Arts Council WM Presentation, November 09

National Engagement Campaign WM Regional Engagement Campaign 19 November 2009 Julie Eaglen Audience Development Officer Arts Council West Midlands Skin, ACE Dance and Music Photo: Brian Slater Hello, welcome to today’s event which we hope will signify the beginning of a change for arts audiences and the way we work with them in the West Midlands.

Outline for this session 1. The campaign: an explanation 2. How to get involved 3. Help us shape the campaign Ai Wei Wei Web of light, commissioned for Liverpool Biennial ’08 Photo: ADatabase The Arts Council’s mission is great art for everyone. However, research based upon the government’s annual Taking Part survey has shown us that only 9% of the population attends or participates in the arts three times a year or more. So we’ve decided to try to shift those attendance patterns with a major strategic intervention - a national campaign for the arts – which is what we are here to look at in more depth today.

From April 2010: An ambitious national campaign to encourage the broadest range of people across England to enjoy artistic experiences. One of the key themes of the Arts Council plan is to enable the broadest range of people to enjoy artistic experiences. But, despite the significant efforts of arts organisations and the Arts Council to broaden audiences – and there has been, and is, some really excellent work going on - our statistics show that there has been no significant shift in the profile of people who engage with the arts over the past three years. This means that we can’t simply continue doing more of the same: it’s not working. We need a new approach. This national programme – and today’s event - are all about thinking and working differently to achieve our ambition. Whilst a big challenge, there are already convincing indicators that this is achievable, and we have strong new evidence showing a way forward.

A programme of arts engagement activity, fronted by a large-scale broadcast, media and marketing campaign. So, we are talking about high profile work - high profile in the same way that Big Picture was in the West Midlands – but this time it will be on a national scale.

The Campaign aims to: • kickstart an increase in participation and attendance in the arts in England • change the way a significant section of the nation thinks and feels about the arts • leave a legacy The grand launch of the newly refurbished Spike Island, Bristol, which was part-funded by the Arts Council Photo: Kevin Clifford This campaign will be about changing attitudes, and importantly helping people embark upon a confident long-term journey of engagement with the arts

Our target audience A group of 12.8 million people nationally ….. …. who are interested in getting more into the arts and can be realistically taken on that journey. The target audience for the proposed campaign is nearly 13 million people who currently have some interest in the arts, but with a low level of engagement. However, they have expressed an inclination, a desire, to do or see more.

Based on robust research • Quantitative: - Arts Council ‘audience insight’ segmentation- - Taking Part survey data integrated with TGI • Bespoke qualitative research: - Focus groups with target audience - Extensive and ongoing stakeholder consultation • Today’s event will start the process for WM organisations and audiences – beginning to shape our region’s offer The Arts Council at national level has already done significant work this year in shaping a national campaign programme. It has been very much a research and evidence-based process, through an in-depth understanding of the people who are occasional engagers with the arts. Today’s event is the beginning of the development process for organisations and local authorities within the West Midlands to shape what we can offer our publics.

Arts Audiences: insight 13 audience segments Highly active Traditional culture Urban arts eclectic vultures Some Fun, fashion and engagement friends Bedroom DJs participate Mature explorers Mid-life hobbyists only attend & may also participate Dinner and a show Retired arts and crafts Family & community focused Not currently Time-poor dreamers Older and home-bound engaged A quiet pint with Limited means, the match nothing fancy •Here you can see an overview of the 13 different audience types that the Arts Council’s work on developing the Taking Part survey findings has constructed – we’ll be returning to these in more detail later in the day •If we want to get great art to more people, we need to target audience segments which are open to increased engagement, and which are large enough for that increase to be significant. •It is this large bulk of the population in the middle who we need to reach (70% of the country). •This audience focus is essential – without it, our efforts will be too fragmented to achieve cut-through, or we will continue to limit our impact to the same small sections of society – the Highly Active groups at the top of this diagram - that we already reach.

Who are we trying to reach Core target segments: • ‘Dinner and a show’ • ‘Family and community focused’ • ‘Mid-life hobbyists’ Secondary segments: Significant halo effects across the other somewhat engaged and unengaged groups Monkey: Journey to the West performed at the Royal Opera House Photo: Robert Piwko These three ‘Some engagement’ segments represent 37% of the West Midlands population: By consistently targeting activity towards these three groups, it is more likely that national surveys will show increased engagement for this region.

Breaking down the barriers About empowerment and access Three specific issues identified in research 1. Fear of failure 2. Big effort for uncertain reward 3. ‘They’re trying to keep me out’ There are, we’ve found, three key issues for these groups: And some typical comments are: I wouldn’t know where to start looking for activities “I wanted to learn how to draw but didn’t know where to access it, it took me ages to find a class that I can afford” There seems to be the perception that ballet, opera are more elitist activities and that you have to know more about them before you can get in and “It’s all about upper class people arriving in a Bentley” “Very difficult to get tickets to an event but then have to pay more on ebay for them later” “How do you know what to wear to these things?”

