The post Imperative of Innovation from Matt Lehrman appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>Here are the key points and questions, raised by a diverse array of arts and cultural organisations.
“Because they are us”
“Without them, there is no us”
“We need their applause”
“That they are appreciating the experience”
We consider the art is the most important thing but just as much, it should be about the engagement. Without a focus on people, on the combined artistic and audience agenda, we are the proverbial one hand clapping.
“Finding money”
“Finding ways to make it personal when you are dealing with a mass of people”
“Lack of diversity. That we talk to the same people all the time”
These are all valid concerns. But why are we not worried about innovation. Your organisation needs to take responsibility for innovation.
Is the perception “quality” and “value”? Your audience doesn’t just worry about it – they demand it. Quality and value are ubiquitous.
It is the narrative you need to make your organisation’s work meaningful and purposeful. Programmes like the Olympics or the X Factor don’t just show you the event. They show you the back-story, the personal journey. And, three minutes later you are emotionally invested.
When it comes to emotional investment, we all do great work in the moment itself. But you had to be there. What does it take for us to get the audience there in the first place? A postcard or an email with a URL isn’t enough. This won’t build emotional investment.
The Paradox of Choice, by Barry Schwartz talks about how if you give people too many choices they buy less and are less happy with what they buy. So, don’t send your customers everything. Help them with their discovery to make the link.
Audience development cannot just be delegated to the marketing department. Innovation requires all to work together. Read Matt’s blog to learn more his four audience types.
Too often enough we think of our audience having to come to us. For successful participation we must make ourselves relevant in their lives, where they are. Are we ensuring this social and emotional connection, expressing the narrative and keeping them entertained?
How will your organisation adapt or adjust to change? What is an option as a response?
From asking this question, options and opportunities that we hadn’t considered before will follow. We can’t think only about the work. Instead we must embrace new ideas of how we will engage differently in the arts. People don’t know what they want until YOU understand them so incredibly well that you can show it to them.
Want to hear the whole thing? This talk is also available as a podcast.
Join the Culture Republic family and benefit from a wealth of upcoming events, workshops and networking opportunities. Drop an email to our partnerships manager Ela. We’d love to discuss how we can help your organisation develop and grow, from practical skills building, funding applications to audience research data.
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]]>The post SIMD16 appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>The Basics of SIMD16
For more information visit the SIMD16 website which offers a wealth of information including:
Scotland at a Glance:
Glasgow and South-West Scotland at a Glance:
An example we looked at on the day was Inverclyde, Here’s what we learnt:
SIMD16 and Your Organisation
What proportion of the postcode sectors in your ‘reach’, are engaged with what you do?
Who isn’t engaged with your work and what are the key social reasons for this?
What local knowledge can you apply to explain relative measures of deprivation and social problems?
How are you planning to use SIMD16 and your local knowledge to set and measure targets for audience development, and in funding applications to support your local community?
Examples of how SIMD16 could play a key role in arts and culture organisations around Scotland
The North:
Findhorn Bay Arts: Part of Scotland’s National Youth Arts Strategy aiming to open up a range of exciting routes for children and young people to connect with creativity.
Central Scotland:
Aspire Dundee: This initiative uses a range of cultural activities including dance, drama and music, as an innovative way of tackling deprivation in some of the most disadvantaged areas in Dundee. Local expertise is being used from within Dundee’s cultural sector for this.
Glasgow and South-West Scotland:
Citizens Theatre: This theatre is committed to making their work accessible to its community, through a variety of initiatives including a limited number of tickets for sale at 50p for productions. There are also pricing strategies aimed at the unemployed, concessions and various others. Additionally, access needs are met with signed and captioned performances, as well as a Deaf Theatre Club.
Sir Harry Burns – an inspiration for the arts and culture sector
From his early days as a surgeon, to his role as Chief Medical Officer, and now as Professor of Global Public Health at Strathclyde University, Sir Harry Burns has spent his career striving to improve the lifestyles of people living in Scotland. He has also most recently taken up a post on the Scottish Governments Council of Economic Advisers (having a public health specialist on the panel is ground-breaking and a world first!).
Check out Sir Harry Burns’ talk at a local TEDx event in Glasgow. Here the professor explored the concept of salutogenesis** and the impact it has on the most disadvantaged members of our community:
Sir Harry Burns also said:
“It is about people’s potential and everyone in Scotland contributing to the max in terms of their artistic, creative and work capacity”
“Is there some other way in which we can invest in the future of young people? Because economic research suggests in the medium to long term there is a huge payback”
“…the days of doing things to communities are past. Instead, the new approach is about doing things with communities…”
For more ideas on how your Arts & Culture organisation can use SIMD 16 to better serve your community and reach a wider audience please feel free to contact Kathryn Ellaway.
