Audiences Yorkshire Annual Review
2007 08
Contents 2-3 4-5 6-7 8-9 10-11 12-13 14-15 16-17 18-19 20 21 21
CONTENTS
Welcome Our mission Building relationships Providing audience insight Reaching people with cultural information A few of the year’s highlights What the future holds We’re changing to help you Thrive! Financial accounts Our members Our trustees, investors and partners Keep in touch
Building relationships Building relationships 1
Welcome to Audiences Yorkshire’s Annual Review 2007/08
2 WELCOME
2007/08 has been a pivotal year for Audiences Yorkshire in completing the Draft Business Case for our organisational development programme, Thrive! which is funded by Arts Council England. With Thrive! we have designed a plan to transform our way of working with cultural organisations in order that they can develop their way of working with audiences towards increasing levels of audience engagement over the longer-term. Membership continues to be at the heart of what we do and it’s encouraging to see that attendance at our new Industry Briefings which are now open to non-members have continued to grow as have levels of membership. However, we know from our own customer research that the current membership model
is not suitable to all types and scales of cultural organisations. Therefore, over the next 12 months, we will be exploring through Thrive! how we can improve on the membership service and make it relevant to a greater diversity of organisations. Alongside this, we have continued to support member organisations and non-members with a wide variety of marketing, audience research and consultancy needs. Of particular note is the way in which different artform groups are now working collaboratively on benchmarking projects to compare their processes, practices and performance in order to learn from one another. The region’s theatres have engaged with and developed The Big Picture benchmarking research project. The results from this comparative data study have been used by individual theatres to strategically
inform their business planning decisions including pricing and funding policies. Similarly, we have delivered an exit survey of visitors to nine of Yorkshire’s largest visitor attractions for the third year running. The research has been used to refine marketing strategies and support internal planning across entire organisations. It’s been great to see that Audiences Yorkshire’s work in this area in particular has been recognised at a national level though the Audience Data UK resource (see www.aduk.org). Next year, we’ll be consulting widely on how we can build on these developments as part of our programme of continuing improvement so that we can enable and sustain more effective and collective development of cultural participation. We look forward to having your insight and input into our future plans.
Clive Lawrence Chair
Alison Edbury Chief Executive
WELCOME 3
Audiences Yorkshire is the region’s strategic audience development agency. Our mission is to work collaboratively with the cultural sector to grow and nurture audiences. By building strong relationships we support the sector in attracting audiences to the vibrant mix of cultural activity that the Yorkshire and Humber region has to offer.
Our mission
4 Our mission
Looking back, looking ahead Audiences Yorkshire continues to lead the region’s cultural sector in developing knowledge about audiences and building relationships with them. This Annual Review showcases the diverse range of initiatives we delivered in 2007/08 to support our strategic aims. We have also included a glimpse of our exciting plans for the future.
There are five strategic aims that underpin our work: 1. Champion audience development
by understanding and responding to the marketing needs of audience-based organisations by being knowledgeable about audiences and their different needs
2. Increase awareness of the cultural provision in Yorkshire and the Humber 3. Embrace and promote diversity in the cultural sector 4. Support cultural agencies and organisations in developing a robust and sustainable infrastructure 5. Ensure long-term sustainability for Audiences Yorkshire.
our mission 5
“Becoming a member of Audiences Yorkshire this year has been of enormous benefit – we’ve worked together to target our leaflet distribution to an ever wider audience base and supported this with information on digyorkshire.com. The regular e-bulletin has helped inform industry colleagues of our recent news and achievements, as well as keeping our staff up to date with the latest news and audience engagement opportunities.” Ian Richardson, Yorkshire Air Museum
The continued support of our members, stakeholders and partners enables us to deliver a broad programme of marketing, training and networking initiatives that increase audience engagement throughout the region. Members We value the opportunity of working together with our members to create a mutually beneficial network of cultural organisations with a shared interest in audience engagement. In 2007/08, our membership grew to 108 as we welcomed six new organisations: Burton Constable Hall Jazz Yorkshire Leeds City Museum Yorkshire Air Museum Yorkshire Museum of Farming West Yorkshire Archive Service.
