The latest IMPACT End of Year Report is here.

Inside, you’ll find the latest evidence on arts attendance in Northern Ireland, based on 3,858 audience responses collected across 30 organisations. For the first time, the report also brings together three years of IMPACT data, allowing us to look beyond individual results and identify the emerging trends shaping audience engagement across the sector.

Some of the key findings include:

• High levels of satisfaction. Audiences continue to report high levels of satisfaction, with more than 91% rating their experience as good or very good. Across all three years, the most common reason for attending has remained the same: to be entertained.
• The cost of living continues to influence attendance. While many people are maintaining their engagement with arts and culture, younger audiences aged 16-44 are the group most likely to be attending less often or cutting back on spending because of financial pressures.
• Arts audiences make a significant contribution to local economies. On average, respondents spent £54 per person on an arts outing, with almost half of that spend taking place beyond ticket purchases through hospitality, transport and other local businesses.
• Accessibility remains an important challenge. Just 10% of respondents identified as disabled, compared with 24% of Northern Ireland’s wider population, highlighting the need for continued work to remove barriers to participation.
• Email and Facebook remain the sector’s strongest marketing channels. Direct email newsletters and Facebook continue to be the most common ways audiences hear about events, while word of mouth remains one of the most influential routes to attendance.

Download the report at the top of this page to explore the full findings, including audience demographics, motivations, behaviours, economic impact, visitor experience and what three years of IMPACT data tells us about arts attendance in Northern Ireland.

Want to see how your audiences compare?

IMPACT helps arts and culture organisations better understand their audiences while contributing to a growing evidence base for the sector. By taking part, you’ll receive your own audience data alongside the opportunity to benchmark against wider trends across Northern Ireland.

If you’d like to find out more about joining IMPACT, get in touch with Head of Sector Development Verity Peet at verity@wewillthrive.co.uk.