1

Strategy & Business Plan

2009 – 2012

2

Foreword

Chairman

This is an interesting time to be joining the Board of Audiences NI and taking over as Chair. Firstly, I have a hard act to follow, arriving on the heels of John D’arcy who has steered the organisation from its launch in 2004.

Secondly, it was pleasing to get a largely complimentary external evaluation which concluded that,

“Audiences NI has offered value for money in the delivery of the business plan it has worked over the past three years...this work has made an impact on the audience development and understanding of its members.”1

Of course we are now in a different place and one that requires some new thinking and a new plan.

Externally we face an extremely challenging economic climate. We have a new Programme for Government, Building a Better Future 2008-11, which demands a 3% annual reduction in public expenditure across all departments and at the same time seeks increased outputs of which the target of a 2% increase in the proportion of the NI population who attend arts events by 2011 is relevant to us.2 We have also, despite good all round performance, a list of areas that we believe need to be moved from good to excellent.

We are accountable for public, members’ and private resources entrusted to us as an investment for which we must show a measurable return. We intend to be judged on our results and not solely on our effort.

Our mission is to broaden and deepen the engagement of audiences and we present here our strategy to do this by working as an enabler, to assist arts organisations to plan, experiment and to take risks in pursuit of new and diversified audiences.

Richard O’Rawe

Chairman

1 Summary Document: An Evaluation of Audiences NI on behalf of the Arts Council for Northern Ireland, 10 October 2007

2 Public Service Agreement 9 in Building a Better Future, 2008-11

3

Chief Executive

I am very proud to work for Audiences Northern Ireland, and also very lucky. This organisation is a business, selling goods and services, providing consultancy and training, and operating in a modern knowledge economy partly of its own making. We have appropriate policies and protocols, sound governance and an enthusiastic Board, and we try in everything we do to achieve excellence, to follow, and at times establish Best Practice and aspire to develop and sustain a valuable knowledge bank for future generations of arts marketers. But more than that, this organisation espouses a belief.

We believe that dynamic marketing and audience development are crucial to realising arts organisations’ overall aims and objectives, be they financial, social or artistic, and we are committed to helping them achieve this. We believe that to remain relevant to the increasingly diverse communities they serve, to be fully accessible and to communicate the right messages, arts organisations must be evidence-based and audience-focused. We must model internally what we wish to communicate externally and as a sector we must put audiences at the very heart of everything we do.

This document outlines Audiences NI’s strategic approach to working with its members, partners and stakeholders to increase and diversify audiences for the arts in Northern Ireland. It is the outcome of an extended period of consultation with members (both past, present and, we hope, future), funders and stakeholders, and all staff and Board. We are very grateful to everybody who has given of their time and energy, and we very much look forward to working with you.

Steven Hadley

Chief Executive

4

Background and Context

Value of Arts and Audience Development

There does appear to be evidence that people in Northern Ireland value arts and culture and want government to support it. Almost everyone (96%) agrees that children should have the opportunity to participate in the arts and most (78%) want public funding of arts and cultural projects3.

Elsewhere, studies show that attendance at arts and cultural events are critical to quality of life and even health and wellbeing. Having arts and culture is one thing; getting the opportunity to appreciate it is another and this is the core business of Audiences NI. With this in mind, we have looked at the environment in which we work and on the basis of our analysis, have developed a new strategy for the period 2009-2012.

This section looks at the assumptions we have made in choosing the strategy for the next three-year period.

Social and Economic Conditions

The strategy is being developed at a time of unprecedented turmoil in the economy. This will result in job losses, less disposable income, shifting priorities of businesses and families and ultimately a squeeze in public expenditure and private sponsorship as revenues shrink.

This is at a time when more arts and culture venues are available and audience attendance has risen by 3% since 2007. However this increase in attendances masks a problem of frequency of attendance and a reduction in attendance in some categories such as those who are 50-64 years old and those who are on lower incomes.

All this means that maintaining attendances and diversifying audiences might be more realistic targets to focus on for the next few years, rather than continued levels of growth. Our conclusion is that there is scope for modest growth but that it will require further investment and effort for this to be achieved.

Building a Better Future

In the 2008-11 Programme for Government, Building a Better Future, the Executive has committed itself to growing a dynamic and innovative economy in which the arts has a strong part to play. As stated in the Programme, this will mean “... driving forward social transformation and environmental improvement and realising the potential of our arts and culture sector, to create a region which offers a high quality of life to those who wish to live and work here.”

