CULTURE SPARKS

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Chairman’s Report From Glasgow Grows Audiences to Culture Sparks

My request for feedback from members, stakeholders and clients in last year’s Report did not go unnoticed. Through project evaluations and our own research, it is clear that, whilst facing the most challenging market conditions yet, you value the detailed audience insight, bespoke services and efforts of the dedicated and accomplished staff team that Glasgow Grows Audiences provides. Combined with large scale, strategic projects such as ‘The Source’ and ‘AmbITion Scotland’ – which we manage in collaboration with industry partners – we benefit from both a local and national overview of the sector.

It is this alchemy that creates deeper connectivity and more diverse collaborations, which I believe will help to sustain and support a vibrant arts and cultural sector in the future and drive audience development.

Your feedback also led us to question how best to serve the developing needs of our members and clients across the creative industries. The result is our re-positioning as ‘Culture Sparks’, a unique partnership providing detailed market intelligence and the ‘spark’ to ignite its worth. Essential collateral for the year ahead.

Roy McEwanChairCulture Sparks

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The Winds of Change in 2009/10

Professionally, key public agencies formally joined forces to support Scotland’s creative industries. Creative Scotland, the enterprise agencies and local authorities published a framework document outlining the roles and responsibilities of major support organisations to provide complementary services aimed at maximising economic growth.

Led by Chair Ewan Brown and the board of Creative Scotland 2009 Ltd, the joint board and chief executives of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen began to outline Creative Scotland’s mission and operational structures. The Minister for Culture, Michael Russell, met with representatives of Scotland’s artistic and creative communities across Scotland to share views and outline initial thoughts for the sector.

Economically, the market was in disarray. The Royal Bank of Scotland expected to make losses totalling £24.1 billion, the biggest in British corporate history. Routine financial indicators, such as the Consumer and Retail Price indices and employment statistics revealed some of the largest falls in over 11 years. The economy was officially in recession for the first time since 1991.

Technologically, the UK Government produced its long awaited ‘Digital Britain’ report, making a number of striking recommendations with regard to broadband access, internet use and public service broadcasting. In the market, use of social media continued to grow fuelled, in part, by the smartphone.

In the first three months of 2009 alone, Apple sold 4.4 million phones. This convergence of new technologies and live interaction energised the debate about our practice as creators and curators of the arts experience.

Descriptions of ‘users’, ‘visitors’, ‘audiences’ or ‘customers’ continued to shift towards talk of ‘communities’ and ‘relationships’.

The public, seen as creators themselves, connected to the things they loved through social networks, where they shared meaningful and relevant experiences and made their voices heard. We noticed the value of those relationships directly and began to evaluate them in new ways. We looked at, for example, levels of engagement and disclosure, response rates, debate, interaction and influence.

So why was this cultural, economic and technological turmoil important to Glasgow Grows Audiences?

Because it was driving inescapable social and behavioural change.

We believe that new forms of practice and relationships with audiences are ahead. People will move seamlessly through information available to them anywhere, at anytime, sharing content with a rich set of groups and networks that they themselves define. They will come to expect complete arts experiences generated by a coalescence of live performance and digital technologies.

Our experience with members and stakeholders over the last five years has taught us that some of the most insightful audience development happens amongst those who are already conversing, connecting and expressing themselves online, in communities and across the broadest spectrum of creative activity. Not simply in our theatres and concert halls. We believe there is a new job of audience development – one which seeks out those conversations and taps into people’s needs to develop and broker new relationships and partnerships more widely.

While the outcome of what we have done over the years may be audience growth and organisational development, it is our collective knowledge, ideas and application which stimulates and develops those new partnerships to promote innovation and sustained growth. Therefore in 2009 we began a process of change ourselves.

Welcome to Culture Sparks – the intelligence and innovation partnership for the cultural sector.

Julie L. Tait, Director, Culture Sparks

Director’s Report

During 2009/10 around 30 individual consultancy projects were delivered by the Culture Sparks team. These included economic impact assessments for key cultural festivals in and around Glasgow; in-depth audience trends and lifestyle profiling projects, market assessments, audience development strategies, digital media impact analyses and the third year of a very successful internship programme.

