Television and radio have always presented huge opportunities for the arts. Recent controversy over the declining quantity and quality of terrestrial arts television make broadcasting, including webcasting, an even more important topic for the arts world.
Arts Council England?s New Audiences Programme made it a particular priority to pilot new broadcast partnerships and examine new ways of working with broadcasters. Kim Evans, Executive Director of Arts at Arts Council England affirms that ?We see broadcast media as a key way of engaging new audiences for the arts?. £1.1m has been invested in partnerships with organisations including the BBC, Channel 4 and Classic FM. This funding has supported education and outreach work linking on-air programming to off-air activities, marketing and promotional materials, new commissions, research and evaluation.
Operatunity knocks
The media can both demystify the arts and give people a platform to be creative. Operatunity, produced by Diverse Productions in partnership with English National Opera and Channel 4, reached an audience of around 2m. The series raised the profile of opera, commanded hugely positive news coverage and broke new ground in arts television formats. The open application process for participating singers was undertaken through a national outreach programme funded by New Audiences. 75% of the live audience at the Coliseum for the final performance of Rigoletto were new to opera, attending because of the broadcast.
Self Portrait UK gave people of all ages the chance to express their individuality and identity through self-portraits in any medium from drawing to digital imaging. A leading regional producer, Media 19, worked in partnership with Channel 4 and the National Portrait Gallery in a project supported by Arts Council England, North East. Work produced through the project will be toured through to 2004, showcased on Channel 4 and displayed in the Tyne and Wear Metro system and the London Underground.
Entry points
Several projects, such as Classic FM Families, tested whether listeners or viewers could be encouraged to attend events. Classic FM invited families to attend concerts in their home cities, supporting them by providing information packs, introductory CDs and pre-concert discussions with presenter Natalie Wheen. Other research, funded by New Audiences, will attempt to measure the links between live concert attendances and broadcast promotions by Classic FM.
Millennium Music Live ? the BBC?s festival of live music in May 2000 ? offered an ?entry point? for new audiences, using all the BBC platforms (local, national and World Service radio, online and TV). 60% of attenders had never been to a live music event before. Detailed information on motivations, barriers and statistics was documented in a New Audiences report by McCann Matthews Millman.
Another major collaboration between the BBC and Arts Council England is the Roots project, jointly funding co-ordinators at 11 local radio stations to bring audiences to culturally diverse arts. The co-ordinators are researching, producing and supporting local community events and activities, and new content for radio, online and television. Running since September 2002, the 18-month project seeks to make a long-term impact on the way cultural diversity is reflected in the media.
Individual artists
Access to terrestrial television is elusive for many artists. Slot Art was a 2-year project allowing 16 artists in the first year to show their work in a 3-minute programme on Channel 4 at 7.55 p.m. In year two, four directors each created a profile of an artist for broadcast, with an accompanying website displaying the artists? works. Viewing figures ranged from 198,000 to 1,037,000. An evaluation of the partnership, including audience impact, was conducted by Prevista.
Promoting the arts
New Audiences has supported and evaluated a number of promotional arts events including Bedtime Reading Week, Big Arts Week and Parents? Week. Since 1998, National Poetry Day has received New Audiences funding, building on the well-established partnership between the National Poetry Society and the BBC. Last year the Programme funded a CD Rom for schools, a live literature promoter toolkit and regional partnership work to strengthen the event in the future. Architecture Week (June 20-29 2003) will this year be supported by a full evening of broadcasting on BBC4 and features on Radio 3 and Channel 4.
Challenges
Though partnerships with broadcasters can have an immensely positive impact, challenges inevitably arise. Tensions can emerge around editorial control, artists? rights and proper crediting. For arts organisations and artists, preserving their own perspective and role with major media players can prove difficult. However, once shared objectives are established and longer-term relationships planned, new approaches can reveal what the arts can do for broadcasting, and what broadcasting can do for the arts.
Beyond the Page
Resources linked to Essential Audiences are available at http://www.newaudiences.org.uk
Information and downloadable reports on arts and broadcasting include Roots, Classic FM Families, BBC Music Live, National Poetry Day and Slot Art.
Feedback to Essential Audiences can be sent to audiences@artsprofessional.co.uk. Essential Audiences is compiled and written by Catherine Rose. For more information about the New Audiences Programme, contact the Arts Council England, 14 Great Peter Street, London SW1P 3NQ.
t: 020 7973 6497 f: 020 7973 6791 e: newaudiences@artscouncil.org.uk textphone: 020 7973 6564