A Festive Audience for a Festive Performance
Artwork created by South West based artist Helen Williams
Over Christmas I went to three festively themed productions across the South West. It was quite unusual to start the festive theatre season with a Pantomime, in November – oh yes it was (sorry I couldn’t help myself). It was a traditional panto production of Cinderella, including singing, audience participation, a large cartoon-like set and the odd recognisable face from UK soap operas and it took place at the Barnfield Theatre in Exeter.
Now I have a bit of a love hate relationship with pantomimes. In regards to my artistically critical perception I don’t like them. But, as I sat there I realised there are just as many parts to a panto that I enjoy as much as I don’t. For example, the balance of humour that makes the performance enjoyable for all ages, the way the actors don’t take themselves totally serious and are having just as much fun as the children, and the way that it inevitably does make me feel very festive. So I had a decision to make, I could sit there for around two hours and not enjoy myself or I could put that critical eye to the back of my mind and get fully involved and participate. I choose the later and convinced the person I was with to do the same. We left having laughed so much our cheeks hurt (mainly from laughing at ourselves) and with a great feeling that Christmas was on its way.
The second performance I saw was an alternative Christmas show in the studio at Bristol Old Vic. Quite different from the pantomime this was a piece of theatre that was brought to life by five actors who remained sat behind a table with only spot lights, sound effects and table microphones to aid their story telling of a boy who met and helped a Santa like figure on a council estate. The production was by Sleepdogs and called ‘The Morpeth Carol’. The story was told by an adult male character that was remembering his encounter with a strange clocked man on Christmas Eve when he was a boy. To an innocent, festive mind the boy was helping Santa deliver his presents and return to his land. But to a cynical mind the boy had been taken onto the moors on Christmas Eve by a strange man who’d been seen causing acts of violence. Of which made me question my cheerful emotion as I witnessed a beautiful piece of storytelling.
The final production I saw was at the Tobacco Factory Theatre, which was a collaboration between the theatre itself and Travelling Light. This was another production of Cinderella but this time the mainstream pantomime antics had been replaced with the original story of Ella that slept in the cinders of the fire. There was only one scene where I witnessed a cross-dressed sibling and instead of the audience singing along, there was a live band. It was an utterly beautiful production of puppetry, storytelling, comedy, music and gruesome behaviour.
Having seen three very different festive productions there was one thing that all of them confirmed for me, which is during Christmas theatre’s come alive with an audience of all segments, generations and genders. The activity of going to the theatre over Christmas is part of many individuals, groups and families’ festive occasion and celebrating. It made me wonder whether there is another time of year when the target and catchment for audiences are quite as wide. Or is it an acumination of facts that bring such a diverse audience to Christmas shows – one being that they trust the production will be suitable for all ages, two that they will have fun and three that it is a way to celebrate together.
So how then do we, as a sector, develop our engagement with the audiences to Christmas shows that may not attend theatre throughout the rest of the year? How do we retain their interest and provide opportunities to further engage as a group or an individual? But also, are Christmas audiences that much different to our audiences throughout the rest of the year, or is it just a chance occasion when all of the different visiting segmentations of audiences come together to enjoy theatrical entertainment?
Bristol Old Vic’s production of ‘Treasure Island’ back in the summer of 2011 proved that appropriate seasonal programming could attract a diverse audience which had similarities to that during the Christmas period. (You can read a blog about Treasure Island that I wrote here ).
So it’s not impossible and with the right understanding of who your audiences are, both existing and potential, thematic programming can be created and designed to provide ongoing opportunities throughout the year for the whole family to attend and be entertained.
Remember, theatre is not just for Christmas.
Julie Alridge, Executive Director, AMA
If you’re working in the arts and cultural sector today you will no doubt be only too aware of the rapid pace of change in which we’re now working. The word ‘change’ was mentioned over 100 times in the AMA (Arts Marketing Association) conference report this year. Keeping up-to-date on latest thinking and best practice has therefore become more and more important for those seeking to bring art and audiences together.
Change is not only going on with regard to technology. While social and digital media are certainly transforming the way we work – anyone remember a time before the trend watchers were predicting that this is the ‘year of mobile’?! – There are many other external changes affecting our ability to reach and engage audiences.
Audience and visitor behaviour, patterns of demand, and visitor profiles are changing. The increasing diversity of artistic practice and the extent to which people expect the experience to be participatory or customised, has introduced a whole new approach to working with the public. New ways of generating data and insights have arisen improving our ability to understand audiences, but also adding to our workload and to the list of things we need to share with others in the organisation.
