FULL HOUSE Turning Data into Audiences - ARTS Australia

AVAILABLE AUDIENCESDiagram 2-1: Attendance Frequency Bull’s EyeKeith Diggle 3 argued eloquently from the 1970s (he wasinvited to present lectures in Australia and New Zealandin 1979) that the arts had to recognise that there was acurrently ‘unavailable’ audience, as well as the currentattenders. He analysed what he saw as:•the core frequent attenders, probably attendingonce every two or three months, who most artsorganisations see as the ‘bulls eye’ on their sales target;Non-attendersLess than once a yearOnce a yearTwo or three times a yea•beyond them, the less frequent attenders who hedescribed as ‘intenders’ – they value the arts as a ‘goodthing’ and always mean to attend but don’t often makethe visit, so they end up attending perhaps two orthree times a year;Every two to three montAt least once a month•beyond them, those who only ever attend veryinfrequently – research shows anything from once ayear to once every three years or so.And, of course, beyond them are the really unavailableaudience – those who appear to reject most artsattendance opportunities. Keith Diggle argued, perhapscontroversially, that these people were ‘hostile’ and thatit was more practical and healthy to concentrate onestablishing a strong relationship with those who hadalready attended. However, he also argued that artsorganisations must take steps to attempt to continue togrow audiences.3. Keith Diggle, Marketing the Arts, an introduction and practicalguide, 1976, City University, London; Guide to Arts Marketing,1984 and Arts Marketing, 1994, Rhinegold Publishing, London.www.audience-development.net/Non-attendersLess than once a yearOnce a yearTwo or three times a yearEvery two to three monthsAt least once a monthSource: Theatre Attenders Target Group Index Data,Arts Council EnglandThose familiar with geometry will appreciate that in archeryor darts, the bull’s eye is hardest to hit because it is thesmallest area of the target. And each band outwardsrepresents an increasingly large combined area to target.The same is true for the attenders – the core frequentattenders usually form a very small percentage of thepublic, and a relatively small proportion of total attenders.Sadly, the outer ring of the ‘unavailable’ or ‘hostile’ representthe largest percentage, and the easiest to hit – and miss!10 FULL HOUSE: Turning Data into Audiences © Roger Tomlinson & Tim Roberts