Review by Debbie Richards, freelance consultant
(East England Arts 2002, ISBN 0-9523278-5-6 £12.50 [£15.34 inc p&p*])
The Family Factor reports on a pilot initiative conducted across six performing and visual arts venues in East England, and acts as a useful a guide for venues that wish to improve their family friendliness. It is full of valuable practical hints and tips, particularly in the section on ?improving the physical environment of your venue? and the appendices that point you in the direction of further reading and funding sources. Whether you are trying to get to grips with children?s potties (yes, literally) or re-thinking your health and safety policy (?are there scissors around they can pick up??), this guide shares a wide range of experiences from the pilot, and can save the uninitiated from having to start from scratch. It does, however, focus specifically on venues and therefore offers less of relevance to non building-based companies, for whom many of the issues identified will be outside their control. At just 54 pages, however, it is an easy cover-to-cover read, with clear sections that also make it easy to dip in and out.
And if you?re not convinced about the significance of family friendliness, Mark Hazell sums it up: ?25% of households are one-person households, and a growing number of people are over 60. But that doesn?t alter the fact the family makes up the bulk of the UK population. In looking for marketing opportunities, we are in danger of overlooking the one that?s staring us in the face.?
*For further information and invoicing, contact SAM?s Books, Chaldon Court, Church Lane, Chaldon, Caterham, CR3 5AL t/f: 01883 345011 e: books@sam-arts.co.uk; w: http://www.sam-arts.co.uk