The impact of changing politics and the current depressing economic situation has also led to many arts organisations changing core elements such as business models, income streams, staffing structures and budgets. And many have revisited the company culture and the way in which they innovate and experiment.
These changes have proved incredibly positive for some arts organisations. For those where there is a culture that is able to respond, adapt and capitalise on emerging opportunities. Arts marketers across the UK have reimagined the very way they engage and interact with audiences and visitors – see the AMA blog for a range of examples, including the National Theatre of Wales working with citizen journalists, and The Lowry integrating Facebook ticketing in order to reap benefits for the organisation.
For others though, the pace of change has just proved to be pretty exhausting! As the very rules of the game are shifting this has resulted in an unsettled and disconcerting environment for those working in arts marketing, making long term planning challenging at just the time when raising earned income has become even more crucial.
At an AMA discussion forum with a group of heads of marketing from arts organisations across the UK last December, there were a number of key ‘tensions’ identified, things such as:
On the one hand there is a need to …
1) Predict and forecast accurately to plan the best use of minimal resources
2) Develop the arts marketing team as the knowledge base for an organisation, providing insight and forecasts to inform decisions
3) Ensure continuity – to stick to our mission and purpose and not make knee-jerk reactions
4) Do more with less
5) Really understand and focus on analytics and ROI – what works, what doesn’t – to define what to do more of and decide what we can do without
6) Consolidate, to focus on earned income, on retention and repeat audiences
Vs. a requirement to …
1) Just ‘get the work done’ in order to keep up with the current pace of things
2) Break down silos and involve the whole company in thinking about the audience
3) Ensure we keep adapting to remain relevant and meaningful in a brave new world
4) Do less, better
5) Innovate, to develop a transformative culture able to inspire new ideas and find new, creative solutions
6) Explore new income streams and reach out to engage new audiences and visitors
Dazed and confused? You’re not the only one! The group at the discussion forum agreed that a careful balancing act was required to deliver on all of these things. It is vital that arts organisations adopt a culture of shared purpose. That everyone within the organisation understands what it means for them to be mission-led and audience focused. And that the marketing team uses this understanding in order to decide the degree to which they lean towards focusing on tried and tested strategies that are most likely to have a high return on their investment, and the degree to which they focus on new innovative ideas.
In order to do this it is of course essential that those working in arts marketing and audience development can feel confident that they have developed the right mix of skills and knowledge to take informed decisions that make a real difference to their organisation and their audiences. That they are capable of forecasting and predicting audience and visitor behaviour; that they are skilled at adapting their marketing strategies to benefit from emerging opportunities; and are able to effectively blend digital tools and channels into their marketing toolkit in order to remain relevant and meaningful in todays connected, networked world.
The AMA is committed to helping to raise the standards of arts marketing across the sector. To support and develop arts marketers to enable them to improve their practice, to keep-up-to-date and, in turn, improve their ability to bring art and audiences together.
The AMA has just finished a process of contextualising the marketing National Occupational Standards (NOS) for the arts and cultural sector. NOS are statements of the standards of performance individuals must achieve when carrying out functions in the workplace, together with specifications of the underpinning knowledge and understanding required. The marketing NOS were designed to cover all sectors, but needed quite a bit of ‘tweaking’ by the AMA to fully represent the arts sector. In particular to reflect our objectives – obviously not just financial, but also artistic and social – and the role that marketing has to play in delivering on these. You can check out the standards on our website.
This means that for the first time the industry will have a set of standards which explains what skills and knowledge marketers should have at each stage of their marketing career.
The AMA has also created an online suite of training needs analysis tools. These are intended as a tool for the arts sector, providing marketers with personal development plans which help them to build an understanding of where their current strengths and skills are and gain a clearer insight into their skills gaps. So if you’re feeling confused and disorientated by the current pace of change, do take a few minutes out to take stock of your current approach and priorities. Try out the training needs questionnaires and reassure yourself about the areas of marketing where you already have great strengths. But also use these to highlight areas of knowledge gaps that are important to help you excel in your current role. Perhaps complete a module or two of the training needs analysis before your next appraisal to help demonstrate areas of potential development to your line manager?
For employers of arts marketers, the standards are accompanied by tools such as job description templates designed to help you to plan the scope of your marketing team, the individual role/s and job descriptions needed in your organisation. They will also help with planning for appraisals, building understanding of where the current strengths and skills are within your marketing team and gaining a clearer insight into skills gaps within the organisation.
Pam Pfrommer , Course Director, MA Arts Management, Anglia Ruskin University, talks about the importance of the arts marketing standards for those working as trainers in the sector, providing consistency and benchmarks for performance, as well as checking your own professional development needs. See her interview clip for the AMA.
