The Audience Business
| Organisation |
The Audience Business |
| Project |
An action research project to develop audiences for contemporary work across the artforms in Edinburgh |
| Artform |
Music, theatre, dance, visual arts and film |
| Location |
Edinburgh |
| Application type |
Full project |
| Date |
2001 - 2003 |
| Status |
Completed |
| Grant |
£8,500 |
| Total project cost |
£14,550 |
Established in Edinburgh in 1998, The Audience Business is an audience development company whose aim is to develop audiences for the arts for the mutual benefit and enjoyment of all local communities, visitors and arts organisations. The agency is supported by the local authority and over 30 key arts organisations including most festivals, touring companies, theatres, galleries and museums. Its main areas of activity include audience development campaigns, market research and marketing services.
An action research project exploring the potential for increasing audiences for contemporary work across the artforms, including music, theatre, dance, visual arts and film, and piloting ways of developing audiences through increased frequency of attendance and cross-over.
- To gain a fuller understanding of the target audience through desk research, interviews with practitioners and focus groups. The findings will inform the next stage of the project – a pilot scheme aimed at increasing attendance and encouraging cross-over. A minimum of 500 people to be recruited onto this.
- To encourage 50% of the people involved in the project to try at least one form of contemporary art that they have not previously attended
- To increase the overall attendance at contemporary arts events by increasing the average frequency of attendance between the start and end of the project
- To increase the cross-over between venues
- To explore new ways of promoting contemporary art
- To monitor and evaluate the project fully
To date, the desk research has been undertaken and two focus groups, with people who have shown some interest in contemporary work by attending just one type of contemporary art event, have been held.
The focus groups provided little evidence to inform the next stage of the project – a pilot scheme to increase attendance at contemporary arts events and encourage cross-over. Instead the project has concentrated on the findings of the desk research, in particular, a report on focus groups held in England. A meeting with participating organisations to discuss the results of the research and identify current priorities has taken place. It has been agreed that the next steps in the project should be:
- Create a database of current and potential attenders to contemporary arts events
- Analyse the results of the database recruitment
- Plan the communications campaign
- Design and distribute the first communication bulletin
- Design and distribute further bulletins
- Monitor and evaluate
A recently appointed marketing manager is to take the project forward.
Ros Lamont
Chief Executive
The Audience Business
50 George Street
Edinburgh
EH2 2LE
Tel: 0131 243 1430
Fax: 0131 248 1434
E-mail: Ros@tab.org.uk
Web: www.tab.org.uk
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