Letters – Off target
From Neal Hattersley, Director, Business Growth Partners
I read Helen Goulds letter, Off Target, in AP issue 151 and found it to be a bit polemical. I would have classified it under the usual moan had I not read James Williams piece about building community audiences at the Shaftesbury Theatre, and then read about how Sarah Cox at Reading Arts and Venues has been using audience tracking software to reach new audiences. Building audiences in ethnic minorities and amongst the socially excluded is as much about marketing as about product development. James shows how infrastructure regeneration and pricing policies can be used as vehicles to build an audience over time and Sarah points out the harsh reality: that existing white middle class attenders cost 15p per head to reach, while new prospects start at £3.23! To reach those hard to get groups you need to adopt Amazon-like business development strategies; i.e. find out what they do now and say to them, if you are willing to spend time and money on this you might well like our new (or existing) product. Perhaps more case studies on how audiences have been reached in the past would help arts professionals to move forward. They may not be unwilling; they may just lack the knowledge. Lets be positive about the role of the arts.
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