Audience and Market Development

The Audience and Market Development Programme encourages arts organisations and individuals to build strong and dynamic relationships with their audiences.

The programme offers advice, insight and data about audiences through research, skill building and coaching. It works with practitioners to develop audience development strategies to attract new audiences and retain existing audiences.

The delivery of this programme is specific, targeted and initiative based and does not usually involve a contestable funding process.

There are three main parts to the programme:

• Building skills
• Market development
• Audience research

Building skills

The key programmes to build skills within the arts sector are:

• Move On Up
  This programme enables arts organisations to become increasingly vision-led and audience focused. Organisations learn how to understand, communicate and engage with more people, more effectively.
• Optimise - skills for online marketing
  Developed in response to feedback from the sector, this programme enables New Zealand arts organisations to take advantage of the power of online marketing to attract new audiences and increase returns.
• 21st Century Arts Conference
  The conference usually takes place over two days in mid-year and features renowned international and local speakers. Conference attendees are able to participate in workshops and gain insight into best practice ideas across many areas of audience and market development. Resources from the conferences - presentations, reports and case studies - provide enduring, usable know-how.

Market development

The main programme used to develop arts organisations' understanding of their market is:

• Audience 360º Project
  This programme aims to analyse customer information drawn from box office systems to help to profile audiences and compare audience data across the art sector.

Audience research

This part of the programme provides the arts sector with invaluable insight into audiences by commissioning and carrying out research. This research is distributed throuhout the sector and utilised in various capability building programmes. The main parts to the Audience Research programme are:

• Audience research and resources
  • Audience 360˚ Project - useful insight on how to use data for audience development
  • New Zealanders and the Arts - published every 3 years that provides a national analysis on how New Zealanders feel and engage in the arts
  • Full House reports - useful insight on how to use data for audience development.
• Understanding diversity
  Initiatives include Arts for All, a practical guide to help artists and arts organisations become more accessible and market their arts to the disabled community.