This year also saw the continuation of the national project - ‘The Source’ - the biggest ever benchmarking and ongoing measure of audience behaviours and demographics across Scotland. Culture Sparks also commenced delivery of the £1m Creative Scotland funded programme ‘AmbITion Scotland’. This major new national project, developed in association with Creative Scotland and Rudman Consulting, offers seed funding and support to assist arts organisations to undertake the kind of change management that is required to become exemplars in the use of digital technologies.

Project Management: ‘AmbITion Scotland’ is a change programme for the creative and cultural industries in Scotland, which supports organisations to achieve 21st century sustainability through implementing integrated IT and digital developments. The objectives of the project are being met through the close working of 55 participant organisations with 17 specialist advisors from all over Scotland. Additionally, ‘AmbITion Scotland’ supplies the wider creative and cultural sector with digital knowledge and learning opportunities through Webinars, Roadshows, new networks and a wide range of online resources.

The (AmbITion) ning network makes it possible to follow up on things discussed at the Roadshow, which I think is great, as often these kinds of seminar/workshops get lost at the back of your mind a few days later.

AmbITion Scotland Webinar Delegate

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Project Management: Involving over 40 arts organisations, ‘The Source’ is the biggest ever benchmarking and ongoing measure of audience behaviours and demographics across Scotland. In this second year of the project ‘The Source’ team undertook a sector-wide Training Needs Analysis (TNA) and an in-depth Systems Audit with arts venues. Both produced valuable insight into organisational activity and hardware and assessed aspects such as ticketing systems, audience feedback collation and customer service. Three quirkily named training workshops were developed in response to the TNA feedback: ‘Data Control’, ‘Data Police’ and ‘Data Detective’ for roll out in 2010.

“[Culture Sparks] they’re respected, they know their stuff, they can crunch the data better than anyone I’ve met and they’re just nice people. It works.” Partner, The Source”

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Cryptic Audience & Social Media Trends

Included a review of: audience sales trends between 2002/09, current marketing tactics, future programming, data capture methods and social media impact.

Chamber Music Forum Scotland The Chamber Music Market

An assessment of the potential audience for chamber music in Scotland using profiling tools. Also incorporated the analysis of case studies, educational initiatives and experimental programming in the UK and beyond.

AmbITion Scotland Programme Evaluation

Continuous evaluation of the ‘AmbITion Scotland’ programme, utilising quantitative and qualitative data to measure the achievements in a rich and meaningful way.

Hear Glasgow!Strategic Support

Supporting the development of Hear Glasgow! through steering group membership of the Glasgow Strategic Music Partnership and practical communications support.

Aberdeen Performing Arts (APA)Orchestral Research

Uncovering attendance trends at orchestral music events on behalf of APA and the BBC SSO, RSNO and SCO.

East Ayrshire Council Survey Review

Following a review of existing ‘Information Services’ survey methods, recommendations were made to enable the streamlining of data collection procedures and the gathering of consistent feedback.

Having Culture Sparks as an independent reviewer means I have backing to implement the changes needed.

Dianne McGregor,East Ayrshire Council”“

“[Our] meeting was brilliantly helpful and has certainly brought shape and focus to the tasks ahead. Thanks also for the information... lots to read, absorb, digest and investigate! Once again thanks for your invaluable guidance and support.”

Natalie Davidson, Cryptic”

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Glasgow City Council Cultural Research

2004/09 data and trends analysis of the Glasgow arts marketplace.

Audiences East Scotland Business Planning

Strategic planning support through the facilitation of workshops with Audiences East Scotland collaborators.

Culture Sparks Consultancy ProjectsThe team at Culture Sparks work with a wide range of arts and cultural organisations. The projects on pages 5 and 6 show the types of collaborate work undertaken in 2009/10 with members and clients and its often bespoke nature.

Audience ProfilingCompleted with:

Citizens’ TheatreDance HouseGlasgow Theatres LtdRSAMD

Mischief La-BasAudience Development

Strategic and practical support for the ‘Market of Optimism’ and the Mischief team.

Audiences UK UK Digital Research

Commissioned by Audiences UK, Culture Sparks managed and dissemminated Arts Council England’s (ACE) Digital Audience Research Project, which involved a UK wide e-survey with 2,000 digitally engaged people about their on and offline cultural consumption.