So let’s grab the opportunities that change is presenting to those working in arts marketing and audience development. Now is the ideal time for arts marketers to take stronger leadership roles within their organisations, becoming the person or department that the company turns to for accurate information on how audience and visitor behaviour will change over the coming months to inform future strategic direction for the organisation.
The AMA will be working with arts organisations, trainers, employers, consultants and funders across the sector to ensure consistent use of the marketing standards to increase confidence, skill, and knowledge in our ability to bring art and audiences together in today’s turbulent environment.
We hope that you’ll find the resources useful – do let me know what you think!
Julie Aldridge, Executive Director, AMA
julie@a-m-a.co.uk
The C Word
Here’s a blog that Jim, Audiences South West’s Chief Executive wrote for the Audiences UK blog –
The c-word is important to Audiences South West. We like to use it in polite company as it’s a crude way of demonstrating that we are not scared of colourful language. Yes, ‘collaboration’ is a word much used and much understood as being many different things to many different people. Where common usage has a range of referents, there confusion lies.
Of late, Audiences South West has been busy, perhaps too busy, working with arts organisations to develop collaborations. What we have learned is that common language develops through dialogue and that this happens over time. This means that people not involved in a discussion tend to reject its conclusions.
We have also leant that trust depends upon a mutual declaration of self-interest and acting up to this requirement takes confidence and clarity of purpose on behalf of the organisations seeking a collaborative outcome. This means openness about competition, strengths and priorities for growth.
This understanding of collaboration as being structured by self-interest and competitive advantage leads us to want to ditch the old c-word for another old one, co-opetition.
To work out what co-opetition might mean, amongst other things, Audiences South West have invested time and finances into an emerging and dynamic example of collaboration that is based in the City of Exeter – Exeter Cultural Partnership.
Exeter Cultural Partnership has a steering group made of individuals with backgrounds in creative industry, higher education, museum, arts, local government, sports and food sectors. These people have stepped up as being prepared to take a lead in improving the city’s cultural offer and increasing the public appetite for that offer. The partnership has a hinterland of some 50 organisations based in and around Exeter.
The steering group is raising its aspirations, beginning to develop a cultural strategy and reaching out to stakeholders through events and social networks – google us to find our ning. This has all been established for less than £3K plus the time-bank contributions of the participants. This looks like pretty good value to Audiences South West.
Exeter now has an emerging mechanism to grapple with the necessaries of leadership, strengthening organisations, understanding audiences, increasing engagement, and linking arts and lived culture. Interesting to register where self-interest plus honesty can get you – to a shared understanding of collaboration, for instance.
A blog written by Emily in response to how museums in the South West of England are making space for the visual arts and enhancing visitor experience.
In the last couple of months I’ve visited a number of museums and an event that promoted the use of visual arts within museum settings and alongside their collections. Whilst there I noticed certain aspects that interested me and that stood out, but it’s now after a few months of all of these visits taking place that I can fully appreciate the way the museums I’ve visited recently are evolving to introduce the visual arts into their settings.
Museums including and being inspired by the visual arts is nothing new; Plymouth, Exeter and Bristol being but a few places that have Museum and Art Galleries. And it was during 2009 that we witnessed the collaboration between Banksy and Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. But with recent changes to the MLA and the Arts Council it’s an exciting prospect for me personally to see the two worlds come even closer together.
The M Shed in Bristol has now been open for four months and last week announced that it has since had 25,000 visitors. My first visit was to attend the launch of the New Expressions 2 project – a project that is in its second round of developing relationships between a key number of museums in the South West with artists and their art work. Each of the museums involved (Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery, RAMM, Barnstaple Museum, Bristol Museums, Cheltenham Museum and Falmouth Museum) have engaged with an artist(s)to invigorate their venues and collections to enhance the visitors experience and engagement. To find out more about the project visit http://www.newexpressions.org/
One of my following visits to the M Shed was for the opening of the Martin Parr photography exhibition, which I wrote a blog about highlighting the elements that I found interesting and in contrast to private views at contemporary visual arts. To read my blog ‘A Preview of Bristol and West’s Audiences’ see below or visit http://audiencessouthwest.wordpress.com/2011/09/01/a-preview-of-bristol-and-wests-audiences/
The M Shed is a contemporary space that has allowed curators to create and design temporary exhibition spaces, which could well have been influenced from their involvement in the New Expressions project. Therefore it was fascinating to visit The Fleet Air Arm Museum during Somerset Arts Weeks to see the work by Jon England and talk to the museum staff about how visitors have reacted and their own experiences of having a contemporary visual art exhibition alongside the restoration of a WWII plane. Not only does Jon England’s amazingly detailed artwork tell the stories of those that are engraved in the history of the plane, but the plane itself allowed the stories Jon’s work to come to life. Both elements to the exhibitions added something to one another, which had they not been placed side-by-side it would have lacked.
