Our IMPACT report helps us learn more about who audiences are, how they behave, why they attend and how they feel after attending a variety of artforms.

The raw data from our IMPACT Survey contains survey responses from 2,921 participants across 35 organisations in Northern Ireland collected from September 2023 to March 2024

For the first time, we are sharing artform reports from our IMPACT Survey, using responses gathered from 29 organisations between September 2023 and July 2024. This report details the motivations, behaviours, and demographics of Visual Arts audiences.

For the first time, we are sharing artform reports from our IMPACT Survey, using responses gathered from 29 organisations between September 2023 and July 2024. This report details the motivations, behaviours, and demographics of Music audiences.

For the first time, we are sharing artform reports from our IMPACT Survey, using responses gathered from 29 organisations between September 2023 and July 2024. This report details the motivations, behaviours, and demographics of Theatre audiences.

What does art mean to people's lives? This year, we are going places to meet 100 audience members in all 11 council areas of Northern Ireland to find out. Our first stop was at the Duncairn in Belfast.

What does art mean to people's lives? This year, we are going places to meet 100 audience members in all 11 council areas of Northern Ireland to find out. Our second stop was at the Millennium Forum in Derry~Londonderry.

What does art mean to people's lives? This year, we are going places to meet 100 audience members in all 11 council areas of Northern Ireland to find out. Our third stop was at Portico of Ards in Portaferry, Ards and North Down Borough.

What does art mean to people's lives? This year, we are going places to meet 100 audience members in all 11 council areas of Northern Ireland to find out. Our fourth stop was at High Rise in Lisburn, Lisburn and Castlereagh City.

What does art mean to people's lives? This year, we are going places to meet 100 audience members in all 11 council areas of Northern Ireland to find out. Our fifth stop was at Antrim Castle Gardens in Antrim, Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough.

What does art mean to people's lives? This year, we are going places to meet 100 audience members in all 11 council areas of Northern Ireland to find out. Our sixth stop was at Millennium Court in Portadown, Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough.

What does art mean to people's lives? This year, we are going places to meet 100 audience members in all 11 council areas of Northern Ireland to find out. Our seventh stop was at Canal Court Hotel in Newry, Mourne and Down.

What does art mean to people's lives? This year, we are going places to meet 100 audience members in all 11 council areas of Northern Ireland to find out. Our tenth stop was at Carrickfergus Library in the Mid and East Antrim district council area.

What does art mean to people's lives? This year, we are going places to meet 100 audience members in all 11 council areas of Northern Ireland to find out. Our eighth stop was at Coleraine Town Hall in the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough council area.

What does art mean to people's lives? This year, we are going places to meet 100 audience members in all 11 council areas of Northern Ireland to find out. Our eleventh stop was at Seamus Heaney Homeplace in the Mid Ulster district council area.

What does art mean to people's lives? This year, we are going places to meet 100 audience members in all 11 council areas of Northern Ireland to find out. Our ninth stop was at the Fermanagh House in Fermanagh.

We want to grow the amount of research into cultural engagement in Northern Ireland. Read our blog to find out more about our plans for this year and how you can take part.

Last month, we sat down with representatives from organisations across Belfast to discuss their thoughts on the impact of various art forms on audiences. Find out how the meeting went in our latest blog written by our Sector Programme Coordinator Eve Murtagh.

In July 2022, we began work on a fascinating project: Northern Ireland in 100 Stories. For the past year, we met with a total of 120 people from across all 11 council areas in Northern Ireland to find out what arts and culture means to their lives. As we near the end of the project, we wanted to gather in one place all the resources that came from it.

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 Arts' project 'The Gert and Friends' is a great example of how it can be done through co-creation.

For the first time, we are sharing artform reports from our IMPACT Survey, using responses gathered from 29 organisations between September 2023 and July 2024. This report details the motivations, behaviours, and demographics of Comedy audiences.

In its second year, the North West Audience Survey is currently gathering data on arts and heritage audiences in Derry and Donegal. Please find our second snapshot of our findings, which looks at the impact of age on audiences.

Over the past couple of years, we have been working on an exciting venture known as the North West project. This initiative revolves around the collection of data concerning arts, culture, and heritage audiences in Derry and Donegal. Now, we've decided to put together all the stuff we've learned from it in one place.

In its second year, the North West Audience Survey is currently gathering data on arts and heritage audiences in Derry and Donegal. Please find our third snapshot of our findings, which looks at the impact of who audiences attend with.

The raw data from our North West Audience Survey contains survey responses from 4,420 participants across 39 Donegal County Council and Derry City and Strabane District Council organisations collected from April 2022 to March 2024.

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.

The iBeholder pilot was developed to help us discover new ways to gather audience data for non-ticketed visual arts organisations and boost the audience experience. This report details everything that happened throughout the project and the insights we uncovered during the pilot.

