Audiences and Marketing

Insight Required by Gerri Morris and Andrew McIntyre
Arts organizations need to develop an understanding of the needs, attitudes, and motivations of existing and potential audiences. This study identifies seven distinguishing features of arts organizations that are geared up to engage with their audiences in an open, flexible, and progressive way.
Smart Data seminars in 2012-2013, prepared by Young Associates.PowerPoint slides from database workshops, presented by Young Associates in collaboration with Creative Trust, 2012-2013.
The Performing Arts Access Program Handbook – Part I
The Performing Arts Access Program Handbook – Part II
Two handbooks from Creative Trust and Picasso PRO for producers and presenters of Audio Described and American Sign Language interpreted performances. These practical toolkits, drawn from our Performing Arts Access Program, provide step by step guidance for anyone planning to open their programming to Deaf/hard of hearing or Blind/low vision attenders.
Engaging Adolescents
The Essential Guide for Community Arts Education Organizations by Donna Walker-Kuhne and National Guild for Community Arts Education Sponsored by the NAMM Foundation, February 2011
Audience Engagement Survey Final Report – Creative Trust, December 2010
The results of Creative Trust’s Audience Engagement Survey – a first-time, collaborative initiative by Toronto’s creative performing arts companies to hear directly from their audiences on what motivates them to attend and what helps them connect more deeply with the work they see on stage.
Audience Engagement Presentation – Alan Brown, December 2009
A close examination of the nature of audiences and audience engagement, including research showing engagement preferences before, during and after performance and extrapolation and interpretation of that information, as presented to Creative Trust Audiences Project participants.
Audience Engagement:  Constituent Briefing– Alan Brown, February 2009
A briefing on Emerging Practices in Arts Consumer Segmentation, and Peer-to-Peer Marketing In Practice, as presented to Creative Trust Audiences Project participants.
Audience Participation Presentation (part 1) – Kelly Hill, November 2008
A statistical overview of audience participation in Canada and Ontario, drawn from StatsCan and other sources.
Audience Participation Presentation (part 2) – Kelly Hill, November 2008
Cultural Engagement Index by Wolfbrown – commissioned by The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance
This is a research tool that tracks trends in consumer cultural engagement over time in the Greater Philadelphia region by surveying the general population, not just current arts attendees.
Engaging Audiences
Report on The Wallace Foundation Arts Grantee Conference, Philadelphia April 1-3, 2009
Building Arts Audiences Studies
A series of studies conducted by The Wallace Foundation exploring the audience-building efforts of four arts groups.
Arts Participation Studies
An array of research reports on various aspects of arts participation by National Endowment for the Arts.
Diversity in Canada – Department of Canadian Heritage, March 2006
This 2006 survey conducted for the Department of Canadian Heritage examines the arts attendance, involvement in the arts, and attitudes towards the arts of six target population groups in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
Navigating Difference: Cultural Diversity and Audience Development by Arts Council England
This British report, with contributions from 40 different people, highlights the case for greater diversity, the complexities of diversity, the current diversity of the U.K.’s cultural organizations, examples of how other sectors engage with diversity, and tips on how to achieve diversity.
Supporting Excellence in the Arts – From Measurement to Judgement
by Sir Brian McMaster
This report talks about how artistic excellence can encourage wider and deeper engagement with the arts by audiences.
Culture Track 2011 by LaPlaca Cohen
A research study of the attitudes and behaviors of cultural audiences, examining trends in attendance at visual and performing arts events and the motivators and barriers that affect participation.
Making Sense of Audience Engagement by Wolfbrown – commissioned by The San Francisco Foundation and Grants for the Arts
This report aims to make sense of rapidly developing array of programs and activities such as lectures, open rehearsals, docent tours and online forums referred to as “audience engagement.”
Getting In On the Act
A study commissioned by The James Irvine Foundation and conducted by WolfBrown in 2011 that presents a new model for understanding levels of arts engagement as well as case studies of participatory arts in practice.
The Arts Ripple Effect
A research initiative designed by ArtsWave to develop an inclusive
 community dialogue leading to broadly shared public responsibility 
for arts and culture in the Cincinnati region.
The Tangled Web: Social Media and the Arts – 2011
Theatre Bay Area commissioned this wide-ranging study looking at the social media habits of 207 diverse nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in order to understand how arts and cultural institutions were tackling the problem and opportunity of social media.
New Beans: Intrinsic Impact and the Value of the Arts – 2012
Theatre Bay Area commissioned WolfBrown to undertake a large-scale pilot study of audiences at 58 different productions mounted by 18 theatres in six U.S. cities. This book summarizes a great deal of thinking about intrinsic impact of the arts.
Sue Edworthy Arts Planning
An engaging arts blog with fresh perspective and frequent focus on marketing and audiences.
Building Creative Capital
“A focus on building creative capital is a powerful way to think about planning for, executing and measuring the impact of the arts and culture. This report examines how this framework has informed and energized arts and cultural education.”
Single Ticket Marketing Timeline – Tafelmusik
A sample document outlining a marketing program (with a timeline) for a marketing campaign aimed at single ticket buyers.
Australia Council for the Arts research blog – Audience Participation
This informative blog collects reports and publications on various topics, including new and classic reports on the topic of audience participation.
Audience Data UK
This British Arts Council site compiles UK audience data, surveys, reports and useful toolkits.
Audience 2.0 – National Endowment for the Arts