It was only days after I visited the Fleet Air Arm Museum that the Museum of Somerset opened after its HLF funded redevelopment. The re-design of its space and the collections within them have clearly been inspired by artists and their work. Not only is there a temporary exhibition space and mixed media throughout the museum providing audience interaction and engagement, but there are bespoke pieces of art made especially for the museum, such as ‘The Tree of Somerset’ and huge carved sculpture in the entrance to the Great Hall.
The inclusion of visual arts within museums is clearly a fantastic way to animate collections, provide engagement and allow collection managers to creatively display artefacts. All of which enhance the visitors experience not only of the space, but the stories that are being told. Whether it be an artist making work from the collection; alongside the collection; or in response to the collection, to that of curators and artists working together on museum hanging and participation opportunities, the inclusion of the visual arts in museums is clearly beneficial for the museums.
Which leads me to think what is beneficial for the art / artist? Does it need to be beneficial? Referring back to my previous blog and having experienced similar situations since, the audiences that I have encountered on my recent museum visits are the widest variety of segments, ages and backgrounds that I can only compare to that of an audience to a family friendly festival (The Bristol Harbourside for example). Which makes me wonder, for two sectors that are so similar why do museum settings feel more welcoming than contemporary galleries? I can only imagine the answer being that museums pose less of a barrier for potential visitors – they know what they’re getting, they know there will be a clear explanation of what the pieces in the museum are, they know there will be something for everyone even if it’s the cafe or gift shop and they know it’s ‘for them.’
So now with many museums including the visuals arts, and heritage sites offering performance programmes during the summer, is it time for arts organisations to increase the way they collaborate with historians, museum curators, librarians and archaeologists to improve engagement and visitor experience in their settings?
Let's Get Real, Culture 24' Bristol conference, September 2011.
I think it is about time that we get real about our online stuff. About what works and what doesn’t on our websites, social media channels and online services. In particular who is paying any attention to what we are doing and what is it that they really care about?
The Let’s Get Real conference set out an agenda to try and delve deeper into some of these questions and offer both strategic inspiration and practical advice. The idea for the conference came from a year long action research project that I have been leading (and learning lots from) involving 24 cultural organisation and agencies including British Museum, Tate, Watershed, British Library, Roundhouse, National Museums Scotland to name but a few.
Let's Get Real action research team.
The results, analysis and key findings from the research are all set out in a report that was launched at the conference over some extremely marvellous local beer, cheese, wine, bread and the like – all courtesy of Google (the event sponsor) and sourced in the South West.
You can download the full report from the new Culture24 company site: http://weareculture24.org.uk/projects/action-research/
Download and check out the work we did on website healthchecks and implement the shared Google Analytics Segments created: http://bit.ly/p0IwBK
Browse and consider the social media toolkit and pick‘n’mix offering a comparison of all the tools currently available: http://bit.ly/p0IwBK
Let's Get Real paper, front cover
The report is a good read and so I am told from the very positive feedback, easy to digest and full of useful things to know and do. I am aware that it doesn’t answer all of the questions that it asks by any means but it does lift the lid on some of the assumptions that exist about success online.
The main findings were:
Be clear ‘what’ you are trying to do and ‘who’ it is for online
It is not enough to see the web as a global machine, reaching out to everyone.
We need to segment our online audiences as we would for any exhibition, performance or workshop, remembering that our digital strategy should not be separate from our overall mission, but rather a tactical strategy, which sets goals, measurements and investment.
Focus your online investment
Search is still the single most important source of visits to most organisations’ websites. Mobile is growing many times faster than social media traffic, but the majority of cultural websites are not yet optimised for mobile platforms. If we wish to grow audiences to our websites we need to change the focus of our investment in our online platforms.
Recognise the value, and the limits, of social media
Social media needs to be far more tactical, even at the overall brand level. Remember that at the moment, in general, social media platforms have a negligible effect on driving traffic to organisational websites. Most of the activity within social networks stays ‘in’ the network. Social media engagement isn’t about spending money; it’s about what you do and say. It’s about having the right content in the right channels to engage the right audience in the right way.
