We found that demonstrating the value of arts and culture, and the impact it can have on people and their communities is not an easy task. EastSide Partnership's project 'The Gert and Friends' is a great example of how it can be done through co-creation.

Find out how lockdown has impacted audiences in NI

This report is about the impact of Covid-19 on people's interactions with technology, virtual events, audience expectations and monetisation of digital.

The Continuous Household Survey is an annual public survey done by the Northern Irish Government. Here's how to access the results, and why you should read it.

Full report of findings from Act 2 of the 'After the Interval' survey in NI and ROI

Report of findings from Act 1 of the 'After the Interval' survey in NI and ROI

In this audience snapshot, find out how NI audiences feel about returning to in-person events.

This report from Arts Connect explores how people aged 10 to 19 relate to arts and culture.

Discover the insights from the Missing Audiences for Northern Ireland - Wave 2 survey.

Discover the insights from the Missing Audiences for Northern Ireland - Wave 1 survey.

Conversations and views from the public and the arts sector on what Arts Council England should focus on.

Global Web Index's report on millennials' online behaviors and their attitudes to digital and marketing.

Evidence the impact you make.

Get an evidence-based strategy to deliver your objectives.

Mystery shops to understand and improve your visitor experience.

Strategy, reporting, and campaign delivery.

Uncover the insight in your box office data.

Surveys, postcode mapping, focus groups, and visitor profiling.

Kelly-Anne Collins shares her insights into how organisations can take an honest and effective approach to tracking their change and measuring impact.

Learnings from the Hull UK City of Culture conference around how we measure and talk about the benefits and impact of culture.

Our client director, Fiona Bell, shares her thoughts about our new normal during lockdown and how it impacts the Arts.

Why green issues matter to audiences and how the cultural sector is well-placed to make a positive impact on the environment.

The Arts Collaboration Network have issued a statement following discussions about the impact of Covid-19 on the NI Arts and Cultural sector #InThisTogether

The Earagail Arts Festival asked their audience and wider public about their motivations and barriers to attend the festival. They uncovered data that helped them to evaluate their impact and refine their purpose.

The fifth and last step of audience development is the big scary evaluation. Reviewing what you've done and assessing the impact you've made shouldn't be a chore. Read our blog to see our take on the most important step of audience development.

Change in the cultural sector is often associated with fighting funding cuts - but organisational change is essential to survive and thrive in our fast-paced environment. Our CEO Margaret Henry shares her thoughts and experience on the challenges and benefits of change.

GDPR has had a major impact on email marketing. There are new and more rigorous standards on who you can email to. Here's what that means for marketers.

As we're noticing the impact of the latest Apple update on social media advertising, we wrote a blog to explain what it's all about and the challenges it brings to arts and culture organisations.

It's easy to measure financial gains, but how can arts organisations with a social purpose measure their value?

Author: Matthew Brown

Watch our last Fourth Wall Session with Jenna Hall from Belfast Community Circus School to learn more about their evaluation process, how they do it and why they do it.

The Arts Collaboration Network sent a document to the NI Executive, MLAs and NI MPs asking for urgent and ongoing support.

Advice and checklists to make sure your venue or event is accessible to disabled people.

Results updated weekly from the Covid-19 'After the Interval' Act 2 Audience Survey.

The Arts Collaboration Network's statement following the announcement from Communities Minister Carál Ní Chuilín of a £4m Creative Support Fund.

Colleen Dilenschneider argues that free admission matters less than we may think - and backs it up with ticketing and attendance data from the US.

Author: Colleen Dilenschneider 

How Art UK and the Audience Agency increased visits to their online collection and resources from BAME audiences and those aged 16-24.

Authors: Katie Moffat and Richard Turpin

'Culture beyond Covid' is our new audience survey for visual arts organisations to find out their audiences' feelings on coming back, what they've been doing over lockdown and what they will feel comfortable doing in the future.

Last August, we invited Olly Davies from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to share his experience of using audience data to make positive lasting changes to their overall strategy.

Queen's University Belfast student Isaac Ellis looked at our audience survey data to identify hidden trends and insights.

Our CEO Fiona reflects on the latest trends in people's behaviours and attitudes post-Covid.

What is the ultimate stage of loyalty? How can you bring your audiences to see you as their BFF so they will support you at all times? Read our blog to find out.

We are now taking registrations for wave 2 of Missing Audiences in Northern Ireland, which will open on 31st January 2022.

The lowdown on the newest ways cultural organisations can use digital to connect with their audiences.

Open House Festival is in the unusual position of having moved location from Belfast city centre to the seaside town of Bangor. We explore why they made the move, and how it has affected their audiences.

This Spring, Let’s go on an Art-venture and get back to our city centres!

Three proven ways to get performing arts audiences to re-attend.

Read our second guest blog from the Changed Future series, written by Beth Frazer.

What ticketing data can tell us about the effects of funding cuts on the arts in Northern Ireland.

