With the launch of the Audience Data UK (ADUK) website, Cathy Morris and Angela Tillcock offer some ideas about how to make best use of the vast amount of information that arts organisations collect, and offer an overview of the ADUK initiative.
It is testimony to the developments that have taken place in the arts, and particularly arts marketing, that the collection and interpretation of audience data has become an integral element of many arts organisations workload. Its a factor that has struck us over our past two years working as Project Managers of Audience Data UK; indeed, it has led us to reminisce on our first years starting out in marketing many moons ago!
Paper trail
Cathys first job in the early eighties took her to a theatre in the heart of mid Wales. There she sat in a box office cubicle, not with a computer screen in front of her but a ringbinder file of A3 sheets of paper, each sheet representing a different event. Bookings consisted of writing a surname (an initial if the surname was Jones, Davies or Evans!) and a telephone number in each grid, each space representing a seat. Reservations were written in pencil, paid bookings in blue biro and subscriptions in red. Customers werent asked for their postcodes for the simple reason that in those days very few people knew what theirs were. And even when computerised box office systems came into being, they were largely regarded as a means of processing bookings rather than customer data. Indeed, the term customer or audience data wasnt one you ever used or heard. Rather, arts organisations had mailing lists, usually gathered by asking members of the public to write their names and addresses on postcards and then transferring the information onto sheets of mailing labels.
A quarter of a century has passed and now technology has completely transformed the workplace. Even the smallest of arts organisations are in the process of gathering enormous amounts of data through computerised ticketing systems, whilst research studies are falling off our shelves. Nowadays, marketers require IT and analysis skills in order to tackle the job being able to write a good piece of copy or a scintillating direct mail letter is simply not enough!
The challenge today for everyone working in the arts (not just marketers) is to make sense of it all. Just as the sailors in Coleridges Rime of the Ancient Mariner found themselves with Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink, many arts administrators find themselves in a position of having data, data everywhere but are unable to really make use of it. And, unlike the commercial sector, few arts organisations have the luxury of dedicated departments made up of trained statisticians to gather and interpret data that can then inform artistic, programming and marketing practice.
Clearing confusion
And this is the basis for Audience Data UK (ADUK), a joint initiative between the Arts Councils of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales that aims to help people who work in the arts to make use of audience data. Its roots date back to 2003 when Catalyst Arts was commissioned to undertake a study to look at the way audience data is currently used throughout the arts infrastructure and to consider how it may be better used in the future and what benefits might then flow. The resulting report, The Thirst for Knowledge Audience Data in the Arts (November 2003) revealed that across the arts infrastructure, be it funding bodies, arts organisations, agencies, consultants or individual artists, people want to use data to do their jobs better, but a host of problems get in the way of making use of the available knowledge. Furthermore, confusion and misunderstanding surround the capture, storage, analysis and interpretation of data.
From the recommendations outlined in The Thirst for Knowledge, ADUK is seeking to tackle these problems the types of issue that might, for example, arise in the following scenario. Three arts organisations, similar in size and programming policies, decide that it would be valuable to take part in a mini benchmarking exercise to find out what is working well for each of them and perhaps what they could learn from each others practices, both in terms of programming and marketing. For each of the organisations, the decision to even take part in such an exercise has not been taken lightly as no one wants to lose face. So it is a quite an achievement in itself that the Marketing Manager of Organisation A sits down one morning with (i) a mass of data drawn from the three venues and (ii) the time to do some serious analysis. However, three hours and several phone calls later, the following problems have emerged:
" Organisation B uses a different ticketing system so their reports look completely different to Organisations A and C
" Although Organisations A and C use the same system supplier, the way in which they have set up their Box Offices to calculate capacities for different events varies significantly
" All three calculate drivetimes using different formulae.
What should have been a fairly straightforward exercise has become a positive quagmire of confusion. Finding the time, resources and energy to circumnavigate the obstacles that have arisen at this very early stage in the exercise proves impossible. Yet another benchmarking exercise, conceived with the best of intentions, disappears into the ether.
