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

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.

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.

Find out what NI visual arts audiences think about coming back, what they've been doing over lockdown and what they'll feel comfortable doing in the future.

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

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.

Find out how lockdown has impacted audiences in NI

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

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 this audience snapshot, find out what NI audiences first do when going to a venue, their pet peeves and how venues make them feel.

Find out what NI audiences think of emails and newsletters, and what they want to hear in your communication to them.

In this audience snapshot, learn about NI audiences' summer plans.

In this snapshot, find out how NI audiences' engagement with culture online has changed, what they enjoy about it and what they don't.

In this snapshot, find out what arts and culture experiences represent for NI audiences, why they attend and what it gives them that other things don't.

We ran our first focus group with our Audience Panel and they had a lot to say about how they find out about upcoming arts and culture events.

How do NI audiences perceive arts and culture? Find out in our latest audience snapshot.

Find out what art form NI audiences connect with the most and what prevents them from engaging with some art forms.

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

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.

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.

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

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 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 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 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 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 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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

This in-depth qualitative study looks at arts audiences from 20 organisations across the UK, uncovering why people attend shows, events, and galleries - and what holds them back from engaging more.

Get an evidence-based strategy to deliver your objectives.

Durham Cathedral's lego-based fundraising campaign shows how arts, culture, and heritage organisations can create engaging fundraisers that appeal to families and young people.

Author: Catherine Hodgson, Durham Cathedral

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

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

A list of all the different support available for the self-employed and all other businesses and organisations

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

We ran a series of workshops to support arts and culture venues to think creatively about how to improve their Access for Disabled People. This is what we learned.

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.

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.

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 group visits can be used to increase engagement from hard to reach audiences.

Author: Jane Wells, First Art

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

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

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

Sadler's Wells explain how they increased their membership scheme while at the same time reducing the membership discounts.

Author: Sebastian Cheswright Cater, Arts Professional

Our family friendly toolkit will help you to welcome families and anticipate their needs.

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

Confused about consent for GDPR? Whizz through this checklist and see where you're at.

With this toolkit, review your loyalty game and identify areas to work on next.

Want to get started on your GDPR journey? Use this template to complete a data and confidentiality audit for your organisation.

Today is a new chapter for Audiences NI as we launch a new brand but also a new name – Welcome to thrive.

A toolkit to strengthen your relationship with audiences post-pandemic

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.

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

A guide to language in Disability for Non-Disabled People

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.

Use this toolkit to create your own GDPR compliant privacy notice.

An interview with visual artist Ellie Niblock on her first experience making work for and with an audience.

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

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.

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?

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.

Read our latest guest blog from the Changed Future series, written by Holly Foskett.

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?

How the V&A combined digital, physical, and personal welcomes to create a great visitor experience.

Author: Kati Price

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

It's been a year since GDPR hit our inboxes. How have companies and cultural organisations coped, and what are the most common misunderstandings around the legislation?

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

Want to know why some of your most loyal audiences haven't yet come back to your organisation? There's a way to find out. Take part in Missing Audiences.

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.

If you're confused about who you can market to via email under the new GDPR regulations, this handy flow chart will help you identify what you need to do.

Confused about GDPR? Here is a quick and easy guide to what you need to know to get started.

Read our third guest blog from the Changed Future series, written by Charmain Jones.

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.

How Hull Truck Theatre improved the accessibility of their website and online booking process.

Author: Danielle McLoughlin

Alan Ballany of Culture Republic explains who is responsible for GDPR in organisations, and what the penalties can be for non-compliance.

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

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.

When it comes to collecting audience data, free, non-ticketed spaces always ask us the same question: how can we learn more about the people who come through our doors without a ticketing system?

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

Get the low-down on recording images of audiences under GDPR, and download our template to make your own event photography notice.

We ran Hitchhiker's Guide to the Arts in 2014 to see if planned group visits could increase engagement from those who don't normally attend cultural events.

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

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?

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.

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

We sent Fiona off to Culture Geek in the sweltering London heat. Here's some of what she brought back - the best examples of games to engage audiences in galleries and museums

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

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.

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.

Read our third guest blog from the Changed Future series, written by Paul Connolly.

How popular is online booking with Northern Irish arts ticket buyers - and how does it differ between urban and rural contexts?

Read our first guest blog from the Changed Future series, written by Lucretia Devlin.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Carrickfergus Museum transformed an empty space within their building into an area specifically designed for a new audience. We're looking at how they succeeded and how they integrated it into their regular programming.

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

With the new StopCOVID NI app up and running, Sarah looks at the implications of GDPR in contact tracing and what it means for your organisation.

Outburst Queer Arts Festival introduced their own ticketing strategy 'More if/Less if' to make their programme more accessible. They're one of our 2019/2020 Audience Delight Winner.

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

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

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

How can you know more about your audiences? We're listing free tools that you already have access to and tips on how to use them.

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

In this blog, our former Client Relationships Exec Catherine talks about all the things to consider for filling your space with experiences audiences will love.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

New Era, New Audience: How can we make the arts appeal to the wider public during the pandemic and beyond? is our first guest blog of 2021, written by playwright Rosemary Jenkinson.

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

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.

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.