Audience Development: Journey into the unknown…

 Getting our house in order  Small, not-quite-perfectly formed  No audience development or marketing expertise  New strategic plan and vision placing audience at the heart of all operations, artistic and administrative  New brand/image/name and understanding of what exactly we’re selling

16-strong professional choral ensemble delivering  8-10 projects per year (average 3 concerts/project  Programmes ranging from medieval through to contemporary  Concentration on commissioning – particularly Irish composers  Commitment to national and international collaboration  Living up to the title of ‘National’!

Presumptions!  They’re old  They don’t really do digital media so like things in the post!  They like us!

FACT!  They’re old but not as old as we thought – 70% is 50+ but the majority of that is  They don’t really do digital media – the majority hear about our work through print/word of mouth with little or no engagement through website/social media  They like us! They love our programming, love being introduced to new things  We need to do better at marketing!

Introducing Audience Surveys  Talking informally – getting to know individuals  Audience surveys reaffirming what we’d presumed  Affirmation that they like what we do  Enabled us to grow the database and convert in part to marketing

 Increasing output/access - Increasing number of performances and education activities per year incrementally over 3 years  Programming to develop audiences - Dividing programme into national touring – (2 national tours of 3-5 dates each per year) - ‘Niche’ programming throughout the year in larger cities/venues/festivals  Collaborations - Working with other national organisations to collaboratively build audiences through shared ambitions

NCC Research + TGI data = Classical music audience largely 60+ Size and scale of organisation focus will be to retain and grow this audience segment through all our programming. Younger? 2 nd priority is for the market at key events in the year:  Culture Night  Seasonal points – Christmas  Festival performances