How it works?

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The Theatre Benchmarking Reports have proved invaluable to defining the work of our audience development. The reports build up a detailed snapshot of audience behaviour and help us compare ourselves to other venues in the area to see were we might improve our practice in order to connect with more people. Used in conjunction with other resources from Audiences Yorkshire and internal research, we can build a really clear picture on how to move forward and utilise the findings every step of the way.

Member - Audiences Yorkshire

Jargon Buster

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Family

What does this mean?

A party that enjoys an association based on some form of kinship, that is made up of any adult attending or participating in a cultural event with a child under the age of 16.

How did we get this definition?

The shape and structure of household arrangements in the United Kingdom is changing.

Shifts in work and life patterns now mean that it is unsafe to assume that ‘a family’ typically conforms to the conventional ‘Janet and John’ model or the one used in the title of the BBC television comedy 2.4 Children.

A BBC news item, published on its website in May 2002, noted that:

‘Mr and Mrs Average no longer have 2.4 children – latest statistics show the figure is now 1.64. That is the lowest average level of births per woman since records began in 1924. The data from the Office for National Statistics also showed there was the lowest number of live births in 2001 since 1977.’

More recently (in 2004) the Office for National Statistics released figures showing that:

'Family size increased from 2.07 children for women born in 1920 to a peak of 2.46 children for women born in 1934. This peak corresponds with the 1960s ‘baby boom’. Family size declined for subsequent generations and is projected to decline to around 1.74 children for women born in the mid-1980s. Women born in 1955, and now at the end of their childbearing years, had an average of 2.03 children.’

Related and similar definitions

The recent Arts Council England ‘Family Friendly’ initiative has provided a renewed focus on family attenders and the arts.

Hence – for purposes of consistency – it is recommended that the definition of ‘a family’ be based on the one used by consultant Pamela Pfrommer in her report ‘Family Friendliness’ which states:

‘The word “family” has been used throughout this report to mean any adult attending or participating in a cultural event with a child under the age of 16.’18

Consequently the suggested definition to use for data relating to a family is a party that enjoys an association based on kinship, that is made up of any adult attending or participating in a cultural event with a child under the age of 16.

When to use

Any occasion when an arts organisation wishes to identify, measure and report on the extent to which its facilities are used by families.