Building relationships
6 BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
Stakeholders A wide range of stakeholders provides essential support to Audiences Yorkshire. Our board of trustees continues to govern the organisation and work with the management team to develop our strategic plan. In addition, our investment partners, strategic agencies, consultants and other
regional audience development agencies all play a vital role in our ongoing development. In 2007/08, we received notable support from the following organisations for specific projects: Arts Council England MLA Yorkshire Renaissance Yorkshire Yorkshire Forward. Partners Audiences Yorkshire continues to develop partnerships outside the region through its involvement with Network, the umbrella body for audience development agencies in the UK. As a member of Network, we work in collaboration with other agencies and share best practice. In June 2007, Audiences Yorkshire’s Chief Executive, Alison Edbury, was appointed Chair of Network. Building on previous work, we also developed partnerships with Higher Education institutes. Evah Mwando from Leeds Trinity and All Saints became the first student on our new five week work placement scheme. We aim to extend the scheme to provide practical experience of working in the arts and to support individuals who want to pursue a career in the cultural sector.
“We’re delighted that Audiences Yorkshire support us… It gives students the opportunity to gain valuable experience of the working environment and specialised knowledge relevant to their course of study, while giving them a real insight into the arts sector.” Jess Sewter, Employment Supervisor, Leeds Trinity and All Saints
Events overview 2007/08 This year we have continued to invest in audience-focused training that meets the continuing professional development needs of the sector. We ran six specialist courses on marketing, creativity, technology, research, diversity and PR and also created bespoke training packages for five organisations that made a real difference in how they approach audience engagement.
We also repositioned our regular networking events as Industry Briefings to create more opportunities to engage organisations from across the arts and cultural sector. Events over the year included ’Getting Engaged – working with communities’, ‘Call it a Tenner – the role of pricing in the arts’ and ‘Think Big – maximising your PR potential.’ “I had high expectations and they were met!” Jo Kay, Arts About Manchester Delegate at ‘Call it a Tenner’
“The networking event was a great chance for me to catch up with press officers... Hopefully those listening found it as useful as I did to be talking!” Nick Ahad, Arts and Cultural Correspondent, Yorkshire Post – Speaker at ‘Think Big’
Our Annual Conference in November, ‘Let’s Stick Together: bonding with your audience’, focused on customer relationship management (CRM) as a response to members’ own efforts in addressing the current personalisation agenda in the arts. Delegates heard Professor Moira Clark from The Henley Centre for Customer Management and other experts explain how CRM can improve audience attendance and business performance.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS 7
“The quality and depth of Audiences Yorkshire’s benchmarking work has been hugely valuable in informing national benchmarking projects. They have set a very high standard of sharing information amongst arts organisations and established a really practical, useful framework based on the needs of the organisations themselves.” Kate Sanderson, ADUK Associate Consultant
Providing audience insight 8 Providing audience insight
Throughout 2007/08, our research and consultancy services helped arts and cultural organisations enhance their market intelligence. We helped cultural organisations get closer to their audiences by providing real insight on which to base marketing and development decisions. The Big Picture Working with 12 of the region’s theatres, we delivered year two of this benchmarking project. By providing detailed comparative analysis of box office data as well as mapping and profiling of bookers, The Big Picture is designed to help participating theatres benchmark their audience data against other theatres in the region. Through detailed data analysis, participants are now in a stronger position to understand their audience engagement trends. Yorkshire’s Magnificent Attractions Group Exit Survey For the third year running, this survey of visitors to nine of Yorkshire’s largest visitor attractions was conducted in partnership with Bonner & Hindley Communications. The survey covers the demographic profile of visitors, awareness of publicity, motivations for visiting,
information about their visit and their experiences of the attraction. The ongoing success of the project highlights how regular audience research can inform marketing decisions and strategy in a practical way. Not for the Likes of You In partnership with MLA Yorkshire, we were able to run this programme for a second year. Focusing on attracting a broader audience through organisational change, participants included Barnsley Library Service, North East Lincolnshire Cultural Services, Hull History Services and Yorkshire Dance. “The NFTLOY programme has supported our improvement. It is different to anything we have done before and has sparked a good deal of creative thinking. It has made us realise that we are serving many complex client groups and that by focusing much more closely on specific groups we can effect change and improvements more easily.”