The Executive has set a public service agreement (PSA) aim which is to “contribute to Northern Ireland’s economic, health and educational goals by increasing participation and access to Culture, Arts and Leisure activities”. It goes further by setting a governmental target:-

• By 2011 to increase by 2 percentage points the proportion of the NI population who attend arts events

Depending on how this is measured it may mean increasing the number of people who attend at least one event to over 1m per year which means a net increase of 20,600 people attending arts events.

3 Art and Culture in Northern Ireland 2007

5

Creative Connections

Creative Connections is the Arts Council for Northern Ireland’s five-year plan for the arts 2007-2012. One of its four themes is Growing Audiences and Increasing Participation. In summary, this theme describes ACNI objectives for encouraging people to engage in and enjoy the arts. ACNI are committed to growing audiences and increasing participation. Their intention is to:

• expand the range of opportunities for people to enjoy the arts

• expand the range of opportunities for people to take part in the arts

• encourage more young people to experience the arts.

The report ‘Art and Culture in Northern Ireland’ provides an assessment of the first large-scale survey carried out in the region on participation in the arts and attitudes towards the arts. The need to better understand audiences and the communities they are based in is one of the significant challenges the creative community faces. It takes time and resources to develop an audience so this needs to be part of a long-term strategy to develop the market.

Setting up Audiences Northern Ireland has been an important part of this wider strategy. Its members access its expertise in marketing and audience development, consultancy and training services as well as being part of a community that shares the benefits of working together. The ability to profile audiences, identify new target markets, develop the business of the arts and establish sector benchmarking is crucial to the emergence and development of sustainable arts organisations.

Audience Levels in NI

There are some baseline measures available that give us an indication of current audience attendance and participation levels in Northern Ireland. These come from the Arts Council’s survey of the general population in 2007.4

Based on NISRA5 statistics, the population of Northern Ireland is 1.75m (June 2006) of which 1.36 m are aged 16 years or over. Based on these figures and using the findings of the ACNI report, we can determine the scale of audience attendances and use these as baseline indicators in terms of managing expectations. These are summarised below:

• Just over 1.03m people (76%) aged 16 and over attend at least one arts or cultural event each year

• Attendance is higher, the younger you are (90% for 16-24 yr olds and 42% for over 65 yrs)

• Attendance drops to 66% of people in the most deprived areas and 54% for those with a disability

• The most popular arts events are film, plays and concerts

• Reasons for attendance were that: it was a social event; there was interest in the event or performer; and a friend or relative was involved – recommendation or invitation were lesser but significant influences.

4 Art and Culture in Northern Ireland 2007

5 Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency

6

The report does not show frequency of visit but it does point to the need for focus on areas of under representation in the categories of deprivation, disability and age.

These figures would indicate that the government’s target for a 2% increase in audiences, if measured by people over 16 years old attending at least one event per year, would mean an increase of 20,626 people or an overall figure of 1.05m

Arts Council (ACNI)

Based on recommendations of the 2007 evaluation carried out on behalf of ACNI we will be working to further develop our strong partnership with ACNI in a way that ‘goes far beyond a funder/client relationship’.6 This provides the context in which our objective will be to develop a Service Level Agreement with ACNI so that we are acting in a partnership role and playing a key role in delivering on the ACNI strategic theme (Theme 3) Growing Audiences and Participation.

Members

We have rising membership (currently 46 members) and based on feedback from our direct engagement with them, we will be strengthening our strategic support to senior managers and continuous professional development support for audience development and marketing professionals. The ACNI evaluation suggested that we move from providing information to members to helping them to act on it. We will therefore introduce a series of practical initiatives that get closer to supporting direct marketing action, without crossing the line of doing marketing for individual organisations.

We have also set ourselves a target for increased membership. This will coincide with a drive to engage more with members and to have annual membership agreements in the form of Member Action Plans showing what arts organisations can individually expect from us as a member and as a customer.

District Councils

With the Review of Public Administration now settled and Councils being reduced from 26 to 11 by 2011 we will be building on the existing relationships and forging new ones as the transition takes place. We are well placed to provide advice to Councils on how best to restructure audience development services as the RPA amalgamations are being planned.

An immediate priority will be to forge mutually beneficial links with the Councils across Northern Ireland and more emphasis will be placed on this aspect of our work.

Other Arts Organisations and Potential Customers

We believe that there will be demand for audience development services from other arts organisations who are not our members and indeed from other suppliers to the sector. As our portfolio of products and services matures, we will increasingly be able to generate earned income that can be used to support research, experimentation and service innovation in the audience development field.

