Gallery Services: surveying and community feedback

In 2012/13, Gallery Services untertook its most rigorous surveying of patrons and members to date.

Annual Surveys for each venue were developed, which will be refined and continually undertaken in future years. These surveys were made available through physical and online mediums, and sought feedback from patrons on preferred methods of information delivery, types of exhibitions and programs. These surveys were also open to unstructured feedback to inform Gallery Services’ activities, and collected data on visitation patterns.

Feedback from the Annual Survey was informative and positive. Importantly, more than 95% of visitors’ comments in the Visitors Books also expressed satisfaction with the Galleries’ exhibitions, accompanying programs and activities, and the warm welcome and assistance received from staff and volunteers.

Further to surveying of the Gallery members and contacts, Gallery Services participated in Museum and Gallery Services Queensland’s Guess Who’s Going to the Gallery: A Strategic Audience Evaluation and Development Study for Queensland Galleries across both Perc Tucker Regional Gallery and Pinnacles Gallery.

In 2012, with project funding from the Australia Council for the Arts and Arts Queensland, Museum & Gallery Services Queensland (M&GSQ) partnered with M&G NSW to undertake this parallel study of 18 regional Queensland public galleries. As in the previous NSW Study, each gallery received training on data collection and a bespoke report of their results. A total of 3041 responses were collected across the eighteen galleries and were collated into a Queensland Report, released in 2013.

The data from this process provided Gallery Services an indication as to how it is performing against regional galleries state wide, and also the wants and needs of the Townsville and broader Queensland arts community. This information will assist Gallery Services in programmings exhibitions, educative and public programs that appeal to and engage the community, in-line with the developed Visual Arts Strategy. Excerpts from this data is included at the rear of this Annual Report.