Question whether the web is enabling you to reach new audiences
One of the closely held assumptions about cultural engagement online has been that it allows us to reach out to new audiences and extend the reach of public programmes beyond those who traditionally engage with the arts. The online Mosaic profiling exercise that was undertaken in partnership with Experian Hitwise challenges these assumptions and raises the question of whether we are actually reaching new audiences segments online, or just engaging with a larger number of the same type of people.
Standardise methods of reporting online metrics to external stakeholders
The question must be raised as to how useful the current reported metrics are for gauging success across organisations, particularly since they do not capture information about the social web and online activity relating to an organisation that occurs outside of that organisation’s main website.
My mission from the project and my hope from the report is that it will kick-start a dramatic shift in the way we plan, invest and collaborate on the development of both the current and next generation of digital cultural activities.
An ambitious hope perhaps but totally do-able fs we can find the willingness to get real.
Jane Finnis is Chief Executive of Culture24
Follow her on twitter @janefinnis
Blog: http://janefinnis.wordpress.com/
Culture 24 logo
Culture, not just for the liberal types
Jim’s blog on attending the Green Man Festival.
Returning from summer holidays means packing away the camping stuff and musing on the odd, uniquely closed world of the English music festival.
Attending this years Green Man festival was an uplifting treat, a trial and test of strength that has re-connected me with all that is our amazing, diverse and fascinating musical culture. The festival has the most incredible setting – the main stage has a wonderful backdrop of peaks within the awesomely beautiful Brecon Beacons, no-one could be anything but beguiled by this.
The three days of festival food and drink may be arduous for those of us past our first flush of youth and heaving an extraordinary ammount of clobber from car park to campsite was enough to land one of my gang in an ambulance ride home with a recurrance of a dodgy back, but still, we persevered and the consensus view is that a fab time was had by all (bar one).
What was striking though is the overwhelming sense that the festival is a highly regulated space, a pleasure dome where the liberal hegemony is so well established everyone knows how to behave, or mis-behave, nicely.
This clarifies a key function of culture – it reinforces our identity (my nine year old son was utterly delighted to find this social setting one in which his family fitted in, “we are normal, yes!”) and normalises our values however unswervingly exlcusive they may be.
I grew up with the anarchic free festivals of the early eighties and despite absolutely loving the quality of the Green Man’s programme and the civility of my neighbours in a densely packed campsite, I can’t help thinking that consumersim generates sanitisation (literally as well as figuratively) and makes culture an essentially conformist, passive experience.
All this leaves me thinking, on the one hand, how do arts organisations roll with the evident need people have to be normalised by culture and how do they undercut that and make sure that culture is both challenging and open to anyone, not just nice, over-educated, liberal types.
A preview of Bristol and West’s audiences
Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives
This month sees the opening of the first exhibition at the M Shed, Bristol’s newest museum for and about the people of the city. And what better artist to exhibit than one that lives in the city and documents people and life through photography, Martin Parr.
Here at Audiences South West we are very lucky to receive invitations to previews of work in and around the region. This one in particular interested me, not only because of the venue and wanting to see the gallery space, in what I think is a beautiful building in the heart of the city which everyone should visit if not just for the view, but also because Martin Parr is by far one of my all time favourite artists.
It was on arriving that I realised this preview was going to be a little different to those that I had attended recently. There was a real feeling of anticipation, excitement and eagerness from those that were attending, which had formed a crowd surrounding the museums locked doors before the official start of the event. I was really pleased to see the audience attending the event wasn’t just made up of sector professionals and artists, but there were friends of the museum and members of the general public that were sincerely interested in the exhibition and use of the space.
The exhibition was everything I had expected from Parr, a series of vibrant photographs capturing the quintessence life of the middle class from the 1980’s to the present. What was great about the exhibiting photographs was that they are off people and life in Bristol and the South West of England. Not only did this provide a strong link to the context of the museum and its collections, but it gave another layer of engagement to the audiences as they could physically relate to events, locations and people in the images. Along with the images plain English explanations and a background of the artist and work were provided with a chance for audience members to vote on their favourite image. The most voted for images will be purchased by the museum to start a collection for the city – a fantastic way to increase ownership of the venue and its collections.
The gallery was again everything I had expected. It provided breath taking views of the city and provided one large open space that had bays and walls dividing areas to create intermit spaces within the white walled room.
The event itself really did make you feel like a special guest invited to a preview, not only were the doors closed until a certain time, but Front of House staff were checking your invitation against names that had RSVP’d. It was clear that the museum had a target audience that they had invited to this event. I’d be interested to see how that changes with the different exhibitions that they show. For example, for the next exhibition ‘Norman Parkinson: An eye on fashion’, will they target members of the fashion community and local fashion retailers to attend?