Random Accomplice Audience Development

Research and audience development support - including audience analysis - to support business planning and growth objectives.

Wasps Artists’ Studios Open Studios Research

Visitor feedback analysis from the ‘Open Studios Weekend’ which took place at Wasps’ venues across Scotland.

Tron Business Planning

Facilitation of business planning workshops to inspire change, creativity, innovation and lateral thinking.

The report we received (from Culture Sparks) has helped us identify, for our region, the drive times of existing audiences plus has helped us identify the user characteristics of existing audiences, so that we can best understand where our gaps lie. This is helping us target new audiences. We used the report in a recent Families campaign, and for the planning of a future campaign, targeting cultural tourists.

Vicky Hayes, Audiences East Scotland”

“ Glasgay! have used the services of Culture Sparks for the last four years and have always found the team helpful, knowledgeable and professional. Their particular understanding of the impact of tourism on the arts and economic impact studies has been of high value to our business models.

Steven Thomson, Glasgay!”

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‘The Greenhouse’ Internship Programme Scottish Arts Council

Year three of ‘The Greenhouse’ Internship Programme, supported by the Scottish Arts Council. Theoretical and practical learning through coaching, mentoring and placements.

NYCOS Audience Development/ Organisational Audit

An audience development audit to identify areas in which NYCOS could extend reach, revenue and reputation.

Scottish Dance Theatre and RepnetInternational Research

International dance research project enabling the ‘Repnet’ collective to gain a deeper understanding of their current audiences.

Visitor Economic Impact Studies Completed in 2009/10:

Celtic Connections Burns an’ a’ that! FestivalMerchant City FestivalGlasgay!

Scotland’s National Arts Companies Data Sharing

Audience crossover analysis with Scottish Ballet, the National Theatre of Scotland, Scottish Opera, RSNO and SCO.

Young Audiences Scotland Project Evaluation

Continued from 2008/09

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Conference: ‘Spreading the Love’ & The GaGAs‘Spreading the Love: the Art of Appeal’ was Culture Sparks’ fourth annual conference. Delegates heard from speakers with global experience including experts from Tesco.com; the independent think tank and research institute Demos, and from Phoenix in Arizona, the director of Alliance for Audiences whose work has resulted in real change and bigger audiences across a number of US cities. Over 100 arts professionals from across Scotland were in attendance.

Culture Sparks’ annual awards ceremony – The GaGAs – was an important feature of the conference, recognising inspiring audience development work taking place in Scotland. The 2009 winners included the Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow Film Theatre, the RSNO and Jackie Shearer (Platform).

Events: supported and promoted by Culture SparksCulture Sparks led seminars and workshops in 2009/10 (‘Google Analytics’, ‘Exploring Audience Mindsets’ and ‘Handling Difficult Conversations’) had a focus on practcial skilling in response to ‘The Source’ cultural sector training needs analysis. Other events during this period took place as part of ‘The Source’ and ‘AmbITion Scotland’ programmes.

Events 2009/10Apr-09 ‘Google Analytics’ Seminar

Jun-09 ‘The Source’: Forums - North / West

Aug-09 ‘Exploring Audience Mindsets’ Workshop

Nov-09 ‘The Source’: Forums - Glasgow / Edinburgh / Perth

Dec-09 ‘Handling Difficult Conversations’ Workshop

Jan-10 ‘AmbITion Scotland - Getting Digital’ Edinburgh

Feb-10 ‘AmbITion Scotland - Getting Digital’ Glasgow

Mar-10 ‘AmbITion Scotland - Roadshow’ Inverness

We had a brilliant, informative, THOUGHT PROVOKING and FUN day. Sometimes we forget about the fun side of the arts, and the love it inspires. Cheers for reminding us.

Alison Bell, dgarts”“

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Conference 2009

The

GaGA

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Summary of Annual AccountsFor year ended 31st March 2010

Reserves: The charity has net reserves at the year-end of £130,491. This includes revenues which will be used in meeting the increased demand for arts consultancy, delivery of national grant funded projects and training services for which Culture Sparks has commitments in 2010/11.

