Research just published by Audiences London shows that audiences for classical music are more loyal to the artform, are likely to attend more frequently and to book earlier than audiences for other performing arts.
The research was carried out on behalf of a consortium of 12 London orchestras and orchestral venues, and used six years’ of data.
Of course London may share many characteristics, arty or not, with other metropolitan areas, but it isn’t necessarily comparable to market towns in the provinces. But I suggest the shared interest means audiences do have enough in common for the research to bring hope to orchestras and ensembles which don’t have a large population pool to draw from.
With the whole funding environment becoming more uncertain by the day, audience loyalty becomes more than ever the factor that venues and performers may need to count on when planning for future programmes.
This is an encouraging piece of news for businesses thinking about involvement in the arts, and for venues looking to interest businesses in their activities – especially at the more local end of both.
It presents a challenge both to orchestras and to venues though. 36% of households in the survey went to an orchestral concert more than once, compared to just 21% attending all ticketed artforms in an average year. That leaves a significant tranche of people who need to be converted from ‘infrequent’ to ‘frequent’ attenders demonstrating the loyalty necessary to help secure future programming.
Business can offer practical help and expertise to arts organisations looking to take up this challenge, but both sides need to be clear about what they are trying to achieve.
We can help…. Call or email Anne Curtis if you’d like to discuss any issues raised in this blog.
