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The Essential Audiences series draws to a close this month. This series of monthly articles and extensive website content has begun to explore and disseminate the legacy of New Audiences. The final report of the programme will be published by Arts Council England in June.

The scheme lasted four years and encompassed 1,157 projects, ranging from those receiving a few hundred pounds through the Regional Challenge programme to initiatives garnering thousands of pounds in New Audiences and matching funding. The parallel programme of specially commissioned research has produced a valuable body of knowledge and ideas about audience development.

The crucial element of New Audiences was the latitude it gave to organisations to take risks, to try something they hadn?t tried before or to apply established ideas in new settings. These risks took many forms: pushing the artistic envelope; reaching out to potential new attenders; carrying out development or education work with hard-to-reach, and often hard-to-communicate-with audiences; expanding touring territory; increasing the size or range of an event; testing new marketing tools or applying marketing ideas in new circumstances; reaching out to disabled, culturally diverse or socially disadvantaged groups. None of this is easily done. However, the lessons learned from such endeavours should last, despite the fact that some of the projects are now five years in the past.

Hard facts

The concrete legacy of the programme comes through the careful documentation and preservation of reports and research, and through the process of analysis, dissemination and publication which has been rolled out during the past year. In terms of the potential benefits the programme can offer, the Essential Audiences articles have represented only the tip of the iceberg.

Perhaps the most important resource in terms of accessibility is the New Audiences website (http://www.newaudiences.org.uk). See overleaf for more details of the continuing development of this resource. Another outcome is the major report, ?Not For The Likes Of You?, funded by New Audiences and published this month by the Audience and Market Development Department of Arts Council England, where the archive of the New Audience programme now resides.

Not For The Likes Of You

Produced by Morton Smyth Ltd., the publication explores the process of change through which organisations need to put themselves if they are to become truly inclusive and reach a broader audience. ?It?s looking at the wider issues of audience development and inclusiveness,? said Gill Johnson, Senior Officer at Arts Council England and former director of the New Audiences programme. ?It shows us that whatever project work you plan, unless you get your basic structure right you are unlikely to succeed in the long term. This is our contribution to further developing knowledge in the sector, and it?s very exciting.?

?Not For The Likes Of You? worked with 32 cultural organisations:

- Those that had already changed their positioning and now attract a broader audience, including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Theatre & Dance Cornwall, Stevenage Museum and the West Yorkshire Playhouse
- Those that wanted to change their positioning to attract a broader audience in future, including the Angel Row Gallery, Heart ?n? Soul, Nottingham Playhouse and the York City Archive
- Those that did not fit the project criteria but had an interesting story to tell about a particular aspect of access, including Borderline Theatre, the Lawrence Batley Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Women?s Library.

A number of these organisations are spotlighted as success stories, with short profiles detailing the criteria for their success. As the publication itself makes clear, ?Although the findings were drawn from working with cultural organisations, we believe the principles can be applied to any organisation wishing to become more broadly accessible to more people?. The importance of this statement should not be overlooked in the wider developmental picture. Adopting the principles of access and inclusion, and formulating the management strategy and tactics to pursue those principles, truly puts the work of artists and arts organisations at the cutting edge of societal development.

The tangible legacy

New Audiences funding supported many organisations in producing documentation of their projects, published in various forms. Most publications are still available from their originators or on the Internet. Those marked * are downloadable from http://www.newaudiences.org.uk

Arts About Manchester: Family Friendly Final Report and CD-ROM

Never Again ? an interactive guide to welcoming people with learning disabilities to your venue. A CD-ROM produced by Mind the? gap, ADA inc. and Special Effects Theatre Company

A report into the impact of folk festivals on cultural tourism* by Morris Hargreaves McIntyre, commissioned by the Association of Festival Organisers

How Much? commissioned by Sheffield Theatres Trust

So Many Galleries, So Little Time ? The Impact of Evening Gallery Opening* by Morris Hargreaves McIntyre, commissioned by Arts Council England

Open Studios ? a gem worth polishing* by Paul Glinkowski, commissioned by Arts Council England

Placing Arts in New Contexts* by BMRB & Helen Jermyn, commissioned by Arts Council England

The Arts and Inclusion* by Evelyn Carpenter, commissioned by Arts Council England, London

Routes Across Diversity* by Yvonne Field and Marietta Harrow, commissioned by Arts Council England, London

The Arts and Young People* by Sarah Bedell, commissioned by Arts Council England, Yorkshire

*available as a download from the New Audiences website.