The directors’ aim is to manage risk by building up a reserves fund adequate to cover core overheads for a 3 month period. Where unallocated funds are created these will be redirected towards maintaining the operations of the organisation to ensure delivery of the core Memorandum and Articles of the organisation and ensure efficient and effective best practice at all times.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice applicable to Smaller Entities and in accordance with the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and Regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

The summary accounts have been extracted from the audited statutory accounts for the year ending 31 March 2010. The full accounts and report are available from Culture Sparks.

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors on 1 September 2010.

Expenditure 09/10

54% Salaries and Employers Costs15% Operating Overheads31% Projects<1% Depreciation

Income 09/10

19% Grants – Public Bodies13% Grants – Local Authorities17% Membership49% Projects2% Other<1% Bank Interest

15% 31%54%

<1%

19%

13%49%<1%

2% 17%

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Statement of Financial ActivitiesIncome

Grants – public bodiesGrants – local authoritiesMembershipProjectsOther Earned IncomeBank Interest Received

TOTAL INCOME

£70,000£50,000£64,209£184,410£6,160£1,539

£376,318

Expenditure

Salaries & Employers CostsOperating OverheadsProjectsDepreciation

TOTAL EXPENDITURE

£196,850£53,863£114,709£1,533

£366,955

Balance Sheet

FIXED ASSESTS:Tangible Assets

CURRENT ASSETS:DebtorsCash at Bank

£5,818

£44,545£384,180

CREDITORSAmount falling due within one yearNET CURRENT ASSETS:TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES:

£304,052£124,673£130,491

Net Income

Funds Brought Forward RETAINED FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD

£9,363

£121,128£130,491

TOTAL FUNDS: £130,491

TeamJulie L. Tait DirectorCharlotte Wilson Head of Market ResearchDianne Greig Head of Audience DevelopmentKirsty McKenzie Finance & Administration ManagerElaine McMillan Finance & Administration Manager*Nina Honeyman Audience Development ManagerLauren Duffy Insight AnalystRosemary James Audience Development Intern (08/09)Jasmine Piper Audience Development Intern (09/10)Ashley Smith Hammond AmbITion Scotland Project Manager

* Maternity cover

BoardRoy McEwan (Chair)Managing Director, Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Janette Harkess (Vice Chair)Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI)

David HunterSenior Partner, Campbell Dallas Chartered Accountancy

Jackie KilleenHead of Policy & Development, Big Lottery Fund Scotland

Guy RobertsonManaging Partner, GRP

Ronnie SomervilleDirector, 5pm.com

Prof. Alan WilsonHead of the Department of Marketing, University of Strathclyde

Julie L. Tait (Secretary)Director, Culture Sparks

Members

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BBC Scottish Symphony orchestra (BBC SSO)Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA)Citizens’ TheatreCumbernauld TheatreDance HouseDirect DistributionDumfries & Galloway Arts (dgarts) East Ayrshire CouncilGlasgow Theatres Ltd (ATG)Glasgow’s Concert HallsHunterian Museum & Art GalleryNational Theatre of ScotlandNational Youth Choirs of Scotland (NYCoS)National Youth Orchestras of Scotland (NYOS)North Ayrshire CouncilNorth Lanarkshire CouncilPlatformRandom AccompliceRoyal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD)Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO)Scottish BalletScottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO)Scottish EnsembleScottish OperaSolar BearThe ArchesTramwayTron TheatreWASPS Artists’ Studios

Culture Sparks is the intelligence and innovation partnership for the cultural sector. Through consultancy projects, facilitation, coaching and training events, the team provides members, clients and partners with tailored strategies and guidance to achieve their audience growth ambitions. We are:

Researchers and commentators on the social and economic impact of arts and culture An innovative support service for creative organisations who want to develop their skills and knowledge to engage more audiences A unique gateway to a network of fellow partners, professionals and specialists in the fields of market and social research, arts marketing, skills training, digital media and commercial development A creative studio for trialling, presenting and celebrating new ideas and collaborations in audience development

Culture SparksSuite 1/1, 6 Dixon Street Glasgow, G1 4AX

T. 0141 248 6864E. ignite@culturesparks.co.ukwww.culturesparks.co.ukwww.twitter.com/culturesparks

Culture Sparks is supported by the Scottish Arts Council and Glasgow City CouncilGlasgow Grows Audiences Ltd operating as Culture SparksRegistered as a Company in Scotland: SC270865Registered Scottish Charity: SC035796