In brief:
Do you need help to identify, communicate with, and build your audience? Looking to target a specific audience sector, e.g. older people? Wondering if you should you use traditional marketing techniques or new media?
In this pilot scheme, Arts Audiences will provide free audience consultancy in this area to 3 organisations. Participating organisations will assist in documenting the process and results, which will be publicised to make learning outcomes available to the wider arts community.

The scheme:
Arts Audiences recognises that even the most creative and productive of organisations can struggle with a lack of information about their audience, or with what to do with audience data when they have it.
The “Build Your Audience” pilot scheme will assist three organisations, from any discipline, with any remit, in work which focuses on:

• Identification of audience and their characteristics
• Strategies for communicating with that audience, primarily in the area of customer relationship marketing
• Implementation of strategies and documentation of results.

The three organisations which are selected will be provided free of charge with the services of Heather Maitland, marketing consultant, to assist them in:

• Scoping the project they wish to implement and setting realistic and achievable targets in the short and medium term
• Devising the implementation strategy which has the best chance of achieving the target
• Supporting the organisation through the implementation phase
• Assisting the organisation to assess the results

In order to maximise learning, brief case studies of all 3 consultancies will be published online (sensitive data can be withheld from publishing).

Submitting:
Arts organisations are invited to submit projects for consideration which are focussed on a targeted approach, and are achievable within the coming five months. Applicants are requested to submit their ideas under the following headings;

• What do you want to achieve?
• Why?
• What, in broad terms, are you planning to do to achieve your aim?
• Why do you need help from the Arts Audiences project?

Submissions should be sent as a word document (or similar) attached to an email, to Karenlee.walpole@artscouncil.ie before 5pm on October 7th.

Assessment:
Submissions will be assessed by Una Carmody (Director, Arts Audiences), Heather Maitland and an external assessor.
Projects will be assessed based on the following:

• Applicant organisations or individuals must be in receipt of Arts Council funding in the calendar year 2009 – of any type including project funding
• The area or practice which you wish to focus on must be transferable and be capable of producing outcomes of interest to others working in the arts
• You must be prepared to work with us to document your experience and at a minimum we would expect this to mean a minimum of eight hours input from you.
• The panel will seek to achieve a regional spread in the projects selected, and a spectrum of artforms and types of organisations.

Successful participants will be notified no later than October 14th.

Queries:
If you have any queries, please email Karenlee.walpole@artscouncil.ie.

2 Responses to “Build Your Audience – free audience consultancy (pilot project)”

1. Arts Audiences » Build Your Audience – free audience consultancy (pilot project) says:

   September 23, 2009 at 7:17 pm

   [...] In order to maximise learning, brief case studies of all 3 consultancies will be published on this website – if you’re interested in applying for this, there are more details here [...]
2. Build Your Audience – update | Arts Audiences says:

   October 30, 2009 at 5:50 pm

   [...] Audiences is delighted to announce the successful applicants for the Build Your Audience pilot project, which will provide free expert tuition on arts marketing and audience [...]