Increasingly, arts organisations are using digital technologies to fulfil their missions and duties. In her first article as ArtsProfessionals new Essential IT columnist, Hannah Rudman argues that organisations should be doing more to use technology in audience development.
The recently released, initial findings from the London Calling Digital Marketing Survey, covering over 1,000 London and South East based arts organisations, broadly concurred with the findings from the IT and Digital Content Audit that I conducted earlier this year amongst organisations regularly funded by Arts Council England North West. London Callings Managing Director, John Nicholls, summarised their findings as revealing a very clear desire within the sector for it to engage actively in digital media, and the overall picture that emerged from the NW audit supports this: ideas are not limited by imagination or lack of ambition. Sector marketing professionals are interested in engaging with digital marketing solutions such as interactive viral campaigns and SMS/MMS marketing.
Push and pull
The NW audit found that 100% of the artistic directors of visual arts organisations agreed that the creation of digital content around artistic activity fitted into their artistic vision. Seventy-six per cent of performing arts organisations reported the same commitment. Ideas are not limited by imagination or lack of ambition, but by a lack of inclusion in formal strategic documentation; in budgets and capacity planning; and in organisational and artistic development thinking. A similar study in 2004 found that only 65% of arts organisations had websites now, in 2006, between 95% and 98% of organisations have websites. And the majority of these websites work: they look nice, and our audiences browse them and use them to access the information they want. In addition to the pull of websites, some organisations are working to improve and personalise overall customer experience though digital communications, employing more sophisticated ways of deploying push marketing activities such as direct email (three-quarters of London and SE respondents make use of this facility).
We now need to grasp opportunities to ensure that digital technologies will work hard at audience development on our behalf. Look around you and youll recognise that we are creating art in a rapidly changing, consumer-driven environment. Digital technologies have the ability to connect with those generations that are growing up digital there is a spirit of exploration amongst technology users, and in the under 40s an intrigue and delight in the newest digital devices. Arts organisations with audiences within a younger demographic have had great success (cheaply) producing podcasts see Pilot Theatres video podcasts by artistic director, Marcus Romer ; and (more costly) video shows for Personal PlayStations (PSPs) see ICAs The Show .
Contact
But digital technologies should also be considered in terms of their unique ability to tackle some of the social and psychological factors that inhibit attendance and participation in the arts amongst those who regard the arts as not for people like us. Inclusive social software (like blogs, chatrooms, wikis and forums) are easy to set up and add to your existing website, enabling your audience to engage in a meaningful dialogue with you, and each other. The audience begins to develop itself, with communities of interest emerging. People not sure about attending will ask questions that other audience members will answer. Check out the Philharmonias forum, where you will find discussions that will interest you whether you are a budding bassoonist or dynamic DJ (I like the discussion around the question posted: Should the turntable be considered a musical instrument?, which generated responses from composers for film to GCSE students) .
Its worth keeping up with these conversation strands and contributing too negative comments can reveal how you could improve audience experience, or who you should/shouldnt invite to participate in your consumer council. Other comments may well give you ideas for live and virtual events that you could run that would be of particular interest to your communities.
Setting up social online spaces like a page on myspace.com can really work hard for you as a viral marketing tool, as potential audience members pass on the URL (website address) to each other; and as people discover your page serendipitously, or because it rises up the ranks due to the number of hits it gets! Its easy to set up and its free. Contact Theatre marketed their recent new work Skid 180 about BMX subculture successfully via a myspace page.
If youve got a forum or chat room on your website, make sure that a member of staff is frequently live online, and make sure the website users know when artists will next be online. (Offer the same level of customer service and quality in your virtual engagements as you would in your live and/or venue-based engagements with the public). Individual artists can write a blog, perhaps describing and showing working processes and answering readers questions and comments. Hoipolloi have recently used a microsite and blog to generate interest around their character Hugh Hughes and his show Floating .
Content led
Creating digital content is often an additional cost thats not included in many revenue budgets if youve found some funds to experiment with making one piece of content, how can you minimise the risk and be sure to make something that the audience actually wants? Why not let the audience visiting your website decide what they would most like to see as digital content: imagine a theatre company letting their audiences vote from a menu of, say, five items (a digital video masterclass with a director; virtual tour behind the scenes; an interactive game, etc.), with the item receiving the most votes being made into digital content. This way, an audience member will certainly feel that their interaction with you (even if they voted for something else!) prompted a response from you.
Although annual budgets for digital technologies are low (two-thirds of respondents to London Calling reported budgets lower than £10,000) and the NW audit reported 80% of respondents as blaming lack of funds as the main barrier to digital technology development, the process has just begun. As John Nicholls comments, there is a considerable journey of knowledge-building on which the arts is clearly willing to embark over the next few years.
On limited budgets, we have become competent as a sector at digitally broadcasting (pushing) our information in fairly sophisticated ways to our audiences. However, this is highly labour intensive for us as the content producers. Social software and social spaces can provide us with the extra benefits of the audience co-producing content with us, as well as a viral marketing distribution channel. For the audience, the benefits are a sense of participating, of being listened to, and of having their experience with you tailored and personalised.
Hannah Rudman is an independent IT, digital audience development and digital content consultant. She is currently developing ambITion with Arts Council England and arts organisations nationally to develop good practice examples and test the best models for developing the sectors IT and digital content capacity.
e: hannah@hannahrudman.com;
t: 07971 282261