Comments (0)

By James Kelly, November 27, 2009

.
Are you looking to bring your organisation’s online performance to a new level?

Looking to harness the power applications such as Facebook, YouTube, Google Analytics, WordPress & Twitter to better engage with your audiences?

Would you like expert guidance to assist you along the way?

Arts Audiences is pleased to announce details of the New Media Mentoring Scheme, in which experts from a variety of organisations offer their time, for free, to mentor arts organisations seeking to build relationships with new and existing audiences online.

Individuals from 6 organisations will be mentored in this scheme (RTÉ Publishing kindly offering to provide mentoring to three), and participating organisations will produce case studies at the end of the mentoring, to share lessons learnt with the wider arts community.

For more information about the mentors, suitable projects, the workings of the scheme, how to apply etc., please click here!

Comments (0)

By James Kelly, November 12, 2009

Knives in Hens – Smock Alley Theatre Dublin

.

In case you don’t already know, Take Your Seat is the name of the nationwide, weeklong arts and performance promotion.

We’ve been delighted with the take up on this, and readers should know that the promotion ends on the 14th of November, so at the time of writing, there are only 3 days left to get your hands on some great deals!

To avail of Ticket Discounts, Special Offers and Free Tickets to Surprise Events register with Take Your Seat and go visit your local theatre, arts centre, or music venue.

.

Comments (0)

By James Kelly, November 10, 2009

Arts Audiences’ Customer Service Project is now half-way through its work programme for 2009. The teams from Temple Bar Cultural Trust (TBCT) and Project Arts Centre (PAC) have completed the first two phases of their work:

Phase 1 involved mapping out ‘customer journeys’ for every part of their business where staff interacted with audiences. These journeys were agreed with key members of staff in each organisations, and then plotted out on simple diagrams created using MS Excel. (This phase lasted c.3 weeks in June)

.

‘Culture Night ‘ – photo courtesy of Ros Kavanagh

Phase 2 involved an external consultant, Knowledgeworks, using these customer journeys as a road map on which to base a series of mystery shopping exercises.
Mystery shopping took place in July for both organisations. Staff in both organisations knew this was happening, but didn’t know when they would be ‘mystery shopped’. Both organisations chose a particularly busy business time in July for this exercise.

Mystery shopping involved the consultant posing as a range of customers who wanted to either FIND information, ASK questions, SURF websites about the organisation, or GO to an event hosted or organised by TBCT or PAC. Each interaction was then graded from 1-7 according to agreed parameters for assessing quality customer experiences.

The results the Mystery Shopping conducted on both organisations was presented to both teams at PAC and TBCT in September.

The next phase, currently underway, involves staff of both organisations absorbing the results from the Mystery Shopping reports, and deciding what steps to take next to improve the customer experience of their organisation.

Comments (1)

By Una Carmody, October 30, 2009

Arts 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 development.

The high level of interest in the project and the quality of applications received will prove extremely useful to the Arts Audience Initiative in identifying future strands of work which may benefit arts organisations and those working in the arts.

The three organisations were selected on the basis that their projects would have a wide application across artforms and disciplines and that the outcomes would be clear and useful to others. They are:

Coisceim Dance Theatre, Dublin, whose audience project is focused on developing a marketing strategy for a national tour.

The Ark, Dublin, in association with Irish Museum of Modern Art, whose project will focus on developing programmes which meet the practical needs of schools.

The Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, whose project will focus on retaining and building on the audience base through profiling and increasing visibility

Case studies of all three consultancies will be published online at on this site in the new year to make learning outcomes available to the arts community.

Comments (0)

By James Kelly, October 19, 2009

.
TAKE YOUR SEAT – MONDAY NOVEMBER 9TH – SATURDAY 14TH 2009

For the first time in Ireland, performing arts venues all around the country have decided to take action, joining forces to promote the performing arts in Ireland. Take Your Seat is the name of a nationwide promotion happening in November aimed at encouraging people to return if they haven’t been for a while.

The Take Your Seat promotion will be built around a dedicated website, www.takeyourseat.ie, providing the consumer with a one-stop-shop of exciting, live performances happening in venues nationwide, supported by a nationwide radio and print campaign alerting consumers to the promotion and driving them to the website.

Take Your Seat provides a model of innovative practice for public and private interests working together to address the issues which arise in difficult times.

The idea for the promotion came from those working in the industry, and is being co-ordinated by Arts Audiences, with the support of the Arts Council, Temple Bar Cultural Trust, Fáilte Ireland, and RTE Radio. Private sector interests have also rowed in, providing considerable pro bono promotional support for an initiative we all hope will be the first of many.

Full details about the venues and arts centres taking part in Take Your Seat will be published on www.takeyourseat.ie