Dance Mapping - Arts Council England

• each venue appears to attract a discrete audience both in catchment and lifestyle and
behaviour. The research therefore concluded that presentation of work in each venue
is likely to attract a larger overall audience
• no significant seasonal differences were noted
• analysis of audiences for different productions revealed some marked differences in
behaviour and profile.
From the above review of all of this research, it is possible to extrapolate some key trends
and issues that should now inform future planning and development.
Practical and attitudinal barriers to engagement
Some 6% of the population appears to be attending dance events. The Taking Part survey
along with the earlier Arts Council England research on attendances and participation
highlighted some serious issues around engagement with dance and this suggests that there
is a need for the sector to consider a range of different strategies to overcome both the
practical and attitudinal barriers to engagement with dance.
Crossover/dynamics of a shared market place
The market for dance therefore remains relatively small. The fact that much of the research
indicates that there is little crossover between venues seems to suggest that less competitive
and more collaborative approaches to programming would assist audience development for
dance across venues. This approach was borne out by the London Escalator project where
audiences were progressively increased across three venues of different scales.
Increased provision
There is strong evidence that provision is increasing. But there is also some evidence that
increased provision, whilst increasing overall audience numbers, may not increase frequency
of attendance. The research seems to suggest that more analysis of where provision should
be best placed is required. It would seem that increasing provision in venues with local
thresholds may not increase attendances whilst increasing provision with larger catchment
thresholds will.
‘Shelf life’
Many productions have a short shelf life but as the existing research suggests that word of
mouth is important in informing attendance choices, there is a clear argument for approaches
to programming that create longer shelf life for work and encourage a more collaborative
approach across venues or opportunities for remounts and development of work across
different scales and sizes of venues to allow for ‘escalation’ and audience growth.
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