It was half an hour into the event and an introduction to the exhibition was given by the curator of the space and Martin Parr himself, who mentioned how refreshing it was not have to go on a long haul flight to open an exhibition but only had to cycle 7 minutes down the road. This, along with the other aspects of the event so far gave it a real personal touch and there was clear consideration into the event and its meaning. Even though some of what I’ve mentioned may seem quite formal, it really was quite the opposite, it was welcoming, joyful and celebratory. Unfortunately I was unable to stay, but I was assured that there was going to be a celebration party in the museum’s cafe with food and music as the evening continued.
Since the M Shed opened I’ve heard mixed reviews from my peers. Personally I think the dedicated space to the history, people and culture of the city is great. It provides many of the most engaging and participatory elements of a 21st century museum with flat screen interactive points, pieces within the collection that you can manipulate and architecture that is innovative. I’m keen to see how the museum lives as the history of the city continues to grow and evolve. I’m hoping that the use of the gallery will reflect this and so far, so good.
Each time I have been (this was my third visit) the space has been jam packed full of every kind of audience member you can think of, and this preview was no exception. The gallery space adds another exciting element to the programme available at this new space. The relationship between museum, collections and the visual arts is strengthening and I look forward to seeing the evolution of the space and its programme, which I’m sure, will be developed alongside the New Expressions 2 project taking place in the region (http://www.newexpressions.org/).
The M Shed has cleverly and thematically programmed this space so far, from gifts available in the shop, to exhibiting artists and guests invited to the previews. Every element clearly works holistically together to meet the objectives of the venue and I really do hope it continues.
The Martin Parr exhibition is available until the 27th November 2011, both the exhibition and museum are free entrance. More information about the exhibition and museum can be found on the M Shed’s website – http://mshed.org/
Drop in workshop at Salisbury Arts Centre as part of The Salisbury Golem exhibition.
Set back from the road side in the city of Salisbury is the Salisbury Arts Centre serenely based with flags that mark the edge of the venue, which happens to be a church.
I enter into the space which presents the newly hung exhibition by Bob and Roberta Smith. The entrance to the arts centre is lined with paintings included in the exhibition. But it’s not until I turn the corner into the cafe that I’m introduced to The Salisbury Golem itself.
The Jewish stories of the Golem tell a tale of a figure that represents the trace of a collective memory and the residue of a personal dream, embodied by an isolated giant. Bob and Roberta Smith has used this as an inspiration to create Salisbury’s very own Golem that invites the audience to write to it and provide it with gifts that ask for the Golems help in making their wishes for the city come true. The relevance that this creates for the setting and to the audience is fantastic.
The whole concept of the exhibition is an invitation to the community of Salisbury to engage, interact and respond to The Golem of Salisbury. Alongside the paintings and the sculpture are ways for those that visit to participate. From blank bunting that people can draw and write comments on, to interactive computer screens showing The Salisbury Golem blog. On the day I visit artist Craig Ennew is leading a free drop in session open to all to create a Votive Box Assemblage of images, objects and text that reflect the audiences’ thoughts and dreams, which when completed will be made as offerings to the Golem. I think this helps provide the contemporary visual arts exhibition with an accessible engagement tool and activity for all that visit over the duration of the exhibition, which is available until the 17th September.
Whilst at my visit to Salisbury Arts Centre I witness the space being used by a variety of audience members. Not only are the general public of all ages engaging with the workshop, but others are being a passive audience to the participation as they sit in the cafe. Beyond the space you can hear a youth theatre group rehearsing for a production and gallery visitors circulating around the space. Along with the exhibition the welcoming box office, music being played by the cafe and friendly staff all make for a lovely atmosphere on this Tuesday afternoon. It’s relaxed, calm and a comfortable environment to be in.
As I discuss the exhibition with Salisbury Art Centre’s Karen MacDonald, I ask what is going to happen to the gifts, wishes and dreams that people donate to the Golem once the exhibition is over? I’m comforted by the fact that the bunting will be kept and used by the arts centre, the gifts will be documented and as for the Golem itself, like in any good Golem tale, it will not survive, but it will never die. I wonder how the arts centre will sustain a relationship with those that interact with the Salisbury Golem and how the project and those personal wishes donated will have a legacy to the venue, the city and the local community.
