What next?

News that all Audience Development Agencies (ADAs) lost ACE funding whispered its way into the mainstream media last month. In the avalanche of other funding cuts it barely raised a mention in print.

”So what?” you may ask. “Join the club; it was a lousy week for a lot of organisations.” I agree and my sympathies go out to all those involved. However, this does not fully explain the outcomes of a shift in funding policy. Clearly ACE wants NPOs to be focused on the creation and delivery of artistic output. Fine. But what of those, like ADAs, for who this is not their remit? If this was to be a fundamental change in direction why did ACE invite ADAs to submit bids in the first place and what role are they expected to play going forward?
Headline figures from the Taking Part survey may suggest a standstill in audience engagement but does that tell the whole story? Digging into the data highlights a significant reduction in survey respondents, by nearly two thirds over the past three years. I would hate to think that policy decisions are made on behalf of the 2.5 million people in the North East of England based on the 562 surveyed by Taking Part. As David Brownlee, Chief Executive of Audiences UK, writes in his blog, “the margins of error increase, particularly when you’re trying to delve deeper into the data.”
Furthermore, while ADAs conduct the research and provide marketing support they aren’t responsible for delivering national ACE initiatives, venue programming, ticket pricing or customer experience, all of which can attract or repel audience engagement at grass roots level.
ADAs do provide a shared resource across all sectors. This counteracts the cost and difficulty of getting that expertise into every organisation separately. It also creates unique conditions for accurate, sector-wide benchmarking. So is there a role for this expertise in 2011? Well, as NPOs are being charged with responsibility for audience development, many as part of their funding criteria, it would appear so. In fact when audience attendance is more crucial than ever, the evidences that high quality research and analysis can generate should continue to be a critical factor for funding and delivering the cultural opportunities people want. Excellent cross-venue benchmarking projects like &Co’s House Lights initiative in Yorkshire make a fundamental difference to marketing strategies and budget allocations.
If ACE aims to prioritise work that is new and innovative, then it is going to need all the help ADAs can offer. When I was a theatre manager I experienced the challenges of finding audiences to attend new writing. Everyone likes the idea of it, but that doesn’t always translate into ticket sales.
Now, more than ever, accurate, reliable and timely research should be at the heart of every National and Regional strategy. Unlike the assumptions of ill-informed government ministers these roles are not “non-jobs”. They are, in fact, at the core of ensuring funding is accurately allocated, budgeted and invested. I hope ACE and the NPOs recognise this and act to save this pool of experience and skills before time inevitably runs out.