In our latest guest blog, Niamh Kelly, Youth Ambassador at Reimagine, Remake, Replay writes about co-curation with audiences, and in this instance, with young people. Could it change museums' relationships with their audiences for the better?

Struggling to get responses to your online survey? Here's how we worked with EastSide Arts to improve their response rate by over 500%, along with our top ten tips for improving your own online surveys.

How to design a membership scheme that increases customer loyalty and improves your organisation's bottom line.

Mark Zuckerberg recently announced major changes to how Facebook prioritises content in newsfeed. How is this going to affect cultural organisations, and what can we do about it?

How much will your audience pay for a show or experience? And do lower prices de-value your product? Here's the research behind effective pricing strategies.

Fiona Bell asks whether arts venues go out of their way to be truly welcoming to everyone - or are we in danger of simply talking the talk?

How trying to serve and attract everyone can harm your cultural organisation.

We are looking for arts & culture organisations to take part in the Covid-19 ‘After the Interval’ free National Audience Survey.

A recent visit to Dundee shows a city that is investing in people-focused culture and heritage. What are the lessons for Belfast's future cultural strategy?

For our new themes for 2021/2022, we take a closer look at a typical audience journey, from the first time they hear about you to when they become loyal customers, and all the steps in between. Read our introduction and first step of the audience journey.

Katy Raines, co-founder & partner at Indigo Ltd and Associate of thrive, writes about GDPR and COVID-19 for arts organisations.

Margaret Henry talks about the importance of looking after your own well-being in the arts, culture, and heritage sectors and brings the top five tips back for increasing your resilience  from this year's CO3 conference.

Before we can see the effects of GDPR, here's a breakdown of how well Northern Irish venues are capturing contact details and permissions for their ticket buyers.

Every year, we mine box office data to uncover insights into audiences for venues and festivals across Northern Ireland. Data includes overall benchmark figures for NI, as well as differences by Belfast venues and regional venues.

Read the Arts Collaboration Network's latest statement on 27th January 2021

How can the NI arts and cultural scene adapt to social distancing measures after the lockdown? Our Chief Executive Margaret Henry tries to find out.

How National Theatre of Scotland is using digital creatively to improve access and grow Deaf audiences.

The ISLAND Arts Centre is our Audience Delight Award winner for best socially distanced festival for families. Read our case study to find out how they did it, how their audience found it and tips for doing it yourself.

In this blog, we’re giving you some easy tips for writing great copy.

Musing on the language around cultural audiences - can we borrow some ideas from sport?

An interview with Sarah Hughes, on how business partnership can be as an audience development tool.

Our Client Relationships Exec Catherine talked to the person behind the hilarious (and informative) social media accounts of The Museum of English Rural Life. Read our case study to find out how they succeeded in diversifying their online audiences with a single tweet.

Read theatre director and writer Jess Williams' blog, the latest entry of our Dreams Guest Blog series.

We have partnered with the Insights Alliance (Indigo Ltd, Baker Richards and One Further) to deliver the Missing Audiences survey in Northern Ireland.

Welcome to this year's third theme: What is your real purpose? What is the change you want to see?

Why you might already be doing research without knowing it... and how to choose the right research method to find out what you need to know.

Our Client Relationships Executive Catherine looks at examples of how organisations outside of the arts and culture sectors exceed their audiences' expectations. Read her blog to find out her key takeaways.

Audience development is about building relationships and this is what we will be focusing on to support the sector over the next 12 months.

Our top tips for designing and running a survey. Find out how to create useful survey questions and get the response rates you need.

In 2018, six museums across Northern Ireland hosted late-night events to attract new audiences and change perceptions about museums.

How Young At Art create relaxed performances and an accessible festival experience for their young audience members with additional needs.

Our CEO Margaret attended the Westminster Media Forum event recently, and came away with a lot of ideas and questions for digital transformation in the NI arts, culture, and heritage sector.

Margaret Henry reports back from the Creative Industries Federation Brexit Conference and asks if we're missing some Northern Irish voices in the debate.

We've talked audience development with hundreds of organisations across Northern Ireland (and further afield!). So here are some of the most frequently asked questions we hear about understanding and growing cultural audiences.

Our client director Fiona shares her tips on how to facilitate a meeting or ideas session. How do you get everyone working towards the same goal, get those ideas flowing, and actually agree on some practical action points by the end of the day?

Our insights director Chris looks at the ticketing trends and what they say about where people get their cultural fix in NI. Do ticket-buyers in Belfast stick to city venues - and vice versa?

'Legitimate Interests' could be the saving grace for many arts and culture organisations who want to hold on to their marketing lists.

Our latest Dreams guest blog is by Damien Coyle, Chief Executive of University of Atypical. He reflects on the past 12 months, what we can learn and what we must remember.

Patrick O'Reilly from Tinderbox asks the right questions and suggests solutions for a thriving cultural sector in Northern Ireland.