One of the factors to emerge from the above scenario is the absence of a commonly understood language in this area. Take the word capacity: one used every day by organisations and yet defined in a myriad of different ways that hampers the meaningful sharing of data between individual venues let alone those attempting projects across multiple organisations.
Clear advice
And so, ADUK commissioned Stephen Cashman Consultancy and Training to produce an A Z of Commonly Used Terms and Protocols relating to Box Office and Audience Data (available to download from www.aduk.org). This provides some 85 definitions of commonly used terms along with related protocols and formulae ranging from Age Group to Young Person. As the title suggests, this comprehensive digest covers not only terms directly relating to box office data but also research methodology and terminology, including, for example, clear advice on how to calculate margins for sampling error when undertaking customer surveys.
Linked closely to these definitions and protocols has been work undertaken by Tim Baker and Roger Tomlinson of ACT Consultant Services, who have undertaken a feasibility study for the development of a standard suite of box office data reports across the major UK ticketing suppliers. As their report (also available to download from www.aduk.org) makes clear, there is no quick fix solution that will bring this about, but ADUK will take forward their work and enter into conversations with system suppliers to find a way forward. The report on Standard Box Office Systems also highlights another area that will be addressed by ADUK the need for a comprehensive training programme covering all aspects of gathering and interpreting data.
Care to share
One thorny issue brought to light in The Thirst for Knowledge is the marked reluctance of many organisations to share audience data with others, notably venues and visiting companies/artists. In many instances, the Data Protection Act is cited by venues as the reason they will not release information. However, as ACT Consultant Services report on Data Ownership (available from www.aduk.org) reveals, agreements can be made between venues and external organisations to share data and at the same time comply with the law. ADUK will pilot the guidelines proposed in the report over the coming months with the aim of showing the benefits that can flow when organisations make the decision to share data.
Other work that has been taking place as part of the ADUK initiative includes the development of a top and first level system of artform classification proposed by Peter Verwey. The four UK Arts Councils have already agreed in principle to adopt the use of the six top level classifiers proposed in his report (again available to download from http://www.aduk.org) in their surveys of funded organisations. This opens the possibility of consolidating results from future annual surveys and compiling UK-wide sets of attendance data for each common top-level classifier.
Cultural Intelligence has also been busy on ADUKs behalf, undertaking research into door sales and group bookers. Does the profile of people who buy tickets on the door or attend an event with others differ significantly from the profile of bookers whose data has been captured whilst booking? This work is ongoing and will be reported upon during 2006. ADUK is also looking into the possibility of creating an online resource that will make available to people working in the arts sector the huge amount of research relating to audiences that is already in existence.
Into practice
So, as we hope this article makes clear, a lot of work has already been undertaken and more is in progress. Much of it has been done behind closed doors. However, it has never been the intention of ADUK to stay locked away in meeting rooms. Although funded by the Arts Councils, it is the arts sector that now needs to take ownership of the work to read the reports, to test their findings and to report back on what does and does not work in practice. At the end of the day, the project seeks to provide practical tools that will be useful on a day-to-day level. It is not about theory it is about practice. It is about finding out more about our audiences and surely that is an aim that everyone working in the arts from Artistic Directors to Box Office assistants should be aiming to achieve.
Information and details about all the reports and findings mentioned can be found on the Audience Data UK website. w: http://www.aduk.org
About Audience Data UK
Audience Data UK (ADUK) is a joint initiative between the Arts Councils of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales aimed at helping people who work in the arts to make use of data and information about audiences.
Today, arts organisations of all sizes are increasingly engaged in collecting audience data. ADUK provides guidance and clarification on collecting, processing, analysing and interpreting all that data.
ADUK has commissioned a number of reports examining in detail various aspects of audience data and these are published on the ADUK website at http://www.aduk.org. Over the next few months, ADUK will be piloting the findings of the reports and collating feedback , gathered from individuals, arts organisations and industry bodies. This will inform a major training programme that is planned as part of the initiative.
ADUK is overseen by a Steering Group made up of representatives from each of the UK Arts Councils, and practitioners from a range of arts organisations.
For further information please contact the ADUK Project Management Team, Angela Tillcock (angela.tillcock@aduk.org) and Cathy Morris (cathy.morris@aduk.org)