Our work | Audience and market development
Captivation: the core benefit of engagement with the arts
Being captivated is the core benefit of a person's engagement with the arts, whether as an active participant or audience member. That was one of the key messages that Alan Brown, United States researcher and consultant, had for arts practitioners in Wellington and Auckland.
"Being completely absorbed in an arts activity is at the root of everything and without it, you can't reap the other benefits," he told workshop participants. "So what can an organisation do to ensure their audiences are captivated? Probably a lot."
Brown said there were a number of things that could be done to enhance audiences' arts experience - from the temperature of the venue and ambient lighting to providing meaningful information before a performance or exhibition.
En route to other speaking engagements in Australia, Brown was hosted in New Zealand by Creative New Zealand. A champion for innovation, change and sustainability in the non-profit arts industry, he is based in Connecticut and a principal of Wolf Brown.
He has studied audiences, visitors and patterns of cultural participation in almost every major market in the United States. His work focuses on understanding consumer demand for cultural experiences and on helping cultural institutions, foundations and agencies to see new opportunities, make informed decisions and respond to changing conditions.
Relaxing and having fun
"We should never lose sight of the fact that the number one reason people attend arts events is to relax and have fun," he said. "We have to be careful not to over-intellectualise the experience. Our research shows that it's in our nature to over-intellectualise the experience and this can alienate some audiences. For example, roughly one-third of orchestra audiences consider themselves to be ‘critical listeners' while two-thirds think of themselves as ‘casual listeners'."
More and more cultural consumers, Brown said, are interested in shorter, more intense, and interpretation-rich arts experiences that help them feel like better appreciators.
He said that people had become numb to the use of words like "brilliant", "fantastic" and a "rollercoaster of emotions" to describe arts events.
"It's not easy to talk about how art transforms or how we are different because of it. But words matter. The language we use to articulate the value of doing the arts is so important. We need to be able to speak honestly and authoritatively, using meaningful language that resonates with people who are not arts aficionados."
The benefits
Brown spoke about five categories of benefits, outlined in his Value framework for arts experience document. They are:
• human interaction (e.g. expanded capacity for empathy, larger social network, family cohesion)
• economic and social benefits (e.g. tolerance, creative workforce, economic impact)
• communal meaning (e.g. community engagement, sustaining cultural heritage, transferring values and ideals, sense of belonging)
• imprint of arts experience (e.g. health and wellness, social bonding, intellectual growth, spiritual value, captivation)
• personal development (e.g. creative competency, ability to think critically, character development, emotional maturity).
"In all of this, the social dynamics are powerful in driving attendance," he said. "There are lots of people who would love to go to an arts event but won't pick up the phone to organise it. But if someone calls them and asks if they'd like to go, they'll jump at the chance."
The feedback
Workshop participants were asked to complete feedback forms at the end of the sessinos in Auckland and Wellington. Comments included:
• "I intend to use the value framework guidelines to create one for our organisation and to implement these ideas/terminology in our communication with all stakeholders (audiences, sponsors etc)."
• "There were a lot of comments Alan made that struck a chord with me. There's plenty I can take away."
• "Thanks to Creative New Zealand for organising top speakers with international experience. It's valuable that we get to hear this."