Developing the national campaign proposition The Night Carnival, featuring Kinetika, Bloco dancers at the Mayor’s Thames Festival Photo: Elicio Carrio, via Mayor’s Thames Festival

The opportunity for the arts Create an umbrella brand for the arts and a campaign to promote it: • that empowers the target audience groups • gives them information and encouragement to engage in the arts • talks their language and is on their side • re-presents existing ‘arts’ to them in a new way and with the stamp of relevance provided by the campaign brand • gives them the chance to try something exciting with a series of headline events So, based on that kind of feedback from workshops with people from target groups around the country, we now want to: •present them with arts experiences that appeal to them, in a way which appeals to them •provide something with which artists and arts organisations can sell themselves (in the way that the five portions a day campaign was taken up by a range of food producers) •create a visual identity that will work as a kite mark on arts productions, experiences and events – acting as a trusted guide (think Richard and Judy logo on books) •And … •direct audiences to content and experiences from our arts offer which will be right for them.

A new national arts web portal • The home of a single, trusted arts brand • A single place with all the information and encouragement needed by the target audience groups • Themed lounges that allow the user to enter a virtual arts world • Drives users to existing arts offer in England across funded, commercial and voluntary sectors with special ‘recommendation’ products/events We know that the internet is well used by these groups, so our aim is to create a ‘one stop shop’ for exploring arts opportunities.

Parallels Instantly recognisable and understood branding that the target group comes to identify with will be key to the campaign – here are some parallels

What will success look like? Brand awareness and understanding Core of regular visitors to the campaign’s arts portal A significant increase in the number of people in England who attend or participate 3+ times a year A growing group of people who are becoming more confident, engaged with and opinionated about the arts A statistically significant increase measured nationally would be 2%.

Media and communications partners As well as the web portal – which will direct users towards events sitting on regional databases, including Scene Central here in the West Midlands, there is a valuable media partnership with New International (who interestingly also own MySpace) and the BBC. Special features and programmes from autumn of next year will create that raising of awareness and nurture interest.

Partnership ideas • Mobile phone brand partnerships- text message updates around arts activities • Partnering with shopping centre groups to bring the arts into a familiar leisure environment • Collect points to be redeemed against arts activities on supermarket loyalty cards • Discount vouchers for arts activities available to customers of participating shops and restaurants • Time-banking- volunteer your time and receive arts vouchers as a reward And here are some more ideas that are being considered nationally as a result of discussions with people from the target segments

Getting involved • Nationally and regionally we will be working with the whole arts sector – subsidized, voluntary and commercial sectors, local government – to use the campaign to promote their arts offer • Sign up to our national partnership site at www.helloart.org.uk – tell us about existing activity that could form part of the national programme of events, suggest potential ideas for headline events, receive updates as campaign develops • Consider ways in which you can work with other regional partners to take your offer to people and give them reasons to return for more – today is just the beginning IMPORTANT- tell us what’s already going on and give national co-ordinators ideas of events that you’d like to see as part of the campaign programme. We’ve created a special arts industry website at www.helloart.org.uk to enable such a dialogue with the national co-ordinators. And please, especially, think who else should be part of a strong local partnership to make these ambitions reality

West Midlands focus • ‘Hot spot’ of delivery in partnership with Black Country local authorities • Organisations in rest of WM region define own role to benefit from National Campaign opportunities • National arts portal and brand from Spring 2010 – feeds through to Scene Central in WM • Calendar of branded arts activities from Spring 2010 to Spring 2011 and beyond, nationally and regionally • Competitive BC funding available to help create new ideas • What have we got already? What else do we need for these target groups? How can we help people want more & ‘stay with the arts?’ The debate starts here … Stained Glass artist Daniella Wilson-Dunne So, turning to our own region and to today: Whatever we do, to achieve the kind of step-change in people’s attitudes and attendance patterns that we need, it has to be on a broad scale. Think big, think long- term, think partnerships: this campaign will have a long lifespan, almost certainly beyond its planned initial two-year timescale.

Some ideas A series of arts workshops in mobile units based on heritage Arts day Arts Bus of location • Street arts • Artist on board • Participation • Merchandise giveaways • DVD demonstration of provision/local • Introduction to new artforms • Reduced price tickets people engaging • Public vote • Collaborative marketing • Participation en route materials • Tour of arts orgs or transport to specific performance/event • Backstage tours Local level arts awareness campaign • Local distinctiveness and ownership • Different artform ‘strands’ under main campaign brand • A ‘hook’ – participation/competition • Buy-in from media partners eg the BBC • Work with partners with similar agenda: MLA, NT, CP • Innovative points of entry At the moment, the plan for the West Midlands is an open book - here are just a few ideas. I’m going to hand over after any questions you may have to Kate Organ, who will lead us through the rest of the day’s agenda. Please do engage with this opportunity of exploration, use your imagination, think big, and enjoy the day.

Thank you www.helloart.org.uk www.artscouncil.org.uk

Stockton International Festival 30 July–3 August 2008 Photo: Andy Taylor

Arts Council WM Presentation, November 09

by Chris Unitt on Nov 23, 2009

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Arts Council WM Presentation, November 09 — Document Transcript

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