* Population based on 2014 NRS small area population estimate (unrevised figures as published in August 2015)
**A term coined by Aaron Antonovsky, a professor of medical sociology. The term describes an approach focusing on factors that support human health and well-being, rather than on factors that cause disease (pathogenesis).
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]]>The post Food for thought from Matt Lehrman appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>Do you want fries with that?
What do you put on your chips? (Salt and vinegar is the best way – end.of.debate.) Because everyone’s preferences and motivations are different, chips were an engaging introduction to how we consider our audience segments.
Matt tasked us with encouraging audience growth, particularly for our asleep, uninspired, oriented and devoted segments. What actions are you going to take to grow social connection, display relevance, produce extraordinary entertainment, an emotional connection, or discovery among your audience? The challenge has been set. CRM is the first step.
The fruits of your labour
Jargon. As a marketer I’m all too familiar with it and how it can be off-putting. I think I’ve heard the phrase “bring it to life” more times than in an adaptation of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. Another that is commonplace – LOW HANGING FRUIT.
Matt used this analogy however, to challenge our ways of thinking in favour of innovation. What is the audience base that would be high hanging fruit? It is often forgotten and left to rot because it’s harder to get to. There’s a massive potential audience that we have ignored because it’s hard to get to. What extraordinary ways can we reach up high and reach out?
At events in Glasgow, Dundee and Edinburgh there was an appetite for collaboration. Working together we can climb to the treetop.
Cake (and eat it too)
The sales image does not always reflect the reality of what you get. Matt’s example of a cake of Princess Elsa summed up this theory excellently.
RELEVANCE matters in all areas of our life — Creepy cake alert. #thatsnotelsa #mattlearnweek pic.twitter.com/EYx0TEO0Tu
— Culture Republic (@culture_public) November 2, 2016
It’s important to think of your value proposition and gauge your relevance to an audience. Do your audience get what you say they will? Are you selling the experience they want or the experience you want them to have?
We must constantly consider our relevance and be more entrepreneurial. To do this let’s understand all the drivers. People go out for their reasons not for ours. What are the experiences that audiences want and how can we provide them? One key call to action from The Learning Week is to take opportunities to work together as a whole industry and across internal silos. We need to think five years ahead and embrace new ideas to innovate now. Part of that is emphasising and demonstrating our relevance to communities in the future. How do you stack up? A place to start is Matt’s self-test on relevance.
Some tasty byte size treats
The week was filled with much food for thought. Not just from Matt’s facilitation but from your input. Here is just a flavour for some of the wealth of thoughts and ideas out there.
Glasgow:
'The hen is interested ….the pig is committed ' great insights from @MattLehrman this morning @culture_public #mattlearnweek event
— Natalie Neil (@NatalieNeil) October 31, 2016
Dundee:
Participant: The art is fine, the business model is not. #MattLearnWeek #opev
— Culture Republic (@culture_public) November 1, 2016
Edinburgh:
Artistic Directors perspective: in a small organisation we can share information better. Easier to get into silos in big orgs #mattlearnweek
— Culture Republic (@culture_public) November 2, 2016
“There’s yer dinner” on Facebook
At Culture Republic, we’d like to take the opportunity to thank you for joining us. We now have the insight to help us grow our audiences, what next? You can watch Matt’s Imperative of Innovation Talk on our Facebook page. We filmed it live in Edinburgh and intend to some more live events in the future.
Speaking of Facebook, we have also set up a new Facebook Tips, Ideas and Innovation Forum for people within arts and culture to get together and share ideas, best practice and thoughts for the future. Why not join us?
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]]>The post Exclusive interview with Matt Lehrman, the audience expert appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>Compared to where I live in the desert of Phoenix, Scotland is green, lush, wet and historic in incredible ways. Oh yes – I absolutely look forward to my visit!
I especially enjoy contemporary theatre. On my last visit, I was privileged to experience National Theatre of Scotland’s Peer Gynt and I still find myself singing it. I’m also a huge fan of traditional Scottish music and look forward to listening (and singing along) to some of the most beautiful stories and melancholy tunes in the universe.
– I’d welcome recommendations of where to go! Reach me @MattLehrman #MattLearnWeek
Working in the arts was never my own career goal. Yet, in my spare time, I volunteered as a docent at the Smithsonian Institution to feed my interest in connecting people, art and culture. Even as my career advanced in banking sales and marketing, my passion for the arts never diminished.
My hobby resulted in an offer to work in the arts full time, as the shared-services marketing director for a performing arts centre and a museum of contemporary art. Eight years later, I founded a non-profit organisation with a mission to raise the visibility of the entire arts and cultural community of the State of Arizona, an endeavour I launched and was delighted to run for nearly 12 years. Today, as a consultant and teacher, I’m still not an artist – but I love being a cheerleader for arts and cultural participation.
