Audiences Yorkshire (formerly West Yorkshire Arts Marketing), is the marketing and audience development agency for Yorkshire, explains Tracy Cochrane.
Last autumn we came to the end of Arts Exchange, a ground-breaking two-year project which aimed to increase opportunities for South Asian arts practitioners to make, show and develop audiences for their work. Following the usual project evaluation, and now with the benefit of hindsight, I believe there have been a number of very valuable outputs:
? This was the first piece of major research undertaken into audiences for South Asian arts events. It surveyed over 2,000 attenders at over 30 events, from Bollywood films to the Bradford Mela
? Two new pieces of work were commissioned: Little Room of the Big Questions by Chol Theatre, and Unsuitable Girls by Pilot Theatre, both of which reached significant new audiences. Following Arts Exchange, Unsuitable Girls is currently on tour nationally, in a co-production with Leicester Haymarket.
? A range of audience development methodologies have been tested, such as using a ?Ground Crew? of young people to distribute print and engage in peer group marketing.
? A real understanding has been built up of some of the issues involved in reaching Asian audiences.
But what happens next? Although Arts Exchange was a major project involving every member of staff at Audiences Yorkshire, it was still a ?project?, rather than the core work of the organisation. We were left with two challenges. Firstly, to continue the audience development work and make it sustainable; and the second, more fundamental challenge, has been how to integrate the work of Arts Exchange and the issues it raised into the organisation as a whole. The integration into our core activity has been an interesting process, and we engaged a consultant, Kully Thiarai, to help us work through it. As part of our business planning process we have made cultural diversity one of four corporate priorities. In practice this means it is placed at the heart of the organisation and will impact on every element of our work, from organisational infrastructure to service delivery and every project we undertake.
Helped by New Audiences funding, we are continuing the audience development work in a number of ways:
? Piloting generic print, entitled ? What?s Apnaing?, targeting South Asian audiences
? Developing print distribution routes aimed at reaching Asian communities
? Building up a database of people interested in South Asian arts as a resource for the region
? Setting up a special interest group amongst members
? Subsidising membership of Audiences Yorkshire for a number of South Asian and multi-cultural arts organisations based in the region.
We also hope to commission a marketing manual, in partnership with Arts About Manchester and Birmingham Arts Marketing.
None of this is rocket science. The key issue is about organisational culture and long term planning ? the relevance of programming linked to marketing and education, the importance of customer care, good communication and the genuine commitment of all those involved.
Arts Exchange achieved much in two years, and had a significant impact on those involved. However, it was simply the start of the process. There is a continued need to invest in the development of audiences and the production of work, and for the funding bodies to support the development of an infrastructure within which South Asian arts can flourish.
Tracy Cochrane is Marketing Manager at Audiences Yorkshire. t: 0870 160 4400;
e: info@audiencesyorkshire.org.uk
Copies of the Arts Exchange Research and Marketing Guidance Notes are available from Audiences Yorkshire.