Report and webinar: Act Green national sector survey

SUMMARY

A report by Indigo following their national sector survey, Act Green. The survey was designed to find out more about how audiences feel about the climate emergency and what role they think cultural organisations should play in tackling it. Sponsored by Point One.

In May 2022, 58 organisations took part in the Indigo and Point One Act Green research, gathering 12,000 responses from audience members in the UK.

Survey Aims

The survey aims were to:

Understand the ways in which audiences think cultural organisations should be contributing to the climate crisis
Discover how different audience groups view the role of organisations
Develop impactful ways to communicate with different audience groups and improve audience engagement with sustainability
Help shape strategies for how best to involve audiences in sustainability initiatives

Key findings

The responses from 11,682 audience members to the Act Green survey show that:

86% of cultural audiences are worried about the impact of the climate crisis – 10% higher than the general population (compared with results of a recent ONS survey*).
94% have made changes to their lifestyle – compared to 79% of the general population.
77% think cultural organisations have a responsibility to influence society to make radical change to address the climate emergency.
Only 17% think cultural organisations currently place ‘great importance’ on playing an active role in tackling climate change – although a further 57% say they place ‘some importance’ on it.
More than 90% of audiences expect organisations to ensure their buildings are as energy efficient as possible, avoid single use plastics and use materials from reused or recycled sources for building sets.
Nearly 3 in 4 audience members would be open to suggestions of more sustainable food choices at cultural venues, while 65% would consider using public transport rather than driving to access a reduced ticket price.
More than half of audience members say they would be ‘quite likely’ to support a fundraising initiative to improve the ongoing biodiversity of the venue and almost a third would support the development of artistic work exploring climate issues.

“It is really encouraging to see the level of importance that cultural audiences are placing on the climate emergency. The results from Act Green clearly show that audiences expect the cultural organisations they attend and support to lead the way when it comes to sustainability, managing buildings more efficiently, making changes to front of house operations and challenging people to think differently by tackling climate themes on their stages.

“And audiences are willing to play their part too, getting involved in audience-focused initiatives from travel to food choices. The responses from younger audiences in particular offer a real opportunity for cultural organisations to build relationships with a new generation of theatre goers who are passionate about climate activism. I hope this signals the beginning of a new wave of supporters, advocates and volunteers to support organisations to meet sustainability goals.”

Katy Raines, CEO Indigo

Methodology

Cultural organisations in the UK, including theatres, arts centres, festivals, touring companies, museums and galleries, were invited to participate in the Act Green research. The research was free for cultural organisations in the UK to take part.

Organisations were each provided with a unique link to send out to a recommended sample of around 5,000 of their previous attenders. They were provided with a link to see the results from their own organisation in real time, and the results from all organisations were then aggregated to form the baseline data set.

The survey ran from 9 – 29 May and during that three-week period, 11,682 responses were gathered through 58 cultural organisations.

Download the full report (PDF)

Webinar

Speakers:

Katy Raines - CEO, Indigo Ltd
Flo Carr - Head of Consultancy & Client Services, Indigo Ltd
Vicky Sword-Daniels - Arts Council England Programme Lead, Julie's Bicycle
Debbie Bell - Building and Environmental Manager, HOME
Caroline Aston - Audience Insight Manager, Chichester Festival Theatre
Katie Haines - Head of Development and External Relations, Artsadmin / Season for Change