Arts and Young People – a report on a pilot audience development programme

Arts and Young People – a report on a pilot audience development programme

By Sarah Bedell

SUMMARY

Arts and Young People formed an important strand of Yorkshire Arts Board's approach to the New Audiences Programme (ACE and RAB collaboration).  This report includes an introduction to the programme and its core aims and objectives, case studies on some of the activity that took place, analysis of the evaluation of that work and recommendation for future programmes.

It would be true to say that there has always been a general feeling within the arts sector that audience development is a good thing. Defining, developing and evaluating it effectively, however, is another matter. Thinking and planning around this crucial area considerably increased in sophistication and focus with the availability of significant additional resources since 1998. This was channelled mainly through the New Audiences Programme (NAP), co-ordinated by the Arts Council of England (ACE) in collaboration with the 10 Regional Arts Boards (RABs).

In terms of numbers of attendances, ticket sales and participation, Theatre Royal York achieved the following:

  • By January 2001 the In-Crowd membership scheme had achieved 158 members.
  • 50 of these members have attended at least one performance at the theatre.
  • 16 of those members have returned to the theatre for a second visitand 7 have returned more than once.
Resource type: Research | Published: 2013