We are excited to share the latest findings from thrive’s IMPACT North West research from 2025-2025.

IMPACT North West has given us insight into the behaviours and motivations of arts, culture and heritage audiences across Derry, Strabane and Donegal.

Over the past year, we’ve heard from more than 2,500 audience members, bringing our total dataset to 7000 responses since the project began in April 2022. These responses were collected by 24 organisations from across the region and from a variety of artforms. We’ve also been able to look at this data side by side with the findings of our IMPACT Survey, which looks at arts and culture audiences across all of NI, and gain more insight into what makes the North West unique.

So what did we learn?

The research showed that the North West does things differently from the rest of NI. 

• 60% of audiences engage with arts, culture and heritage 4+ times a year, 8% lower than in NI. 66% go ‘as much as they can’, also 8% lower than NI.
• The average spend per audience member in the North West was £78 (higher than the NI figure of £54). New audiences were likelier to spend more, with an average spend of £136pp.
• 27% booked their ticket on the day or during the week of their visit vs. 12% in NI.

There were also some regional differences on either side of the border.

• Derry and Strabane audiences are likelier to be new to the venue/space or earn less than the NI median earnings.
• Donegal audiences are more likely to book last minute, attend with their spouse or family, or have children under 18 in the home.

You can read through reports from previous years, see the total raw data from 2022-24 and check out other resources here.

Want to get involved?

If you’re part of an arts, culture or heritage organisation based in Derry, Strabane or Donegal, IMPACT NW is an easy way to learn more about your audiences. It’s completely free and we do all the data analysis – all you have to do is send the link to your audiences. E-mail eve@wewillthrive.co.uk to find out more.

IMPACT North West is supported by Derry City and Strabane District Council and Donegal County Council.