6 Summary Document: An Evaluation of Audiences NI on behalf of the Arts Council for Northern Ireland, 10 October 2007

7

Summary of Key Issues and Challenges In summary, the key issues and challenges we face and want to address in the strategy are:

• Working with every one of our members in Bands 1-3 to encourage them to become a key partner in the delivery of the PSA 2% target

• Increasing membership and annual income from membership to £84,000 per annum

• Increasing earned income (excluding ACNI and Membership Fees) to £55,000 per annum

• Reducing our reliance on ACNI grants to 60% by 2011-12 and thus reducing our funding dependency ratio

• Playing a key role in influencing government to spend more on arts and culture as a quality of life measure that affects wellbeing in a deep-rooted way

• Achieving excellence as an organisation in a way that is recognised in terms of stakeholder and customer satisfaction and results achieved.

8

Mission, Vision and Values

Mission

The overall mission of the organisation is:

“To enable arts and cultural organisations to increase and diversify their audiences.”

This is our guiding statement of purpose, and it is governed by a strong desire to enable and empower arts organisations to produce and manage audience development strategies.

Vision

Our vision for Audiences NI is that, as a member organisation, we will be a trusted and valued partner to central and local government in raising and diversifying audience attendance at arts and culture events.

If we are ultimately successful, all our members and indeed every arts organisation in Northern Ireland will have exemplar audience development strategies in place and enacted. Almost every person in Northern Ireland will attend at least one arts and culture event each year and most will attend more frequently.

Through our influence, at least in part, arts organisations in Northern Ireland will be more-audience focused and this will mean having regard for the need to innovate, experiment and take risks to attract and retain new and diversified audiences.

Values Our values can be summed up as:-

• Acting with integrity at all times. We will engender trust and confidence in the organisation by being open, transparent, fair and accountable in the way we do things.

• Providing high quality services that are responsive to the needs of our members and represent value for money.

• Developing an organisation that is sustainable by being willing to change with the times and to innovate and experiment with funding models and new audience development techniques.

9

Our Strategy

The plan is part of a change management process within the agency to complete the move from a high-end deliverer to an all-round enabler. As an enabler, our focus is still on outputs and outcomes which are tangible, impactful and based on need.

Dialogue with members and stakeholders has taught us that we need to develop a broader ‘support framework’ within which to deliver our products, services and consultancy. To strengthen and make secure the role of arts marketers within the sector we will seek to enhance the capacity of the sector to develop audiences through continuing professional development whilst simultaneously promoting and enabling a collaborative approach to audience development. By identify shared needs and common purposes we can better embed our work and enable peer-to-peer learning and the valuable exchange of information and experience.

We want to encourage an active and engaged agency membership to allow for a much greater level of dialogue with, and input from, arts organisations. In seeking to enable arts and cultural organisations we need to provide and interpret market intelligence for the sector which is both timely and relevant, reports which are actionable and information which can become knowledge. We also need to ensure that all our work contributes to a growing NI-specific resource of case studies, projects and reports which can be accessed free of charge via the agency’s website.

We need to communicate more about what we do, both in terms of raising our profile amongst politicians, funders and stakeholders and also to highlight and market the good work which the agency staff are doing. In order to develop the strategic role of the agency (and audience development practice) within the sector we need to focus more on marketing both ourselves and the idea of audience development, to nurture an audience development focussed management culture in arts organisations and to continue the paradigm shift required across the sector away from product and building and on to audiences.

To state that we must achieve excellence in all our work seems obvious, but this translates into meaningful action such as a direct investment in our staff, our most valuable resource, to ensure a developing and innovative skills set, knowledge base and an organisation which is an exemplar of best practice. This in turn will play a major role in retaining and growing our membership and ensure Audiences NI’s sustainability over the long term.

Strategic Aims 2009-12

We have set ourselves the following strategic aims:

1. To strengthen the audience development capacity of our members

2. To provide enabling audience development support services

3. To champion audience development investment and innovation

4. To be an excellent and sustainable organisation

We have developed a series of objectives and an action plan to show how we intend to achieve them. The details of our action plan are included in the next section.

