London gallery audiences revealed

A detailed picture of London’s gallery audiences has been revealed following a survey of visitors to 21 London galleries. Interviews with 14,000 people have led to insights into visitor profiles in terms of gender, nationality, art knowledge and visitor habits. The research, co-ordinated by Audiences London and funded by Arts Council England, provides the first ever comprehensive picture of visitors to London’s publicly funded galleries. It found that all aspects of visitor experience were rated highly, with 96% ‘very likely’ or ‘likely’ to recommend a gallery visit to friends and family, and 94% of visitors rating value for money as ‘high’ or ‘very high’. Overall, 55% of visitors were from the UK, whilst 45% came from 96 countries overseas: the largest proportions of international visitors coming from the USA (17%) and France (16%). Further analysis has uncovered some key differences between galleries of different sizes. Smaller galleries that attract up to 50,000 visitors per year are visited by a higher proportion of younger people, UK-resident visitors and first-time visitors, while larger galleries are more likely to attract those who visit once but don’t return.