Attracting an audience of students can be challenging and requires fresh thinking, says Andrew Ridal.
The Arena Theatre has been part of the University of Wolverhampton (previously Wolverhampton Polytechnic) for the past 30 years. Throughout that time it has striven to provide a full and varied programme to stimulate and entertain not only students but also the whole community. The policy of mixed programming has been critical to the development of the niche in which the Arena sits as well as to its continued success in providing work that appeals to the diverse communities in a large multi-ethnic urban area.
But what about the students? Students dont really have a fantastic reputation and perceptions of them are usually negative: students are poor; students drink lots of alcohol; students like free stuff; students live in run-down terraced houses with 15 of their mates, one of whom has either a Vauxhall Astra or Peugeot 106; students are only truly conscientious about their studies for the 3 weeks preceding exams; and students pay by cheque. Whilst these examples may be slightly exaggerated, they certainly fit in with a common stereotype. But is it fair?
The University of Wolverhampton, in this academic year, has about 13,000 students enrolled on full-time courses, with a further 10,000 or so on part-time or postgraduate courses. On the face of it, this looks like a huge potential audience sitting on our doorstep. But is it? Many of the students that attend the University (like most of the new universities) are local. Over three-quarters of them live at home and as a consequence still have the social structures and friendships residual from compulsory schooling in place. Its therefore fair to say if they werent arts attenders before, why should they be now?
For the 3,000 students living in halls of residence or the other 3,000 living in rented accommodation away from home, there is social pressure to follow the pack and fit in; the fear of loneliness has a major impact upon a students behaviour. Given the financial pressure they are under simply to live, not to mention socialise, its understandable that arts attendance comes a fairly long way down the list of many students priorities. Many have to take on jobs, often working longer than the recommended maximum of 15 hours per week in order to survive. Having said that, however, there is evidence to suggest that students are not particularly price-sensitive, but instead are very aware of value and perceived benefits just look at the number of gadgets sold to students: not exactly the consumption patterns of the cash-strapped.
What this adds up to is that many students dont necessarily see the arts as part of their life, but may be aware of venues and events. Some of them will go to an event if their mates are going as well, and on the whole they are very aware of how they want to spend their money and know what they want to get as a result. Doesnt that make students similar to other audiences? Its not easy, but maybe we should look at what we are offering, start thinking like students, and stop seeing them as drunken layabouts who should be coming to our venue rather than blowing their loan on booze.
Andrew Ridal is Marketing Manager at the Arena Theatre in Wolverhampton.
e: aridal@wlv.ac.uk t: 01902 322646