Case study
Combined Audience Information gathering project with arc and mima for ACE NE
The Arts Council North East wanted to deliver a project in Tyneside with two venues to address and explore the following:-
- To share best practice
- To explore Audience Knowledge
- To explore sustainable audience survey techniques - suitable for small and medium sized organisations
- To establish reasonable and achievable audience/visitor goals
- To model interdepartmental working
ACE North East approached ARC and MIMA to participate in a joint project to see what learning could be achieved by two culturally different venues - a visual arts organisation and an arts centre, one ticketed and one not. They recommended that Beth Aplin of Aplin Partnership would be a suitable consultant to devise and lead the project.
During the first meeting of all parties, agreement was made on the key objectives of the project and a timetabled work plan was established.
Under Beth’s guidance ARC and MIMA put together a working team for each venue that included a cross section of interdepartmental staff. In doing this, staff working in the teams brought a wide variety of perspectives on the organisations and views of their audience/visitors. Involving staff from all hierarchical levels ensured they became passionate and committed to the project.
Beth led a series of workshops with the working teams exploring what key ‘burning issues’ each organisation had - and most importantly - what they would do differently as a result of finding out the answers. A short list of carefully crafted questions was devised and to make the process more rigorous, it was agreed that the ARC working team would carry out the research on MIMA’s audience and visa versa. A detailed questionnaire was created to gather attenders and non attenders views on each venues ‘burning issues’. At this time as many internal staff as possible were asked to anticipate the expected answers, so that the true difference between current tacit knowledge and attenders answers could be quantified.
The resulting surveys provided some unexpected, surprising and inspiring answers. Positive conclusion resulting from the survey included:-
- A clear understanding of each venues geographic reach, which will impact future marketing activities
- Highlighted a requirement for clear directions and signage to the venues and also within the venues
- The range of activities available at the venue was not known by visitors
The overall result of the project provided a very positive team building affect. It allowed the two venues to form a close working bond which has been maintained. The project will lead to further research being carried out by each venue. Many of the answers elicited by the questionnaires and exploring internal assumptions have led to direct action and changes in promotional activities. For example, subsequent meetings with Transport and Road Planning departments in Middlesborough where clear evidence was provided about visitor experiences have ensured that clear signs were erected.
Nina Byrne of MIMA felt that the project would not have achieved such tangible results had it not been for the involvement of Beth Aplin of Aplin Partnership. Beth was able to assist in devising the brief, was forthcoming with many of the ideas, became a driving force to ensure the momentum of the project was maintained, established the deadlines and brought previous venues experience to the project.
Nina also found that working with ARC was therapeutic and provided her with an understanding of a different venue’s strategy, issues that the shared or differed in and provided a level of synergy.