Consultancy During the course of the year, we delivered marketing consultancy for a wide range of cultural organisations. This included audience research and a marketing programme for Connect, the £1.97m Heritage Lottery Funded redevelopment of Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, as well as support for Arts Council England on the Family Friendly initiative and consultancy for Trinity Church Osset, Site Gallery, Yorkshire Forward, Yorkshire Museum of Farming and Museums and Galleries Month. “I could not conceive of working on a project involving audiences and marketing without involving Audiences Yorkshire.” Dr Nima Poovaya-Smith, Director, Alchemy and Project Director, Connect
Steve Hipkins, Head of Cultural Services, North East Lincolnshire
Providing audience insight 9
Reaching people with cultural information
10 Reaching people with cultural information
As e-marketing becomes an essential new tool for reaching audiences, traditional print distribution also remains a vital channel when informing the public about what’s happening in the region. Through AY Creative Services and digyorkshire.com we continue to fulfil the demands of audiences for both offline and online cultural information. AY Creative Services Delivering leaflets since 1991, AY Creative Services (AYCS) is the region’s market leader in print distribution for the creative sector. AYCS restructured in 2007/08 with Managing Director Tony Mackinnon now supported by a Distribution Manager and Logistics Manager. In 2007/08, AYCS commissioned a report into print distribution trends and identified that print is expected to be an important communications tool well into the future with greater emphasis on environmental and technological factors. These findings will feed into service improvements including a website redevelopment to enable clients to better analyse their print distribution.
digyorkshire.com digyorkshire.com is the ‘what’s on’ website for cultural events in the region and a proven audience development tool for the arts. In 2007/08, digyorkshire.com developed its editorial coverage to include more reviews and features. It also introduced a new solution for its e-marketing service, enabling clients to measure the impact of their online marketing campaigns. A one-off event licence for digtickets was also created so that festivals and small theatre companies could implement online ticketing. Grove and Rawdon Theatre Company, Ilkley Amateur Operatic Society, York University Concert Season and Wakefield Arts Festival all became new digtickets clients. “I think this [digtickets] is brilliant and a real asset to this rural venue.” Anthea Rathlin-Jones, The Mart Theatre
In January, funding was secured from Yorkshire Forward for a complete redevelopment of digyorkshire.com. The site will relaunch with improved design and functionality in April 2009. Over 30 million leaflets distributed by AYCS 25,000 ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ packs distributed by AYCS to the region’s Holiday Parks 2,626,002 page views of digyorkshire.com 42% of respondents to the digyorkshire.com Reader Review have been to a new venue because of digyorkshire.com 93% satisfaction rating with the customer service for digtickets “Thank you so much for giving Mum and I a wonderful and lasting experience. Mum was still talking about it days later. In fact, I purchased two tickets to the next show by the same director, simply because I enjoyed the production I saw with the winning tickets so much!” Tracey Platt, digyorkshire.com/York Theatre Royal competition winner
Reaching people with cultural information 11
A few of the year’s highlights digyorkshire.com introduces a new service enabling clients to receive statistical feedback on their e-marketing campaigns. Over the year, 38 campaigns are delivered on behalf of 24 clients.
