ACE’s strategic funds aim to improve audience engagement levels
One-to-one support for audience development work, a suite of resources to help arts organisations better understand their audiences, and greater emphasis on delivering family friendly arts experiences will be among the outcomes to be delivered through the first round of grants from Arts Council England’s £7.5m Audience Focus fund. £3.3m over three years will go to Audiences Plus, a consortium of specialist audience development agencies led by All About Audiences and Audiences London, to develop a national database of arts attenders, an online audience analytics system and a DIY audience focus toolkit. A further £1.1m has been offered to a consortium of arts umbrella bodies from across the visual and performing arts sectors, led by the Association of British Orchestras, to develop a large-scale national Family Friendly Arts programme to increase levels of engagement by families and young people; and the Arts Marketing Association will get £900,000 to develop a national service that will share and implement arts marketing and audience development techniques. A further £2m of funding will support a second round of applications to the Audience Focus fund and address areas that ACE identifies as not being fully addressed by the first round of commissions.