Audiences Central Blog

Two-thirds of people agree with the government's stance on cutting arts funding and increasing reliance on private cash, a survey has suggested.

With a fifth of the 2,022 British adults questioned said visual arts should not be given any government funding.

The poll was commissioned by organisers of The Threadneedle visual arts prize.

This is taken from the BBC news website and as advocacy messages go, this is not a good one. Obviously with all surveys, the devil is in the methodology.
Who was surveyed, what context (if any was given)? Clearly the climate is dictating the negative public response. I mean when you are cutting disability allowance, schools and privatising healthcare, arts and culture are easy targets are they not?

As somebody who as run community and craft galleries that promote challenging and accessible work, the snipe at visual arts is nothing new to me. Why should we be investing taxpayers money on oversized Battenburg cakes? The problem is of course that this is a one dimensional view of arts and culture and says a great del about the perception of arts, particularly visual.

If the axeman cometh, after this story breaks, he may well have a smile on his face.

What are your views?

Link: www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11162816
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This year’s AMA’s conference was held at the Royal Armouries Museum and Saviles Hall, Leeds, from 20-22 July. Provocatively entitled ‘Pulling Power: The Social Marketing Revolution’ it explored how the social, interconnected world in which we live is opening up new opportunities and new ways of engaging with the public.

Keynote speaker Mark Earls, author of Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature kicked off the first day with an energising speech. He had us Mexican waving, jumping in pairs and generally marvelling at the power of the crowd. The results of Mark’s research indicate that we are intrinsically social beings and we live for shared experiences. Mark taught us that we can’t make people do things by telling them to – we need to use our resources to draw people in and convince others that we are newsworthy, essentially harnessing our own ‘pulling power’.

How do we pull in existing and potential audiences so ultimately they feel close to our organisations and advocate on our behalf? Shelley Bernstein of the Brooklyn Museum, USA, answered this question by speaking about the museum’s interaction on foursquare* and the way in which ‘Mayors’ and badge-holders are given special treatment, such as a visit behind the scenes to meet Brooklyn Museum staff. The community is involved at every stage, from discussions around changes of opening hours to visitor curated exhibitions at Brooklyn’s ‘Target First Saturdays’. They don’t worry too much about retaining control – they have opened up their photography policy – and their main focus is the visitor’s experience. If the visitor wants local restaurant tips on Foursquare, that’s what the museum seeks to provide.

Eleanor Barrett, ex-Director of Bradford Playhouse, spoke about how the Playhouse was transformed through an approach that targeted the people of Bradford directly. The Playhouse was unused and largely viewed as high-brow and ‘not for us’ so Eleanor’s engagement campaign targeted the people of Bradford directly with messages such as ‘We are you, you are us’ – handing the space back to the community. The regeneration project involved a physical transformation of the space – knocking down walls, ripping out carpets and working day and night to make the Playhouse relevant and up to date, as well as an engagement strategy targeting the local community. Eventually the people of Bradford were motivated to engage on Facebook, take part in parades, perform on stage, drink in the bars, and set up a group of ambassadors called the ‘Art Farmers’. They were the ‘owners’ of their brand new arts centre.

At Audiences Central, we are embarking on Arts Nation West Midlands in which we aim to test engagement approaches to target particular audience segments in the Black Country. We were inspired by the ideas presented at the AMA conference, particularly around how to create a buzz, kick-start interest through a ‘big reveal’, create social spaces and be newsworthy, encourage debate and give up control. Follow our progress on the project website www.artsnationwestmidlands.co.uk

*The latest social networking tool for letting your friends know where you are and finding out where they are. You are rewarded with points, prize "badges," and eventually, coupons, for going about your everyday business http://foursquare.com

What is the Culture Forum? This is a national (UK) initiative announced on June 10th that is spearheaded by A&B and the National Campaign for the Arts.

The Culture Forum seeks to establish a democratically elected consultative body capably of engaging in “big conversations on culture.”

There is no doubt the current administration prior to and after the election is advocating the use of private sponsorship and philanthropy to support artistic endeavour, and the Culture Forum seems to be a direct response to this.

This is not a bolt from the blue and many will remember the ‘debate’ hosted by A&B in Birmingham around the role of philanthropy a year or so ago.

