Understand your audience!

Peter Tyas head of Arts at Wiltshire Council has commissioned some really interesting work looking at audience data in the County and has organised a session where people can have this explained and begin to look at how they can use that information to develope their own work. Anyway this is what Peter says:

 

We all know that cultural organisations are hard pressed for time and resources, and so Wiltshire Council's Arts and Conservation and Museums Advisory Services is providing you with a quick win - data about likely audiences and visitors - as well as an opportunity to gain from working with others over the longer term to turn those numbers into visitors/customers. In a few weeks I will be able to share a report prepared by The Audience Agency with you; that report will summarise what we know about audiences for arts venues and museums in Wiltshire. Today I wanted to let you know a bit more about the project and the proposed date for discussing this data with the Audience Agency.

Understanding the local audience is an essential part of any organisation’s forward planning and strategic decision making. It is also becoming increasingly important for all museums and arts organisations to be able to provide robust statistical evidence as a part of fundraising and evaluation. Wiltshire Council has commissioned The Audience Agency to write a snapshot report that draws together the available data on Wiltshire’s population and the tendency for communities to engage in cultural activities. The report provides a broad overview of the county and then focuses down on three example urban areas: Trowbridge, Chippenham and Salisbury.

There will be a workshop on the 11th of October at 1:15pm in Trowbridge to discuss the report and how cultural organisations can use this knowledge of the local audience to increase footfall and deepen community engagement. There is also an opportunity for organisations to follow up this workshop with a longer session looking at how individual organisations can use this data as a part of their own marketing and audience development work and identifying opportunities for the sector to work together over the longer term.

Please can you let me know if you will be able to attend the workshop on the 11th of October and whether your organisation would be interested in getting involved in further discussions?

 

Peter's email address is peter.tyas@wiltshire.gov.uk