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Capacity

What does this mean?

A range of measures that quantify the amount of something that is made available by an arts facility through a discrete event (or sequence of events) such as a performance, series, exhibition or workshop.

There are two general forms such measures can take: physical (the number of places available to be used); and financial (the monetary value of the places available to be used).

How did we get this definition?

The expression ‘capacity’ is used to denote a measure of the accommodation, seats, places or spaces an arts facility has available to fill or sell.

However, there are a range of different forms of ‘capacity’ in regular use across the arts sector, with each using a different basic unit to calculate the total capacity (for instance, potential seating, available seating, financial capacity). Hence the appropriate form of capacity will depend on the purpose for which it is being used.

There is a particular need for arts organisations to be clear which form of capacity is being used (and reported) on when compiling figures. Furthermore it seems preferable for just one form of capacity to be recommended for use. This is because, unless there is a uniform and consistent approach to calculating and reporting on capacity, it will not be possible to make comparisons between organisations. (This becomes a particular issue when technical or presentational reasons lead to seats or spaces being excluded from the calculation of capacity.)

Related and similar definitions

Consultations carried out with leading industry consultants and through the Audiences UK symposium suggest that uniformity and consistency is most likely to be secured if capacity is defined as physical capacity: ‘total units available for use’ (e.g. seats available for sale, spaces available to be occupied)

At the same time it can be desirable to also use a measure of financial capacity, i.e. the total amount of income that can be generated from a discrete event or performance if all the admissions were charged at full face value.

When to use

Formulae & Worked Examples

Therefore for a seated venue, it is recommended that physical capacity be calculated as:

Seats, wheelchair and standing places available for use

i.e. total seats, wheelchair and standing places available less any seats, wheelchair places or standing places removed from use for operational reasons (such as the placing of sound desk, or to safeguard sight-lines because of the nature of scenery).

Equally ‘financial capacity’ should be calculated as:

The total full-price face value of all the places available for sale

For visual arts facilities, capacity should be defined as:

The maximum number of persons the local and fire authorities have licensed the relevant space (or spaces) to accommodate

And for non-seated facilities, capacity should be calculated as:

The total number of persons the local or fire authorities have licensed a space or place to accommodate

Here, if the space is unlicensed (such as a street performance), local authority or police estimates of the number of people who could watch an event while staying within safety limits should be used as the basis for the reported capacity figure.