Dundee City Council, Arts & Heritage Department 2003
| Organisation |
Dundee City Council Arts & Heritage Department |
| Project |
To create a cultural website providing information and ticketing for all arts, heritage and leisure organisations in Dundee |
| Artform |
Multi artform |
| Location |
Dundee |
| Application type |
Full project |
| Date |
2001/03 |
| Status |
Completed |
| Grant |
£51,000 |
| Total project cost |
£226,000 (projected figure) |
The purpose of Dundee City Council Arts & Heritage Department is to create quality experiences in both arts and heritage for the local community and visitors to Dundee. The Department operates a range of galleries, museums and halls as well as leading on strategic projects with arts organisations in the city and supplying grant aid to various arts organisations including Dundee Rep Theatre, Dundee Contemporary Arts and Dundee Industrial Heritage.
Dundee City Council is committed to exploiting the web potential for centralised information and booking services across the arts, heritage and leisure sector in Dundee. The Arts & Heritage Department aim to create a content-based cultural website linking all arts, heritage and leisure websites. The initiative involves a collaboration between individual organisations, the public and private sector, the arts and other leisure providers, and is the first time that a portal of this scale and ambition has been developed by a local authority in Scotland.
To increase attendance, create new audiences and promote community participation by:
- Establishing a content-based cultural website
- Introducing computerised ticketing systems
- Marketing the new site effectively
- Collecting marketing information for local venues
- Establishing evaluation procedures for web usage
- Ensuring practical measures of effectiveness
The Dundee.com site is content based with detailed information on cultural activity in Dundee, such as forthcoming events and linking to websites for the venues. A computerized ticketing system has been introduced enabling site visitors to purchase tickets on-line and arrange for them to be posted or collected from the venue. Currently the system is being operated from one venue, the Caird Hall, but once final adjustments have been made by the Council, it will be extended to other venues.
The Dundee.com website was independently evaluated by Socitm. Using the Better Connected principles, they reviewed the content of the website. By undertaking Mystery Shopping exercises, they tested the box office on-line ticketing system and the quality and time of responses. They also interviewed key Dundee City Council personnel. Their report concluded that:
- The partners in Dundee.com have succeeded in establishing an innovative content-based cultural website that stands separately and complements the city council website.
- They have delivered a successful online ticketing system that has helped attract an increase in ticket sales for ‘high end’ cultural events in particular, and to people living outside Dundee within a 60 minute drive of the city. The online ticketing system was deemed to be excellent by the mystery customer exercise.
- The project has well exceeded its original estimation of 600 visits per month. In the eleven months since the launch, the site has had an average of 12,720 visitors per month.
- The project management and resource allocation throughout the process has been exemplary.
- Marketing to date has been fairly low key but is proving effective.
- Some of the aims of the project have not been fully met yet, but plans to achieve them are under way. In particular, the report highlights the need for the partners to develop ways of using the data captured via the box office for cross-marketing purposes if the remaining aims of the project are to be achieved.
Dundee City Council Arts & Heritage
Dundee Contemporary Arts
152 Nethergate
Dundee
DD1 4DY
Tel: 01382 432321
Fax: 01382 432252
Web: www.dundee.com |