Evidence the impact you make.

Mystery shops to understand and improve your visitor experience.

Strategy, reporting, and campaign delivery.

Get an evidence-based strategy to deliver your objectives.

Uncover the insight in your box office data.

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

Want to know more about the details of the IMPACT project? Read our FAQs

Two months since introducing our IMPACT survey, Research Analyst Laura has taken a first look at the data for early insights from the responses. Her initial review offers a pulse check – what does the data reveal about the impact of arts, cultural and heritage events and activities so far?

Do you want to know more about your audiences and contribute to sector-wide research? Find out about our newest project and how to get involved.

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

Have questions on the IMPACT Survey? Read on for more information.

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.

Grassroots venues play a vital role in maintaining the longevity of the music sector. In this blog, Eve explores the challenges facing local grassroots music venues and what could be done to support their long term success.

This toolkit, created by Museums Association, will help you to measure and evaluate the positive impact your museum has on your community

In this short toolkit, we are looking at different types of surveys and finding the one that works best for you.

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.

YouGov and Experian have been collecting data on the cost-of-living crisis and its impact on consumers. We wrote a blog about the implications for arts and culture audiences.

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.

Covid had an impact on how cultural organisations are collecting and using audience data. With our last thrive survey, we were able to find out what changed and what it means for audience data in NI going forward.

The significance of arts and culture is frequently downplayed, yet it profoundly shapes people's lives. The Northern Ireland in 100 Stories project has gathered first hand accounts from people across the region demonstrating the impact arts and culture have on local residents. In this blog post, Laura examines the key themes from the project, highlighting how integral arts and culture are to are to local communities.

This toolkit will help you to make small and easy changes to your venue and online presence to welcome disabled audiences.

The Around the Town Festival in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, highlights the impact of community-driven efforts on local culture. Led by Positive Carrickfergus, the festival aimed to showcase the town’s potential and boost its arts scene. For this case study, our Client Programme Coordinator Sarah spoke with Creative Producer Lynn McKenzie to find out how she and the team turned community aspirations into a successful festival through collaboration, planning, and responsive organising.

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

Author: Matthew Brown

A comprehensive toolkit and checklist to help you welcome LGBTQ+ audiences to your venue, festival, or event. Produced in collaboration with Outburst Arts.

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.

Our latest Foundations report, indicates a fresh wave of individuals engaging with arts and culture in Northern Ireland following the pandemic. We wanted to take a closer look at both emerging and diminishing audiences more closely.

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 

Our Client Relationships Director Laura Cusick is back from maternity leave. Read her blog to find out more about how she plans to lead our team to further support you and the rest of the sector.

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

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.

How many tickets for arts and culture events in Northern Ireland are offered at no cost? Insights from our Foundations Report have shed light on this. This prompts us to examine why organisations opt for free events and ticket giveaways. Are there benefits to sharing your valuable, often pricey, work for free?

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.

We recently designed and delivered research for Belfast Stories in which we took a creative approach to craft our questions.

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.

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?

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.

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.

How and when does an interest in an artform translate into attending and participating in it? In June, our resident BOSS Eve attended the 'Interest Into Action' TEA Break session hosted by the Audience Agency. This session led Eve to doing some investigating into this concept of her own with some very interesting results.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Our annual benchmarking report Foundations shows consistently each year that the vast majority of customers do not return the following year. And they don’t come more than once during the year. It sounds like we have a commitment problem. Áine explores how to use data to better understand audience engagement.

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

In early July, Sarah and Maurane hopped over to sunny Brighton for the Arts Marketing Association
conference. Maurane was invited over as a speaker and Sarah decided to tag along and mingle with over 750 representatives from the UK’s cultural sector. The conference, themed "Be Bold, Be Brave," featured thirty-five talks over two days. Here are some key lessons in bravery that Sarah learned.

Our Client Programme Coordinator Sarah 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.

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

As we move towards spring, it's a fitting time to take a moment and consider December, a pivotal time of year for the arts. With recent reports suggesting a downturn in sales for pantomimes and Christmas shows throughout the UK, it's worth examining whether this trend extends to Northern Ireland as well.

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.

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

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.

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

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?

Last June, The Crescent Arts Centre decided to try something new for their Belfast Book Festival: a Pay What You Want scheme. Read our case study to find out how it went.

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

The Foundations 2019-2023 report was made to study look at the ticketing landscape in Northern Ireland in recent years, including festivals. We learned a lot from it. So, we decided to talk to a few Northern Ireland festivals that weren't in the report. We wanted to find out what they thought about the trends for the next year.

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.

Community Asset Transfer (CAT) has been successfully utilised across the UK, yet Northern Ireland has seen only one major success story so far – the Open House Festival's ownership of the Court House, Bangor. Its triumph prompts an important question – Why aren't more Northern Irish communities trying out asset transfers to revive cherished local buildings?

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