Alison Edbury is appointed Chair of Network, the umbrella organisation for UK regional audience development agencies. The collaboration helps broaden our national relationships and provides a platform to share best practice and market intelligence.
Delivery of marketing consultancy for ‘Crossing the Waters’, the first exhibition for the Connect redevelopment at Bradford’s Cartwright Hall Art Gallery. Its success leads to the exhibition touring to Leicester and Bristol.
Audiences Yorkshire’s training programme delivers ‘Owning Diversity: Understanding Diversity and Placing it at the Heart of your Organisation’. Feedback shows that 100% of participants intend to make changes in the workplace as a result of the course.
We receive a record number of visits to our website www.audiencesyorkshire.org.uk – 300% up on July 2006. Our website continues to be a vital way to develop relationships with our members, stakeholders and the public.
‘Not for the Likes of You’ enters its second year with Barnsley Library Service, Hull History Services, North East Lincolnshire Cultural Services and Yorkshire Dance. Visits to North East Lincolnshire libraries grow by 8.5% and visits to museums by 7% as a result of the programme.
12 A few of the year’s highlights
As part of Black History Month, our Yorkshire Vybe campaign was covered by BBC Look North, BBC Radio Leeds, the Sheffield Star, Yorkshire Evening Post and Leeds Guide. Our work is nominated for a Black History Foundation Award.
digyorkshire.com supports Renaissance Yorkshire by developing www.chinainyorkshire.org.uk and provides content management and listings for the site. Over the year, there are 34,663 visits to www.chinainyorkshire.org.uk.
Delivery of four workshops for York and North Yorkshire Festivals. Feedback shows that 80% of delegates intend to make changes in their organisation as a result of the event.
90 delegates attend our Annual Conference ‘Let’s Stick Together - bonding with your audience’ on building relationships with audiences through customer relationship management. 74% of respondents rate Professor Clark, from the Henley Centre for Customer Management, keynote’s presentation as ‘excellent’.
digyorkshire.com secures redevelopment funding from Yorkshire Forward to completely rebuild the site with improved design and functionality. digyorkshire.com will relaunch in April 2009.
Audiences Yorkshire completes collaborative research for Yorkshire’s Magnificent Attractions Group for the third consecutive year. 4,000 questionnaires are completed and analysed. The results prove critical to the marketing planning of the participating attractions.
A few of the year’s highlights 13
What the future holds In today’s fast moving, digitised world we recognise that the relationship between culture, creativity and audience engagement is becoming ever more complex.
By listening to how the needs of cultural organisations are changing and taking steps to respond, we will be transforming the way we operate and the services we offer.
We can now reveal an insight into how our plans are developing.
14 WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
Thrive!
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 15
16 WE’RE CHANGING TO HELP YOU THRIVE!
We’re changing to help you...
Networks We will refocus our efforts on facilitating the exchange of skills and knowledge across the sector, extending our relationships and championing audience engagement amongst wider networks. Thrive! will help us deliver a host of new ways to support organisations with their continuing professional development.
Thrive! Our future is dependent on the support and participation of organisations across the cultural sector. We’re seeking to strengthen these relationships, so that we can work together more intelligently to nurture audiences for the future and build a sustainable cultural infrastructure for our region. To achieve this, we have embarked on an exciting period of development. Supported by Arts Council England’s Thrive! programme, we will be refocusing our service around the three key areas of Networks, Communications Solutions and Insight.
