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

Get to know Frank and Nancy, our Older Frequent Attender persona created from the data collected during our Audience Panel.

Get to know Darren, our Young Infrequent Attender persona created from the data collected during our Audience Panel.

Get to know Jan, our accessibility persona created from the data collected during our Audience Panel.

Get to know Jill, our Young Family persona created from the data collected during our Audience Panel.

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

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

Our Foundations report shows what the ticketed landscape was like in Northern Ireland in 2019-2023. It uncovers insights into audiences for venues and festivals across Northern Ireland and identifies benchmark figures for our region.

Find out the results from our second Culture Beyond Covid for Heritage: the Heritage Panel

Find out the results from our first Culture Beyond Covid for Heritage: The Heritage Panel

Find out the results from our third Culture Beyond Covid for Heritage: the Heritage Panel

The Taking Part Survey researches engagement with museums and galleries in England between 2005 and 2016.

Research into the media preferences and habits of over 25,000 US performing arts customers.

Discover the insights from our Culture Beyond Covid audience research for ticketed and non-ticketed organisations.

This research explored UK audiences' behaviours during lockdown, their wants and needs post-Covid and marketing opportunities for arts & culture organisations moving forward.

This research from Museums Libraries and Archives in England gets to the core of why people use libraries, why they don't, and what would get them through the door.

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

Young adults aged 16-24, commonly referred to as Gen Z by marketers, are often considered a challenging demographic to engage. This report, developed by the creative agency We Are Social UK, offers deeper insights into their lifestyles and behaviours. You can read the complete report via the link or read the summary below, written by Alice Bresciani, We Are Social's former Senior Research and Insights Director. We recently created an audience snapshot for this age group and the art forms they're into.

This resource from The Wallace Foundation in the USA gives some refreshingly fact-based strategies for attracting millennials.

Find out how NI audiences engage with culture online.

A national survey from Arts Council of Ireland looking at attendance and participation in the arts in ROI.

Find out who are the NI audiences willing to pay for culture online.

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 the results from our fourth and final survey for Culture Beyond Covid for Heritage: the Heritage Panel

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

Find out how NI heritage visitors have engaged with heritage organisations and sites since Covid and how you can use these insights to plan for the future.

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.

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.

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

Earlier this month, we were invited to take part in the Festivals Forum, where we presented some of our findings on festival audience attendance over the last 4 years. The meeting provided us with great insight into trends from across NI festivals. Eve discusses in this report.

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

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.

Ofcom have released their report into what the people of Northern Ireland are watching and listening - and how and where they are doing it. Here's our quick summary of the report - and the implications for the cultural sector.

This report from NISRA gives the overall picture on who is living in Northern Ireland, and covers population growth, travel and transport, technology use and more.

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.

Insights from the ticketing data of up to 343 cultural organisations across the UK, Ireland, USA, and Canada.

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

Uncover the insight in your box office data.

Get an evidence-based strategy to deliver your objectives.

Unsure where to start? Book a free one-to-one audience development session.

Book a free one-to-one chat about your audiences.

Book a free one-to-one chat about your audiences.

Book a free one-to-one chat about your audiences.

Book a free one-to-one chat about your audiences.

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.

Make sure your research delivers the results you want. This toolkit will help you design a research brief to do just that.

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.

When you're starting any kind of research - the first thing to do is to check what's already out there. Here are our top free online sources of audience information.

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?

Thanks to funding from ACNI, we now have a suite of 8 iPads available for venues and festivals who want to run surveys on-site.

This toolkit from Indigo and BOP Consulting will guide you through choosing a new ticketing or CRM system for your venue or organisation.

What our latest ticketing research says about customer loyalty in theatres and arts venues across Northern Ireland.

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

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

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.

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

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.

Customisable social media calendars, research toolkits, and more.

Audience development. It’s an objective that is close to our hearts here at Thrive. This summer, we decided to delve deeper into it, meeting with people from various parts of Northern Ireland’s arts and cultural sector (festivals, producers, galleries, and venues) The aim? To get an insight into the unique challenges each group faces around building and maintaining audience relationships.

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

The action-research report from Cinegi profiles their efforts to bring filmed theatre, ballet, and opera to libraries and village halls across England.

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.

In this blog, our former Research Executive Victoria explores the different benefits of having a ticketing system.

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.

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.

Bristol Culture's museum and gallery shops were losing money, but by using audience data and testing new strategies they were able to turn things around.

Author: Zak Mensah, Arts Professional

Our strategic insights director Chris invites NI festivals and venues with box office systems to take part in a returning favourite, our Foundations bench-marking project.