The Forum seeks to elect representatives, numbering 20 drawn from a collection of 1600 organisations including Development Directors, fundraising professionals, CEOs and trustees to serve on this advisory forum.

They will advise the current government on the best approach to promoting philanthropy as the spectre of public sector cuts cast a shadow across the cultural ecology.

What are your thoughts? What does the future hold for philanthropy in this time of financial crisis? Answers and comments gladly received.

For further information go to: www.audiencescentral.co.uk/news/?id=828

Did you know that the cultural tourism market is worth over £4.5 billion in the UK? Or that it is responsible for over 100,000 jobs? Or that the UK is rated 4th out of 50 countries for its cultural offer?

Those were just some of the facts I picked up at an event about cultural tourism at the Tate Modern – Wish You Were Here – which was organised by Audiences London.

Laurence Bresh from Visit Britain presented some welcome information about how widespread the British appeal is as a holiday destination, particularly in terms of culture. Out of 50 countries included in the National Brands Index, Britain rates 4th for built heritage, 7th for cultural heritage and whilst in the UK, visiting a museum is ranked 4th on people’s list of things to do.

Even though few people tend to think of themselves as a ‘cultural tourist’, actually 57% of people agree that culture and heritage is a strong influence on their holiday destination. So good news for us working in the arts and cultural industry in Britain!

The challenge is, as Amanda Shepherd from Blue Sail explained, selling an arts or cultural ‘experience’ rather than merely a product. It’s about creating itineraries for tourists, extending your offer to include ‘add ons’ such as backstage tours, talks and debates, and generally allowing your audiences and visitors to get under the skin of your organisation.

Greenwich Marketing Group have recognised this trend and acted on it. Established in 2002, they are made up of local arts and cultural organisations producing combined marketing materials to promote Greenwich as an appealing destination for overnight visitors. They noticed that tourists tended to spend 3 or 4 hours looking around key attractions before rushing back to the City and missing some of Greenwich’s hidden treasures. So they decided to put together a holistic offer, encouraging overnight stay and incorporating some of the frequently missed venues into the programme. They regularly link up with non-arts partners such as hotels, restaurants, transport providers and shops to pull together a complete offer. The successes of this project, both in visitor figures to the venues and in terms of percentage of overnight stay and visitor spend, were enough to secure funding for the following 8 years and beyond.

Other interesting speakers were Visit London talking candidly about challenges to the cultural tourism industry as we approach London 2012, Time Out discussing their brand value and cultural tourism market share and The Royal Collection’s view of the groups market as invaluable source of off-peak visits and relatively low maintenance income stream.

At Audiences Central we are also turning our attention onto the tourism industry for our next Leadership debate on 17 November 2010. Are we making the most of our visitors to the West Midlands? Do we understand the agendas of our tourism counterparts, and how we can collaborate with them to make the most of this growing industry? Find out more and book your place here www.audiencescentral.co.uk/events/?id=303

Notes from the Audiences London event will be made available here www.audienceslondon.org/wishyouwerehere
Other useful websites:
www.visitbritain.com
www.visitlondon.com

Audiences Central is planning and shaping the second in its series of seminars targeted at cultural leaders across the West Midlands.

The first in our series was held in February 2010 and debated issues around partnership working between the cultural and retail sectors.

November’s Culture Clash event is a similar affair, exploring potential collaboration and assesses whether the tourism agenda (based on increasing visitors and the maximising economic spend from tourism) and the engagement agenda (which seeks to enable the widest sections of the community to access, attend and participate in culture) are in direct conflict.

The West Midlands has a rich and diverse cultural offer, do you think we make the most out of this in relation to attracting visitors?

Can a participatory festival really be measured in terms of visitor spend?

Are there ways in which the two sectors can support each other and share good practice?

Are the differences in the sectors merely down to jargon, priorities and working culture?

Leading lights from both the tourism and cultural sector remove the gloves and engage in some healthy sparring as we seek to encourage lively and stimulating discussion.

What are your views?

Will there be blood on the TIC floor?

Are the DMPs, ACE and the MLA* happy to take a daytrip together?

We want to hear your experiences and opinion (good and bad) on the subject so we can shape the event, so get in touch.

(* Jargon kindly supplied by the cultural and tourism sectors).