I’m obsessed with innovation – yet driven by passion to serve a realm dominated by non-profit organisations operating with incredibly scarce resources. That’s the energy and insight I bring to my workshops and to the companies that engage me. Our mission is vital – but time and resources are in short supply. I never stop thinking about alternate ways to address that.
“An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion.” Newton’s first law of motion.
At the beginning of each of my workshops I ask this question: “What worries you (your organisation) about growing audiences?” I’m looking forward to hearing what Scottish arts leaders have to say, but the concerns I most commonly hear are:
• Relevance –who cares about what we do?
• Sustainability –how are we going to keep doing this?
• Affordability –who will pay – and how much – for what we do?
• Capacity -do we have the budget, technology and know-how to attract audiences in a competitive market?
• Inconveniences –what logistical barriers, like parking or transportation, prevent people would be otherwise interested from attending?
Undoubtedly there are important differences – and we’ll explore them together in my workshops.
Digital technologies are going to open up incredible new opportunities for arts and cultural organisations to engage audiences. I’m fascinated by the potential of virtual reality and expect that we are on the brink of fantastic new ways to tell stories, share information, experience light, sound, touch, play games and connect with each other and with artificial intelligence.
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Thomas Edison
The most challenging project anywhere is to experience an organisation that does not embrace a whole-organisation commitment to innovation and audience development. It’s a surprisingly common malady – and curable – but it is incredibly hard for organisations to dig themselves out of patterns that have been set over long periods of time.
Take the test!
By the way, if you’re wondering if YOUR organisation is in such a rut, take this 9-question quiz to decide for yourself.
A few years ago, I worked with a professional children’s theatre company that approached its strategic plan genuinely as a whole-organisation endeavour.
What made the project so satisfying was that they took care to invest the time and processes necessary to involve their entire staff – as well as to engage a Board of Directors.
This company revealed to me their sincere “ensemble” approach to arts and cultural leadership and I learned from them the lesson that speed and efficiency can be the enemy of collaboration and progress. The company afforded plenty of time to cultivate a community-approach toward mutually-recognised objectives.
BOOK your place now to get more insights, training and innovative ideas about how you can grow audience and stay sustainable in the arts, culture and tourism sector. Be a part of the Learning Week with Matt Lehrman, the audience expert.
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]]>The post How Relevant is My Arts Organisation? Take this self test! appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>Arts administrators worry.
We worry about cash flow. We worry about achieving and sustaining consensus. We worry about attracting and retaining quality staff team. We worry about logistics. We worry about outstanding grant applications and whether last year’s donors will continue their support this year. We worry about deadlines and opening nights. We worry about why ticket sales are underperforming budget expectations. We worry about play-off games that get scheduled concurrent with long-standing major events. We worry about the short term. We worry about the long-term.
It is our nature to worry.
And late at night, when the world is quiet, we also lie awake and worry about RELEVANCE.
The words vary, but the core of the question is: “Who cares about the kind of work we do?” Sometimes we ask “who will care” or “who used to care” which reveals that the nature of our worries are NOW (say, when reviewing a disappointing ticket sales report) or SOON (as in considering next season’s offerings) or LATER (posed while updating a strategic plan.)
In a brand new workshop called Opportunity Everywhere – coming soon to Glasgow, arts & cultural organisation leaders have been tackling that worry – taking time to parse it into its elemental components and address it as functions of the challenge of audience development.
I’m delighted to share this self-test – and invite comments & questions at [email protected].
Score each of the following questions on a scale of 1 (not at all satisfied) to 5 (highly satisfied).
HOW SATISFIED ARE YOU THAT…
TOTAL SCORE __________
Maximum = 45
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]]>The post Model of Audience Engagement appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>Great! But the biggest mistake you can make is to think of that audience as a single entity. True, “your audience” converged at some point – whether for a particular night’s performance, during the run of a production or exhibition, into your venue, or some other way onto your mailing list. But the happenstance of their intersection doesn’t mean they share the same motivations, preferences or priorities.
Here is a more practical model by which to understand and serve your audience – a model we explore in-depth in my Audiences Everywhere workshop…
Consider a framework of 4 basic audience types on a grid where vertical represents the CAPACITY to participate (i.e. time, money, physical ability and opportunity) and horizontal represents their level of INTEREST:
Lastly, let’s observe that audience members likely fall into multiple quadrants… A Devoted fan of musical theatre may be Uninspired when viewed from the perspective of classical music or Asian art. Someone who is oriented to jazz may be totally asleep when viewed from the perspective of contemporary dance.
This model of audience engagement provides both a macro and micro perspective on who is your audience and practical ways to cultivate that relationship.
“But eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
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]]>The post The Paper Trail appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>‘What are the dos and don’ts for the look and feel of your print?’