One strand of Audiences South West’s work is a supportive role for organisations in gathering data from audiences and visitors to be used to strengthen engagement. Even though this exhibition doesn’t gather quantitative data on visitors it is a fantastic way to gather comments and feedback on their experience of the exhibition and the venue in the wider landscape of the city and current topics, such as the communities’ response to funding cuts to the arts. I think that the holistic approach that Salisbury Arts Centre seems to have in engaging their community with the exhibition is admirable.
One element of the exhibition that I found really interesting was the notion that Rob and Roberta Smith, along with Salisbury Arts Centre had cleverly invited the audience to participate in the work which then meant they were adding to the art with their own creativity – a concept which I believe is used throughout Rob and Roberta Smith’s work. Audience engagement and participation was central to this exhibition working and being complete.
There were many factors that I think aided the audience engagement in this exhibition. They included the invitation to take part, the activities designed for audiences to participate in, the encouragement of the staff at the venue, the welcoming atmosphere of the venue and the relevance of the topic that people were being asked to comment on. The one that stuck in my mind as I left was the relevance: the relevance to the setting and political issues that affect communities at present.
The exhibition continues through to September and there will be a closing event to celebrate the work created and the journey it’s taken on. If you’d like to find out more about The Salisbury Golem or Salisbury Arts Centre visit – http://www.salisburyartscentre.co.uk/home.aspx
I’d like to hear your thoughts on inviting audiences to participate and add their own creations to contemporary visual arts exhibitions – have you got a good example of how this is done? Where else have you seen this been done? Do you think relevance to the audience is the key to engagement?
Long John Silver (Tristan Sturrock) C Mark Douet
For the last few weeks I’ve been reading tweets and reviews on the Bristol Old Vic’s summer production of ‘Treasure Island’ all saying how fantastic this open air production is. With this in-mind and having seen the scale of the set that is confidently placed in front of the theatre on Kings Street I was really excited about seeing this production.
I think the Bristol Old Vic has made a real statement with this production. Given the sector’s recent funding cuts and with them undergoing a huge redevelopment of their building meaning their main stage is closed, would make you think their motivations have been dampened, but no, they’ve put theatre smack bang in the middle of one of Bristol’s city centre roads, closing half of it and celebrating the summer, the arts and the creative industries.
‘Treasure Island’ is one of, if not the most famous pirate story, but Bristol Old Vic have cleverly placed the story within the setting of Bristol using the immediate surrounding history of the docks, the cobbled streets and with The Llandoger Trow inn opposite the set. Not only have they incorporated the setting into the story, but the production is supported by Bristol’s Pieminster Pies.
The foyer of the Bristol Old Vic that you enter by walking through the backstage of the ‘treasure Island’ set, has been turned into a form of seaside pier with a Pieminster Pie stall, quotes from songs, images of islands and a fairground pirate cut-out that you can place your head through and have your photograph taken with. The theatre may be under construction, but it is very much still being used and programmed. Even the staff had undergone a transformation, from front-of-house to pirates and explorers. Along with this the theatre had invited the audience to come dressed accordingly in pirate costume.
Whilst sat in front of the stunning set that has been created for the production and watching the actors use the levels and the building itself to climb up, I was overwhelmed with a similar feeling of being at a Christmas production. I was surrounded by a family audience, the script had been adapted to be appropriate for all ages, there was music and singing, the local setting had been included, audience and staff were involved in the character of the production and there were even squawking seagulls flying over the set. All of which gave this production a fantastic sense of inclusion and it was really nice to experience such a production not at the end of the year, but during the summer months. Bristol Old Vic had prepared its visitors to be ‘whisked away on a seafaring adventure’ and that’s exactly what they did to a practically full house of families and couples of all ages.
The Bristol Old Vic has done a brilliant job at promoting and engaging this production with the audiences and local communities. And as I walked home along Bristol docks I couldn’t help but imagine Long John Silver and his crew of pirates sailing into the city. All of the reviews and tweets I had read were all correct, ‘X marks the spot for another shipshape and Bristol-brilliant family treat from the Old Vic’ The Telegraph. It’s a great way to encourage families to visit the theatre for summer holiday activities just as much as they do during Christmas panto’ seasons. And I stand by what I said, this is a brilliant way for Bristol Old Vic to say “We’re here, we’re still open and we’re still making fantastic theatre”.
A festival of audiences
Bristol Harbourside Festival 2011
This was my first year of consciously visiting the Harbourside festival. In previous years I had been in Bristol at the same time it was taking place and had walked past it, but that was as close as I had got. So come Friday evening I was really excited as I could see stages and stalls being erected outside our offices at ASW and the weather forecasts were looking promising for this outside festival that took place on from the 29th to the 31st July.