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?

A run-down of all the ways to find out about your current and potential audiences. These range from simple and no-cost solutions, to more sophisticated box office systems.

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

Clever use of social proof can help you use your current audience to encourage new visitors to your cultural venue or events.

The lovely Laura Cusick, our Head of Sector Development, is transitioning to a new position within our company. She has written a blog post explaining her decision to take on this new role.

Use this template to create a powerful one-page persona that helps you focus on your target audiences.

In this podcast we hear from the museum guides and curators on what the process was actually like and how glad they are they done it!

A roadmap for digital tailored to Northern Ireland’s arts and culture organisations’ needs

Sarah interviews Katy Raines, a well known arts marketing expert. Katy explains what segmentation is, why it works and includes case studies of successful segmentation.

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

A guest blog by Kim Mitchell from MoMA New York. Kim talks about communications at the top end of the art world, and the challenges of working with a world-renowned brand.

In this guest blog Alan Ballany of Culture Republic gives his thoughts on what stricter standards around data anonymisation mean for cultural organisations under GDPR.

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

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

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

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

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

Working with the Barbican to gather insights into what young people want from their membership in future.

If you want to know what makes NI audiences click and stick, sign up to our Audience Panel newsletter to receive fresh insights straight to your inbox.

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.

Libraries are routinely reaching audiences that other cultural organisations struggle to. What can we learn from libraries about attracting a more diverse and representative audience?

The Arts Collaboration Network's statement following the NI Executive announcement made on future restrictions which will apply in Northern Ireland from 11th December.

There is wealth of free information about your current and potential audiences available through your social media and website. Here's how to access it and build a picture of your online audiences.

Our definitive guide to audience development for arts, culture, and heritage. Use this guide to develop your own unique audience development strategy.

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.

In order to reach diverse audiences, including the LGBTQ+ community, you'll need to track who is visiting or engaging with you. Here's how to ask about gender and sexual orientation in surveys in a sensitive and practical way.

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

Avoid the awkward when you're writing surveys that ask about gender, and be sure you're asking about the right things in the right ways.

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

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

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.

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.

Advice from MOMA on using digital to connect with visual arts audiences, and a spotlight on creating a digital plan for heritage organisations.

How using focus groups helped The Crescent understand how their audience sees them, and led to a new brand and website that's showcasing the best of what they offer.

Our strategic insights director Chris Palmer blogs on his return to thrive after three years away.

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.

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

Maurane Ramon shares her thoughts as an arts marketer new to Northern Ireland’s geographical, cultural, and political landscapes.

Happy New Year! We're opening the year with a new theme: strengthening your relationship with your audiences and loyalty. It is as important as ever when our cultural spaces remain closed. Read our blog to find out more.

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

Here are the answers to some of the most common questions we've been getting from the cultural sector on GDPR.

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.

Our CEO Fiona recently traveled to the North West to chat with a group of older people to understand more about their engagement with arts and culture. She wrote a blog to let us know what she learnt.

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?

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?

Using scenarios can help develop a rounder view of your audience, and give insights where personas just don't apply.

Amanda Neylon from NHS Digital tells us what exactly 'digital' means and what it means for the everyday person.

Some people who used to be regular audience members haven't yet returned to cultural organisations. There are ways to entice them back. Read our blog to find out.

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.

Our CEO Fiona attended the Family Arts Conference and learnt a lot about ticket prices. Read her blog to find out her key takeaways.

A message from the thrive team to the Arts, Culture and Heritage sectors about COVID-19.

The focus is often on new audiences coming through our doors, but what does it take to get them to visit your organisation time and time again? 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 recently deactivated our Instagram account. We're telling you why in our latest blog.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Are cultural organisations too focused on new audiences - at the expense of encouraging and rewarding loyal visitors? Here's how and why arts organisations should be promoting audience loyalty.

A guide to language in Disability for Non-Disabled People

Your website is often where your audience member starts their visit. If it's not accessible - what message are you sending to potential disabled and d/Deaf audience members? Here are some practical steps to make your website more accessible.

Thrive's visitor profiling project to learn more about the visitors to six Northern Ireland museums.

We've asked Zoe Seaton at Big Telly Theatre Company what it's like to adapt live theatre online, how to price digital performances and tips for NI organisations.

When audiences visit your organisation for the first time, what can you do to build a lasting relationship with them? Read our blog to find out.

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

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?

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?

The Duncairn is our Audience Delight Award winner for Best Community Vibes. Read our case study to find out what is it about them that makes their audiences click.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.