PRE-APPLICATION WORKSHOPTouring and Dissemination of Work Scheme

Arts Audiences 17th October 2013

DEADLINES

• Upcoming deadline for application to The Arts Council

1. Touring and Dissemination of Work Scheme:

Tours from July – December 2014Tours from January – June 2015

Deadline for applications 14th November 5pm

Application – general guidelines

• Read the guidance !

• Health warning – guidance should be followed at all times

ARTS AUDIENCES AND TOURING

• Marketplace initiative

• Pre-application workshops on audience elements– Aimed at ensuring that when you get an award

you have the right things in place

• Touring Marketing Training

ARTS AUDIENCES RESOURCES

• www.artsaudiences.ie

• Guide to Marketing Your Production on Tour

• Digital Arts Marketing Training

The Arts Council - Touring Scheme and audience focus

• Amongst other things, The Arts Council is looking for

– high artistic quality and that generally have a strong audience focus.

– for a diverse range of audiences

What will we cover?

• If you get a grant what will you need to implement the audience elements

– Demonstrating that your application meets the audience criteria (Q 2.4)

– How to set an audience target for your tour ( Q.2.5)

– How to set a marketing budget for your tour ( Q 3.1)

Q 2.4 How does your application meet the assessment criteria?

• Each artform has a slightly different set of criteria, slightly different around audience

• READ THE GUIDANCE• Examples would be:– Architecture: Demonstrate ambition to show

international or national exhibitions which would not otherwise be seen by Irish audiences

– Literature: Build on long-term objectives around developing readership and audiences for contemporary literature

Q2.4 Research

• What information could help?

• Can you demonstrate a gap for what you are offering? Or a proven demand among audiences?

Q2.4

• Have you toured before to the venues you are proposing to tour to? Is there information that might help?

• Have colleagues or friends in your artform toured to those venues before?

• Talk to the venues about previous experience

Q2.4 – resources available

1. Arts Attendance in Ireland report – www.artsaudiences.ie

Breaks down audiences for artforms by region

2. Information resource – Venues section www.artscouncil.ie

Regional audiences

Some examples of good applications

• Theatre • XXXXXXX has an excellent track record in touring quality productions nationally having been involved in 5 successful

tours in 4 years • The production has a quality creative team that have all excelled in their field of expertise • The production has had a previous life, receiving strong reviews and excellent audience response. • The application shows ambition in presenting a play that has not been over exposed and yet will appeal to audiences • The application has the support of 14 venue directors who all believe in the play and want the production for their

venues • The tour shows ambition in reaching 14 venues over 7 weeks • The production is visually impressive and will succeed in touring a large scale production for venues, offering good

value for money. • The company and venues feel that with this production will get high audience turnout

Some examples of good applications

• Music• This tour brings a world acclaimed artist to Irish

audiences for the first time • A major artist in intimate venues will drive audiences

and create new interest • This is an exceptional artist who would not otherwise

be available to regional audiences and venues except through the use of specialist curatorial expertise

Some examples of good applications

• Film• The programme, contextualised by expert

staff and framed by a series of workshops, creates opportunities for active engagement by audiences with the art of film and music and encourages exploration of heritage.

Resources available

• Audience Review 2013 – published by Audiences NI

• http://www.audiencesni.com/news/Audience-Review-2013-now-published

Audiences Review 2013

www.irishtheatreonline.com

www.theatreforumireland.ie

Q2. 5 How to set an audience target

What should the audience target be?

• Overestimation is the norm – don’t do it

• Targets should be ambitious and realistic

• Agreed with co-promoters and others

* These do not have to be venues you are touring to but ideally they would be

How to set an audience target?

• 1. Talk to venues. Ask them what audience numbers have been achieved in the recent past in your artform or similar.*

• 2. Talk to colleagues and friends about what audience numbers they have achieved

Members will have their own reports

Use the information resources

• Results of the Touring and Dissemination of Work Scheme to date – contact the relevant Head of Team in The Arts Council

• Arts Attendance in Ireland 2011-2012• Census Highlights 2011• Theatre Forum benchmarking*

• Memory stick available for resources

Average capacity for venues under 500 seats is 26% of capacity

Example – Dance Show proposed tour – Cork venue

Example – Dance Show – Cork venue

27% of the population : 37% of dance attenders; 87,000 dance attenders in

Ireland once a year or more

Example – Dance Show – Cork Venue

• Contemporary dance attenders have more people in the age groups – 15 – 24– 35-44

• 35- 44 year olds are 19% of the population and 25% of dance attenders

• 66% of contemporary dance attenders are women• Venue attenders attend at a wide range of things

Census 2011

Example – Dance Show – Cork venue

30 - 40 year olds are the largest section of the population

Example – Dance Show – Cork venue

Sample calculation – for a venue with 400 seats

• Recently has achieved 14% average capacity for dance – 56 seats sold

• The average is about 26%• There are 32,000 contemporary dance

attenders in Munster• Another dance company has sold 100 seats for

a performance in another venue• Target: 35% of seats to be sold – 140 seats

REMEMBER

REALISTIC BUT AMBITIOUS

Q.2.5 – Planned audience

• Agree with the venue• Attach the workings to your application if you

wish• You must attach the MOU with venues, signed

by the venues• You will submit a report post-tour

Q 3.1 Budget How to set a marketing budget

Marketing budget

• A marketing budget needs a marketing plan

• Application does not need a detailed plan

• How to ensure that you have allowed enough for marketing?

Marketing budget

• Applicant has been given the touring grant

• Is responsible for the audience numbers and the reporting

1. Negotiate an outline marketing agreement with the venue (s)

• Who is doing what?• What will you have to provide? – basics of

marketing eg images, text for brochure, logo• Price those elements - don’t guess• Allow some travel and familiarisation – not

much but some

Extract from Marketing Your Production on Tour

• Setting marketing budgets• The budget you need will depend on these factors:• · the size of venue: bigger venues have more tickets to sell and so need more• marketing materials• · the type of event: new or challenging work needs more time and money spent on it• · past audiences: a company with a well-established audience at a particular venue• will need to invest fewer resources• · the promoter’s programme: if the promoter does not regularly present your art• form or type of work, both you and they will need to invest more resources• · the financial agreement: the level of risk your company is taking will influence the• time and money you need to invest but even if the promoter is paying you a fee, you• still have a responsibility to help them find an audience.• The biggest cost to your company will be the time to carry out the tasks involved.• Excluding salaries, most venues spend roughly 5% of their turnover on marketing while• touring companies average around 9%.

Marketing budget

• Basic promoter costs – incurred even if the venue is doing the marketing– Images , usually photography– Press pack for venues– Text for brochure– Materials for the website (buttons, sized images, trailers

etc.)– Familiarisation costs

Other possible costs• PR professional• Flyers and/or posters

How to set a marketing budget

• What marketing channels do the audience respond to?– For the venue– for your artform in that region

• ASK• What channels will you concentrate on and to

reach how many people?• Outline cost

Venues want

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7uTsnAvPhg&feature=plcp

TOUGH

Resources

• www.artsaudiences.ie

• Arts Audiences cannot help with individual applications but we can point you in the right direction.

Digital Arts Marketing Training

7 modules for €95

www.artsaudiences.ie