10

Audience NI Action Plan 2009-12

Aim

1

To stren

gthen

the au

dience developmen

t capacity of our mem

bers

Objectives

Actions

Measu

res

09-10

10-11

11-12

Deve

lop Annual

Membership Action

Plans with

all Band1-3

members

Meet all 27 Band 1-3

members an

d have

up-to-

date Annual M

ember

Action Plans in place

before

the end of April e

ach

year

from

2009

% Band 1-3 m

embers with

Annual

Member Action Plans signed off

100%

100%

100%

Support all mem

bers to

deve

lop M

arketin

g and

/or Audience

Deve

lopment plans

Undertak

e review of cu

rrent

provision

Assess reso

urce reqd. to

deliver on objective

Set target for no. of plans

produce

d (su

bject to

reso

urce)

Inform

al m

ember su

rvey

Report to Board

Report to Board

July 09

July 09

July 09

Maintain and deve

lop an

annual training and

eve

nts programme

Review M

onito

ring &

Eva

luatio

n from previous

training

Programme eve

nt schedu

le

Run eve

nt schedule

Report to CEO & Board

Programme signe

d-off by agreed date

No. eve

nts run

% of members (Bands 1-3 = 27) attend

at least one eve

nt

July 09

Aug 09

6

100%

July 10

6

100%

July 11

6

100%

11

Aim

1

To stren

gthen

the au

dience developmen

t capacity of our mem

bers

Objectives

Actions

Measu

res

09-10

10-11

11-12

Band 4-specific eve

nts and

materials deve

loped

Deliver AMA Training

eve

nts in

partnership

Deliver ADUK Data training

programme

Band 4 eve

nts produce

d and delivered

Attendance

target per eve

nt

No. of eve

nts run

Attendance

target per eve

nt

No. eve

nts run

2

10

2

15

-

- - 2

15

5

- - 2

15

-

Maintain and deve

lop

Annual C

onference

Review M

onito

ring &

Eva

luatio

n from previous

conference

Annual conference

in Feb

Report to CEO & Board by agreed date

Increase

in attendance

Apr 09

10%

Apr 10

10%

Apr 11

10%

Create and deliver

networking and peer-to-

peer learning

opportunities

Deliver partnersh

ip AMA

Networking eve

nts

Initiate m

ember forums for:

Classical A

rts NI

Black

Book

(PE)

Review optio

ns for Black

Book (ENTA) forum

No. eve

nts pa

Target no. of attenders per eve

nt

No. eve

nts pa per forum

No. eve

nts pa per forum

Date Forum set up

No. ENTA use

rs eng

aged

2

10

2

2

Aug 09

4

2

10

2

2

2

10

2

2

Ensu

re all ag

ency work

is needs base

d

Review optio

ns for Training

Needs Analysis

Undertak

e cross-sector

TNA

Report to Board by ag

reed date

% m

embersh

ip participatio

n

Oct 09

100%

12

Aim

1

To stren

gthen

the au

dience developmen

t capacity of our mem

bers

Objectives

Actions

Measu

res

09-10

10-11

11-12

Ensu

re six-m

onthly m

ember

update m

eetin

g

Annual m

ember survey

% m

embersh

ip attendanc

e (Bands 1 to

3)

One surve

y eve

ry year by agreed date.

100%

Sept 09

100%

Sept 10

100%

Sept 11

Plan for se

ctor-w

ide CPD

programme*

Review CPD m

odels and

funding optio

ns

Report to Board by ag

reed date

Oct 09

13

Aim

2

To provide en

abling audience developmen

t su

pport services

Objectives

Actions

Measu

res of Success

09-10

10-11

11-12

Deve

lop and deliver

releva

nt Market

Intelligence

reportin

g

Contract Purple Seve

n to

provide data polling

software

Roll out of DDXs to

enhance

data reportin

g

Deve

lop a suite

of Vita

l Statistics template reports

Deliver RFO reporting to

ACNI

Snapsh

ot report delivered

at AGM

Deliver annual B

lack Boo

k (PE) report

Deliver annual A

udience

Audit report

Deliver individual M

osa

ic NI

reports to m

embers

Deve

lop artform

specific

Mosa

ic NI reports*

Contract review and rene

wal b

y agreed

date

% of releva

nt orgs with

DDX:

installed

maintained

3 Template Reports fully functional a

nd

tested.

100% reports delivered across all orgs

with

DDX in

stalled and m

aintained

Report deliver on agreed date

Report deliver on agreed date

Report deliver on agreed date

Max tim

e for req

uests to be m

et (est. 10

reports annually)

Deliver first report (x1

artform

pa) on

agreed dates

Oct 09

100%

90%

Mar 10

Sept 09

Sept 09

July 09

Jan 10

3 m

ths

Mar 10

Oct 10

100%

Mar 11

Sept 10

Sept 10

July 10

Jan 11

3 m

ths

Mar 11

Oct 11

100%

Mar 12

Sept 11

Sept 11

July 11

Jan 12

3 m

ths

Mar 12

14

Aim

2

To provide en

abling audience developmen

t su

pport services

Objectives

Actions

Measu

res of Success

09-10

10-11

11-12

Deliver annual B

CC Super

Output Area reporting

Contin

uatio

n of co

ntract

Oct 09

Oct 10

Oct 11

Use

Project Funds to

deve

lop collaborative

member projects aim

ed

at increas

ing audience

s

Deve

lop, plan and exe

cute

campaigns with

mem

ber

invo

lvement.

