Review by Jane Coe at Smart ? Marketing the Arts around Surrey
(AMA, 2001, ed. Liz Hill, ISBN 1-903315-05-0 £10 [£12.57 inc p&p*])
This report documents MAX?s three-year project to develop youth audiences in Oxfordshire. The first part details research into the youth market, including findings relating to segmenting youth audiences, their attitudes towards cultural venues, and ways of removing barriers to attendance. It then relates research specifically to young people in Oxfordshire, testing their reactions to a number of marketing and programming concepts which might address these barriers. Part 2 focuses on the practical marketing and audience development initiatives undertaken by MAX to respond to the research findings. These involved appointing two marketing trainees and producing a quarterly magazine written for and by young people. The magazine publicised ticket subsidies and targeted arts activities from participating venues in the area.
The report concludes that methods needed to target mass youth audiences are complex, expensive and difficult to sustain. MAX recommends that discounted tickets are not the whole answer, and advocates a long-term approach, building on further activity as successes are achieved.
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