‘How can arts organisations make the most of print distribution?’
As ever, we loved getting together with our friends from CCA Glasgow, East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure, On at Fife Theatres, Cumbernauld Theatre, National Youth Choir of Scotland, East Ayrshire Leisure, National Museums Scotland, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble and V&A Dundee to discuss real issues that we‘re all facing in the arts as well as just to catch up and break bread together. Happy days!
Find out more about how you can be a part of November’s #1stWed at Dovecot, Edinburgh.
Share your thoughts and experiences on print distribution HERE
For more information on print distribution please visit: Direct Distribution or Tartan Ink.
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]]>The post Celebrating Diversity with our team appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>Whether at a theatre, an exhibition or writing a blog – we all know that everyone interprets events and information differently. However, insight helps us to shape our voice for different groups in society to be meaningful and relevant. On Monday, Paul from our team showcased the value of Google Analytics. Website analysis is a great way for understanding how audiences react towards your message. Tuesday, saw Kemi delve into the social media engagement with some useful insight into how social media opens up the world to more debate and real time information. This was a celebration of our need to be different but share our common values with others…
Think about how you talk to your colleagues, your parents, your child or even your neighbour. We adapt our language (verbal, body, written) to whom we are talking. In our world of arts and culture marketing it’s no different. On Wednesday, Ashley nailed the value of getting a content plan in place. It’s important as part of any marketing strategy; you are thinking of how to organise your time, segment your audiences and get the most impact from your content.
Let’s be honest, there will be some technically minded types out there reading this thinking, ‘So what?’ SEO best practice with Eva from the team served up some everyday tips on how to ensure your message reaches a wider audience. Often when you think your message is creative and brilliant, algorithms take over and the cyberspace says ‘NO’. A uniform and structured approach to keywords and content on your website will help your message gets noticed.
Success full teams have a ‘can-do’ approach and welcome a range of diverse opinion… people from all walks of life, with different personalities, coming together to share. The ‘Learn from Us week’ has been a great way of showcasing the wealth of knowledge within our team, for helping you grow your audience.
For November’s first Wednesday, Kathryn from our team will be presenting on Deprivation and Social Inclusion. SIMD16, a tool that can be used to invest in those areas that need it the most, and make it easier consider your own audience engagement practice in this area.
While we are on the point of diversity and displaying the “aye” in our team – I’d like to point you to The Learning Week with Matt Lehrman series. As an audience expert and strategist, Matt brings over a fresh perspective from the USA. Join us and Matt, for the jam-packed week of thought sharing and innovation coming to a city near you!
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]]>The post Learning Week – Grow Audience & Sustainability appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>Culture Republic are delighted to bring Matt Lehrman, an internationally respected expert on audience, sustainability and growth to Scotland for a three-city tour from 31 October to 2 November 2016.
Who should attend:
Any leader, creative or marketer within the arts and culture world who wants to grow ticket sales and stay sustainable despite funding and financial demands.
What you will learn:
Don’t miss the chance to hear tips and lessons from across the Atlantic, where no stone left unturned on the route to organisational sustainability
Learning Week starts here
Glasgow, Monday 31 October
Dundee, Tuesday 1 November
Edinburgh, Wednesday 2 November
Matt’s consultancy, Audience Avenue, focuses on loyalty and customer engagement for arts and cultural organisations. He’s a globally recognised audience development expert, motivator and strategist.
A breath of fresh air, Matt brings food for innovation and inspiration. Read his blog, A Budget for NOT MORE OF THE SAME for insights into how you can open your doors to positive change in your organisation.
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]]>The post Equality, Diversity and Access appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>What is equality?
Equality is ensuring individuals or groups of individuals are treated fairly and equally and no less favourably, specific to their needs, including areas of race, gender, disability, religion / belief, sexual orientation and age.
Promoting equality should remove discrimination in all of the aforementioned areas. Bullying, harassment or victimisation is also considered as equality and diversity issues
What is diversity?
Diversity aims to recognise, respect and value people’s differences to contribute and realise their full potential by promoting an inclusive culture for all staff and students.
Interesting Statistics on disability
“In the cinema you are away from the world outside…It’s escapism… I want to see other ways of life… I like the chance to be social.”
”I always want to go to these kinds of events. I enjoy them. Good to see outreach to communities.”
Jodie’s takeaway points
In conclusion:“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood…Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”
Universal Declaration of Human Right- 1948
Testimonials from participants at screenings“It was great to meet someone like me”
“Nice for our community to have more options rather than a limited choice of what we can and can’t see”“Visible cinema is a fantastic idea. I love the idea of regular caption/subtitles films (both old and new) as well as mixing with other groups of people including hard of hearing. Can’t wait for more of the same!”
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