Communications Solutions We will develop a fresh suite of communication tools by integrating our online and offline services to support the targeting of specific audience groups. Thrive! will help deliver new ways to trial emerging technology and pilot new methods of audience interaction. Insight Through Thrive! our research and consultancy teams will become integrated to deliver a powerful, insight-focused service. New benchmarking studies and research partnerships will help create new opportunities for development and collaboration. We want to create better audience understanding at the heart of cultural organisations, helping to turn audience insight into effective business intelligence. The future Our new business model is designed to more effectively respond to the cultural sector’s changing needs and the changing demands of audiences, both now and in the future. WE’RE CHANGING TO HELP YOU THRIVE! 17
Statement of Financial Activities Year ended 31 March 2008 (Incorporating the Income and Expenditure Account)
Unrestricted Funds £
Restricted Funds £
Total Funds 2008 £
Total Funds 2007 £
Incoming Resources Incoming resources from generating funds: Voluntary income Commercial trading operations Investment income Incoming resources from charitable activities
162,860 363,344 2,947 279,400
200,684
162,860 363,344 2,947 480,084
158,500 324,993 8,788 316,325
Total Incoming Resources
808,551
200,684
1,009,235
808,606
Resources Expended Commercial trading operations Charitable activities Governance costs
295,776 543,497 8,916
141,155 -
295,776 684,652 8,916
279,928 747,057 8,655
Total Resources Expended
848,189
141,155
989,344
1,035,640
Net Incoming/(Outgoing) Resources Before Transfers Transfers between funds
(39,638) 37,246
59,529 (37,246)
19,891 -
(227,034) -
Net Incoming/(Outgoing) Resources for the Year Total funds brought forward
(2,392) 72,987
22,283 110,909
19,891 183,896
(227,034) 410,930
Total Funds Carried Forward
70,595
133,192
203,787
183,896
The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses in the year and therefore a statement of total recognised gains and losses has not been prepared. All of the above amounts relate to continuing activities. Audiences Yorkshire is a Registered Charity and Company Limited by Guarantee. 18 FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS
Balance Sheets Year ended 31 March 2008
Group 2008 £
2007 £
Charity 2008 £
2007 £
Fixed Assets Tangible fixed assets Investments
21,150 -
21,662 -
14,555 100
12,358 100
Total Fixed Assets
21,150
21,662
14,655
12,458
Current Assets Debtors Cash at bank and in hand
227,452 146,142
203,697 183,517
180,157 106,403
175,449 133,640
Total Assets
373,594
387,214
286,560
309,089
(190,957)
(224,980)
(137,205)
(178,398)
Net Current Assets
182,637
162,234
149,355
130,691
Total Assets Less Current Liabilities
203,787
183,896
164,010
143,149
Net Assets
203,787
183,896
164,010
143,149
Funds Restricted funds Designated funds Unrestricted funds
133,192 5,000 65,595
110,909 14,113 58,874
133,192 5,000 25,818
110,909 14,113 18,127
Total Funds
203,787
183,896
164,010
143,149
Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year
These Financial Statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on 11 December 2008 and are signed on their behalf by: Clive Lawrence – Chair.
FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS 19
Our members In 2007/08, 108 individual organisations were members of Audiences Yorkshire:
Arts Council Sculpture Collection Arts on Campus (Theatre in the Mill) Bradford Metropolitan District Council, including: Bolling Hall Bradford Festival Bradford Industrial Museum Bradford Libraries Bradford Mela Cartwright Hall Art Gallery Cliffe Castle Manor House St George’s Hall The Alhambra Theatre The Studio Theatre, Bradford
Brontë Parsonage Museum Burton Constable Hall Castle Howard City Varieties Music Hall Compass Theatre Company Doncaster Museum Service English Heritage Eureka! The Museum for Children Garforth Arts Festival Grand Opera House York Grimsby Auditorium Hallam FM Arena Harewood House Harrogate International Centre Harrogate Theatre Hull City Council, including: Hull City Arts Unit Hull Museums Service Hull Theatres and Halls Hull Tourism