A comprehensive report released by the NEA’s Office of Research and Analysis explores the ways that technology and media drive arts participation in the U.S. A fascinating comparative piece to Creative Trust’s Audience Engagement Survey Report, and another excellent document available at National Endowment for the Arts.
Arts Engagement Exchange
The Arts Engagement Exchange aims to build arts audiences in Chicago by creating a learning network among Chicago arts and cultural organizations on topics related to audience engagement.
Cultivate – EM
Cultivate works collaboratively with the East Midlands cultural sector in the UK, fostering exemplary business practice, the development of management skills and the building of audiences. The website offers audience and sector research, useful links, and organizational case studies.
Best Practices: A Collection of Articles on Email Marketing – EmailLabs
Advice from the experts on techniques and tactics for successful email marketing.
Hannah Rudman Consulting
Hannah Rudman is a marketing executive and champion of digital technology in business; in her blog she frequently writes about how to be more interactive and engage audiences in a deeper way.
In and Out of the Dark – Lynne Conner
Subtitled “A Theory About Audience Behavior From Sophocles to Spoken Word,” this insightful paper describes the ways audience participation and our expectations of audiences have changed over time.
The Mission Paradox Blog
By Chicago-based arts marketer Adam Thurman; his posts address issues related to arts marketing and audience development in a concise and whimsical way.
National Arts Marketing Project – Americans for the Arts
The website of the National Arts Marketing Project provides information, tools, and practical ideas to design high-quality, cost-effective marketing programs, and strengthen arts organizations – by the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in America.
Project Audience
Project Audience, a new initiative with an Oversight Committee of leading arts leagues and alliances in the US, is a community of practice committed to building lasting audience connections through developing collaborative, affordable, sustainable technologies. “On-line events calendars and community arts portals, like those created and run by numerous arts councils, service organizations and other local partnerships, are widely utilized as a collaborative strategy for raising the visibility of a community’s arts & cultural community’s offerings and increasing participation.” Project Audience is envisioning the next generation of technology and practices for such audience development work.
WolfBrown Consulting
Stay on top of the research and studies of Alan Brown, of Creative Trust’s Engaging Audiences Project,  and his colleagues at WolfBrown, on topics including audience engagement, arts education and donor motivation; be sure to sign up for On Our Minds, their informative and thought-provoking newsletter.
Walker International Communications Group Donna Walker-Kuhne’s Walker International Communications Group concentrates on strategies to create access to the arts for multi-cultural communities; her groundbreaking book Invited to the Party should not be missed.
An Invitation to Test Drive the Arts – Iona McNaughton for Fuel4Arts, 2008
A case study of New Zealand’s Test Drive the Arts pilot program with insights from the Auckland Theatre Company, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Christchurch Symphony, and The Court Theatre about the project’s challenges and successes in bringing new audiences to their theatres.
A New Framework for Building Participation in the Arts
The comprehensive and influential RAND study of methods of building participation and engagement in the arts.
Cultivating Demand for the Arts, 2008
This report “describes what it means to cultivate demand for the arts and examines how well U.S. institutions are serving this function, discussing whether it is in the public interest to make such cultivation a higher priority than it has been in the past.”
The Next Generation of Artistic Leaders and Arts Audience Dialogue – D-Code, 2007
A final report from a nationwide process by public arts funders to engage young Canadians in a discussion about the state of the arts in Canada, paying close attention to key issues facing both audiences and artists.
Forget about selling and start making connections by Madeleine Hinchy, Australia
An interesting article about encouraging artists to cultivate and create authentic relationships with presenters rather than trying to aggressively sell their work.
Branding Strategies by Roan Group
A step by step guide for brand development and branding process.
Nonprofit Tech 2.0 Blog – Heather Mansfield
For those who want to stay way out on top of social media in the arts and nonprofit world, Heather Mansfield’s blog Nonprofit Tech 2.0 provides updates on cutting edge innovations, as well as useful examples and analysis of real life practice. Sign up for her e-newsletter to get information on everything from Online Fundraising to Mobile Social Networking Tools.
Diane Ragsdale keynote address “Surviving the culture change” Australia Council Arts Marketing Summit, July 2008
Ragsdale, who starts with the grounded theory that the arts have become marginal in our society and that we are not producing another generation of people who attend theater, music, dance, and other art forms, challenges us to adapt by creating a “new mental map” around our relationship to audiences. Her examples include organizations that are opening up their facilities in fascinating new ways.
Who’s Afraid of the Brave New World? What does the digital revolution mean for the future of classical theatre? Antoni Cimolino
On June 3, 2010 Stratford Festival General Director Antoni Cimolino was the keynote speaker at the annual conference of the College Association for Language and Literacy, held at George Brown College in Toronto.
Audience Revolution Resources, Theatre Communications Group
A full list of audience engagement literature prepared as background reading for Theatre Communications Group’s Audience (R)Evolution Learning Convening.
AUDIENCES, Canadian Theatre Review, CTR 140, FALL 2009
Edited by Barry Freeman, Karen Gilodo, Michelle MacArthur and Lydia Wilkinson…Audiences, a range of scholars and practitioners from across Canada consider significant points of exchange between theatre and its audience, such as site-specific theatre, new play development, theatre criticism, amateur theatre, and internet presence and communication. The contributors reflect on the possibilities and challenges of connecting to audiences in new ways. Off-line. Small cost to purchase.

Related posts:

  1. Arts Education
  2. Programs
  3. Fundraising
  4. Mentors
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