one of the most popular posts – and I was wondering if I might be able to ask you for a little bit of your time before reading about Family Friendly Policies for Arts Organisations. I am keen to find out if this tip sheet [...]

Customer care is what makes your customers want to come back. A quality product can only do so much, in such a competitive environment the quality of customer care can be the deciding factor in determining success or failure. You should really review your Customer Care strategy regularly . In order to do this you first need a [...]

The real meaning behind the Jargon… Audience Development Knowing who your audience is, how you can engage with them, how to retain and develop your audience, building their commitment to, knowledge or and appreciation of your specific arts or cultural event, discipline, or organization. Audience Development does include, but is broader then, marketing, and encompasses programming, [...]