Hull Truck Theatre Ilkley Literature Festival Jazz Yorkshire Jorvik Viking Centre Kala Sangam Kirklees Cultural and Leisure Services Lawrence Batley Theatre Leeds College of Music
20 OUR MEMBERS
Leeds City Council (which includes departments: Libraries, Arts & Heritage, Events, Film, Music and Arts & Regeneration), including: Abbey House Museum Breeze Children and Young People’s Film Festival Fuse Kirkstall Abbey Leeds City Art Gallery Leeds City Museum Leeds Film Quarter Leeds Industrial Museum Leeds International Concert Season Leeds International Film Festival Leeds Libraries Leeds Museum Discovery Centre Leeds Town Hall Lotherton Hall and Grounds Temple Newsam House & Grounds The Carriageworks Theatre Thwaite Mills Watermill
Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House Leeds Met Gallery & Studio Theatre Magna Science Adventure Centre Mind the Gap Music in the Round National Centre for Early Music National Coal Mining Museum National Media Museum National Railway Museum North East Lincolnshire Council, including: Arts Development Department Events Team Fishing Heritage Centre
Northern Ballet Theatre Northern School of Contemporary Dance Off the Shelf Opera North Phoenix Dance Theatre Piece Hall Art Gallery Pilot Theatre Plowright Theatre
Red Ladder Theatre Company Rotherham Theatres Royal Armouries Ryedale Folk Museum SAA-uk Scarborough Museums & Gallery Sheffield Galleries & Museums Trust Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust Sheffield Theatres Square Chapel Arts Centre Stephen Joseph Theatre Thackray Medical Museum The Deep Victoria Theatre Wakefield Art Gallery Wakefield Theatres West Yorkshire Archive Service West Yorkshire Playhouse Word Quake Xscape Yorkshire Air Museum York Museums Trust York Theatre Royal Yorkshire Dance Yorkshire Museum of Farming Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Our trustees, investors and partners Board list 2007/08 Clive Lawrence, Clarion Solicitors – Chair Mark Skipper, Northern Ballet Theatre – Vice Chair Adam Lumb, Sheffield Galleries & Museums Trust Daniel Bates, York Theatre Royal Helen Dobson, Opera North Madani Younis, Asian Theatre School Murray Anderson-Wallace, AWR Strategic Communications Professor Chris Bailey, Leeds Metropolitan University Philip Roberts, BBC Leeds Robert Gibson, Independent Consultant Sheena Wrigley, Clore Fellow Su Matthewman, West Yorkshire Playhouse Investment partners Audiences Yorkshire is a Regularly Funded Organisation of Arts Council England.
Keep in touch
Partners and consultants Anita Morris Associates Alchemy Arcadianet Arts Council England Audiences North East BBC Bonner & Hindley Communications Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council Dawn Cameron Grosvenor Computer Services Henderson Aplin Partnership Heritage Lottery Fund Kirklees Council Leeds City Council Leeds Trinity & All Saints MLA Yorkshire Morton Smyth Consultants Network Renaissance Yorkshire Sheffield Futures Susan Royce Visit York Wafer Hadley Wonder Associates Yorkshire Forward Yorkshire Tourist Board
Audiences Yorkshire Studio 23/24 Leeds Design Innovation Centre 46 The Calls Leeds LS2 7EY
With thanks To all the organisations with whom we have worked during 2007/08.
Design & Print Wonder Associates www.wonderassociates.com
Telephone 0113 320 0160 Fax 0113 320 0161 Email info@audiencesyorkshire.org.uk www.audiencesyorkshire.org.uk Registered Charity Number 1063886 Photography Credits Page 3, Clive and Alison - Gemma Leak Page 4, Simba African Dance Pages 6 & 10, Leeds Art Gallery Nina Stromsoy Page 8, West Indian Carnival, Leeds - Fotofilia Page 12, E-marketing – Fotofilia Page 12, Alison Edbury – Fotofilia Page 12, Crossing the Waters – Andy Sutcliffe Page 13, Delegates - Gemma Leak
Copy Copywhite 07940 925865
This Annual Review is also available in large print at www.audiencesyorkshire.org.uk Please call 0113 320 0160 if you require another format. OUR TRUSTEES, INVESTORS AND PARTNERS 21
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