I value the arts

Tough decisions are being made about public spending. If you value the arts in your community, you need to make your voice heard. Show the decision-makers that the arts are vital and valued. Pledge your support, visit www.ivaluethearts.org.uk and follow us on twitter.com/ivaluethearts

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MANIFESTO

We believe that great art needs great audiences, and that's why our Manifesto outlines our key messages for funders, policy-makers and the sector in England and the evidence behind those views. You can download our Manifesto here.

I found the time spent working with GGA on this project to be really valuable. The findings really helped the marketing team develop a better understanding of our audience and helped us establish a clearer framework for future marketing campaigns. Definitely look forward to working with you again in the future.

Member - Glasgow Grows Audiences

International Leader - but for how long?

8th April 2011

After a not uneventful week in the history of Audience Development, I (easy) jetted off to another nation fascinated by how the UK leads the world in understanding and growing audiences.  Don't worry, dear reader, this trip cost the tax payer/lottery ticket buyer not a penny, and even made a modest contribution to the UK's balance of payments deficit.

For the last 20 years I've often wondered how culture operates and is funded in other nations and what we can learn. It's only been in the last few years that I have had the opportunity to meet and talk in depth with artists, arts organisations and funders from other nations. These discussions are always fascinating and generally leave me not wishing to emigrate, despite the weather.

There is a huge amount of benefit in an arm-length leader of policy and distributor of funds. We are so lucky that direct political involvement is generally rare.

In the UK we have a huge and robust evidence base that is the envy of every country I visit. We even use it sometimes to guide policy development.

And at the heart of cultural policy we have a Royal Charter that more than 60 years ago put an equal emphasis on artists and audiences. I know this isn't unique, but it seems rare from the countries I know. In the UK, audiences are the largest funders of the arts. This isn't true for many other nations where Government and (sometimes) private giving support an infrastructure that engages with a tiny fraction of the population. I've yet to see another nation with more well-run, customer-focused creative organisations than the UK.

I'd be the last person to say we've got it all right in the UK and we certainly can't be complacent.  In England, I worry that every time the axe falls on the Arts Council it moves one step closer to becoming a un-questioning cash point for arts organisations rather than a dynamic leadership organisation committed to getting more people engaged in great artistic experiences. Add to this the potential impact of funding decisions on a core funded network of skilled support for arts organisations in understanding and growing audiences and we face the risk of other nations holding up the UK as an example of what can go wrong.

David Brownlee, Chief Executive, Audiences UK

 

Comments

  1. Author
    Roger Tomlinson
    Permanent link
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    Date
    8th April 2011
    Comment
    Yes the Arts Council for many years has behaved as the Artists Council and not properly delivered on part of its Royal Charter. Ironically the Conservatives under Thatcher placed an emphasis on audience development and effective arts marketing, and the last Labour government increased that with focusses on engagement, the economically and socially excluded, diversity and accessibility. It is my view that widening access is actually an obligation of public funding. The results of it are of course hard to measure, but al least attendance and engagement in the arts hasn't fallen in the UK, compared to the dramatic way it has reduced in the US. We do have something to learn from other countries - that we are good at audience development. We need our audiences more than ever while ideologically driven cuts impact arts organisations, so we need more, not less, audience development and effective arts marketing.

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