Dance Mapping - Arts Council England

Brand loyalty
As an increasingly brand-loyal society, there is a question of ‘whose brand? This is key for
the dance sector. Is the brand the venue or the touring company? Low retention rates
suggest that companies do not have their own audience. The evidence is that choices are
made on the programme and the venue rather than the company and this is borne out by the
lack of crossover between venues.
Cultural tourists
The research appears to suggest that there is significant room for improvement in the ways in
which dance captures a share of the cultural tourism market. The overseas market scarcely
features in the current dance market. Visibility in incoming markets is crucial and again a
more coordinated approach across venues may be a way forward.
Audience profile: Urban intelligence and symbols of success
Mosaic profiling is a method of segmenting the population into different lifestyle types and
groups defined by the postcode. Each segment is described in depth detailing financial
circumstances, consumer and leisure habits, values and motivations. Dance appears to
attract audiences from the mosaic profiling segments symbols of success and urban
intelligence.
The Audiences London research highlighted the following:
Urban
intelligence
Symbols of
success
Description UK Audiences London
Mostly contains young and well educated people who are open to
new ideas and influences. Young and single and few encumbered
with children, they tend to be avid explorers of new ideas and
fashions, cosmopolitan in their tastes and liberal in social attitudes.
Eager media consumers, they like to be treated as individuals and
value authenticity
People whose lives are successful by whatever yardsticks society
commonly uses to measure success. These are people who have
rewarding careers rather than jobs, who live in sought after locations,
drive expensive cars and who indulge in exotic leisure pursuits.
Table 66: Mosaic profiling and relevance for dance
7.19% 32.2%
9.6% 32.9%
contemporary
dance audience
212