I knew the layout of the festival, but nothing quite prepared me for the vast amount of activity, road closures and grand programme that Bristol City Council had planned for the population of Bristol and its surrounding areas. Above everything, I was not prepared for the massive crowds and the hugely diverse audience that I’ve only ever experienced at music festivals and did not quite expect this in the city centre. I was hugely impressed by this and it was amazing to see such a sight taking place in an urban environment, which managed to retain an intimate feeling for the audience.
The Bristol Harbourside Festival is one of the country’s largest free festivals, Bristol’s premier cultural event and this year it celebrated its 40th birthday. It started in 1971 as Bristol Water Festival inspired by the need to create a new purpose for the harbour as it stopped working as a dock. The festival managed to revamp the area and save the harbourside from being turned into buildings and roads. Forty years on and the area and its history is still being commemorated through a fusion of honouring its history, observing the circa and looking forward to the future. This year was no exception, especially with the new M Shed museum being a focal point of the activity, contemporary performances taking place along the river banks and many a performer dressed up as the Bristol linked pirate, Black Beard.
Activities ran throughout the weekend with a circus area, numerous music stages, stalls selling and promoting local produce and world-wide trades, a dance village, buskers, train rides, headlining areas and a harbour full of decorated boats. It was quite a relief due to crowd size that the activities took place along the whole of the river as it meanders through the city centre, with signs helping you find your way around and circus performers on stilts helping you across the road at Castle Park.
I was interested to find out that you had to buy a programme for the activities taking place over the weekend, and I must admit I’m a planner so wanted to know who was performing and make sure I got to see those I was really keen to see. Unfortunately the programme was not available free online either, which I found was a little unhelpful in planning my visit. I can only imagine how potential visitors from out of town may have felt as the only places you could buy a programme was from Bristol based organisations. I always think that having information available for people provides a little reassurance of what they are investing in. I also overheard many people over the weekend asking each other questions such as – ‘do you know who this is?’ and ‘what’s on now?’. Helpfully there were points along the river that you could see a map of the activity, but seeing as programmes were a pound and not available online I think it would have been good to just have a list of activity alongside the maps. Having said this it didn’t stop the crowds descending and participating in all the festival had to offer.
The local news had reported an expected 500,000 visitors over the weekend, and as one of them I can definitely say it felt like that many if not more. From families and young people to tourists and affluent greys I think I saw representatives from every ACORN, Arts Audience Insight and Mosaic segmentation profiles at the 2011 Bristol Harbourisde Festival.
Whilst being amongst the crowds and engaging with the festival it didn’t feel as though I was in a busy city centre still open for normal weekend trade. It only came apparent when I popped to the shops for a drink or used a toilet in one of the city centres cafes (there were plenty of porter loos, but long waits and everything else you’d expect from festival toilets) that local businesses were heaving with festival goers, which must have meant a huge increase on local economy for the day.
After my initial disappointment of the lack of accessible information on the programme, the only other disappointment was that many of the same acts performed again on the Sunday that had already performed on the Saturday. This definitely had it’s pro’s and con’s as I managed to see some of the music that I hadn’t the day before and there were some new dance companies performing, but it would have been great to see a different variety of high quality artistic talent from the local area and further afield.
With this in-mind, no fireworks and a 46 page programme that you had to buy, many of my friends that came to the festival with me asked whether this was a reflection on council budget cuts. I, for one, didn’t mind about the fireworks (in fact I was pleased to see more cultural activity taking its place in the form of The Invisible Circus and Bristol Old Vic’s ‘Treasure Island’). My reply was an honest one, “if it is then I don’t know, it would be a shame to see this fantastic free cultural exchange between the arts, history and those that live in the area shrunk because of budget cuts and to be honest maybe they are the easiest things to cut if they need to make cuts”.
After the festival came to an end and I rested my tired legs from two days of walking around Bristol I kept thinking about the concepts of the festival in regards to the still ever present pressure on budget cuts in local authorities. I couldn’t help but feel pride in how Bristol City Council had celebrated the diversity of the area and used part of its budget to give something for free to the whole community of the city and the region. I believe it would be far more detrimental than expected should such a fabulous opportunity be cut or taken away from the artists, local businesses and the thousands of audience members that it generated, inspired, motivated and impassioned over the weekend.
So overall yes the lack of free programmes meant you had to buy one for £1 but this overwhelming free festival was one of the most accessible, enjoying and fulfilling events that I, as an audience member, have been to all year. And, just from observing the variety of audience members clearly enjoying it as much as I meant that Bristol City Council managed to break down barriers to accessing, viewing and participating in the arts by providing the Bristol Harbourside Festival.
