Hey Arts Organisations, I am not Audience
Why arts organisations should stop talking about people behind their backs
Arts organisations talk about audiences.
A lot. Most of the time within the context of audience development.
Government agencies have really upped the ante on this. Audiences are going to bail arts organisations out once the government stops funding them. That’s the plan.
Most of the time there is a frustration too from the people working in arts organisations who have ‘audience’ or ‘strategic’ in their job description.
It isn’t just about bums on seats next week they say, it’s about outreach and building relationships. Why can’t the people doing the accounts, or dealing with the artists playing to half empty rooms, get that?
One reason is that audience does actually mean bums on seats.
It could mean eyes on screen watching your video, or earphones listening to your podcast. The fact of the matter remains that ‘audience’ does actually mean people who take part in turning up, tuning in, or downloading what you do.
If you don’t believe me go ask them.
Turn to the nearest person who doesn’t work in the arts and ask them what an audience is.
I think that describing people in terms they wouldn’t understand themselves is generally not a good idea —it's talking about people behind their backs.
Over-using the term audience means organisations miss the dynamics of the relationships they do actually have with people.
The term ‘audience’ is a generalisation.
It's like saying ‘this is what Belgians want.’ Just talking about audiences means you are having a misleading conversation.
Here are some groups you should be talking about;
Customers — some people just want to turn up. They might be convinced to do something else afterwards, but right now they want a good day/ night out. All the talk of audiences can miss what they actually want. That is smooth, risk-free and planned experiences to take their friends to.
Fans — some people care about you, or the thing you do. It’s part of who they are, and what they do. So buying a ticket, or reading the website, or retweeting you is not a straightforward consumer transaction. Forget that at your peril.
Super Fans — some customers will buy more than a ticket, they will buy a donation. Whether as a gift for a friend or for themselves, this is donation as experience not as investment. More than that they will even buy things you don’t normally charge for — a chat in the bar with one of your creatives, the set you were going to throw out, the recordings of the early rehearsal.
Collaborators — some fans care enough to want to be part of your future. It might be about money, time or word-of-mouth marketing but they can be the keys to unlocking all kinds of opportunity. It's not about experience for collaborators, it's genuinely important to them to be a part of this. There are not that many of these people so make sure you find them as if they are lost in your ‘audience’ you’ll not only kick yourself but they will end up feeling rejected too.
Which brings me back to the title of this post.
To the arts festival I went to as I wanted to fill a dead Saturday in the summer — you really shouldn’t have sent me the email from the chair of trustees on all you’ve achieved in the last 10 years (yawn — and it totally clouded my memory of you).
To the theatre that staged 3 shows I really loved last year — you really lost me when the donate button in the email sent me to copy that could have been lifted from your Arts Council application (literally I look at graphs everyday, there’s no need to do it on the train home).
To the artist whose work I loved at the exhibition in the autumn — you really could do more than send me emails linking to your website where not much is happening. Hell I’m a fan — so it would be fun to sort out an exhibition near me, it would be fun to put some cash into making that happen.
To all of you what you really forgot is to talk to me like you talk about me.
I am not audience.