Alloca

te £20,000 in the

budget to support this.

% in

crease

in audience

s for mem

bers

10%

Apr 09

10%

10%

Maintain and deve

lop

current projects

Deve

lop Classical A

rts NI

website

Deve

lop a m

arketing

strategy for Classical A

rts

NI

Cultu

re Live/Cultu

re NI –

deve

lop the la

rgest e-

database

in NI

Maintain the In the Loop

database

and promote

service to m

embers

Fully-func

tioning and tested site

Strategy ag

reed by member forum

List growth

No. members us

ing service pa

Mar 10

Sep 09

20%

3

20%

3

20%

3

15

Aim

2

To provide en

abling audience developmen

t su

pport services

Objectives

Actions

Measu

res of Success

09-10

10-11

11-12

Maintain and deve

lop

agency in

form

ation

reso

urces (on and

offline)

Promote agency website

Update website (generic)

Update website (reports &

prese

ntatio

ns)

Increase

in site

traffic

Fortnightly

% in

crease

in content pa

10%

Ong

oing

10%

10%

Ong

oing

10%

10%

Ong

oing

10%

Facilitate E-M

arketing for

members

Review and/or renew

system contract

Promote service

to

members

Deliver mem

ber ca

mpaign

bench

mark report

System source

d with

add

itional

functionality by agreed date

% in

crease

in service

use

by vo

lume

No. new m

embers

1 report per se

rvice use

r pa by agreed

date

Sep 09

25%

4

-

- 25%

4

May 10

- 25%

4

May 11

Test Drive

NI online

Review current model a

nd

deve

lop budget/tim

eline

Deve

lopment of Fund

ing Proposa

l Go live

with

project

Project operatio

nal N

I-wide and targets

set for deve

lopment

Apr 09

Sep 09

TBC

- - Sep 10

- - Sep 11

16

Aim

3

To cham

pion audience developmen

t investmen

t an

d innovation

Objectives

Actions

Measu

res of Success

09-10

10-11

11-12

Deve

lop natio

nal p

rofile

for the ag

ency

Engag

e with

political

lobbying

Set-up Board

Communicatio

ns Sub-

Group

Sub-group deve

lops

Communicatio

ns strategy

Disse

minate annual

Audience

Audit report (in

collaboratio

n w ACNI)

Request prese

ntatio

n by

Chair and CEO to CAL Arts

Sub Committee

Promote work of ag

ency via

JAM, Arts Professional e

tc

Maintain contact with

Network

Produce

annual G

uide to

Services

Meet with

advo

cacy/lo

bbying

organisatio

ns

Group co

nstitu

ted and m

eetin

g Q

trly

Strategy approve

d by Board

Report pa by ag

reed date

Prese

ntatio

n by Chair and

CEO to CAL

Arts Sub Committee

No. article/case

study pa

No. staff attending Annua

l Summit in

Jan each

year

No. co

pies produce

d and circulated

annually

Sept 09

July 09

Oct 09

Jan 10

- 1

2

1,500

Jan 11

Sep 10

1

2

1,500

Jan 12

- 1

2

1,500

17

Aim

3

To cham

pion audience developmen

t investmen

t an

d innovation

Objectives

Actions

Measu

res of Success

09-10

10-11

11-12

Issu

e bi-m

onthly agency e-

newsletter

Issu

e off-line agency

communications

6 e-newsletters issu

ed pa

X2 pa

Up-to-date database

Ong

oing

Mar 10

Ong

oing

Ong

oing

Mar 11

Ong

oing

Ong

oing

Mar 12

Ong

oing

Broaden agency

stak

eholder base

(peers,

partners, consu

ltants,

other se

ctors)

Undertak

e review of cu

rrent

database

s Deve

lop Board contact lists

Identify and target new

stak

eholder list

Up-to-date database

100% Board contributio

ns

Increase

database

by 10%

Sept 09

Oct 09

Mar 10

Ong

oing

Oct 10

Mar 11

Ong

oing

Oct 11

Mar 12

Deve

lop role as

strategic delivery

partner

Discu

ss future strategic

partnersh

ip optio

ns with

BCC and DCC

Form

ulate policy re: ag

ency

positio

ning as regards RPA

(Reve

nue) Funding agreement in place

with

both Councils

Discu

ssion at Strateg

y Sub-C

omm

Discu

ssion & report at Board le

vel

Meetin

g with

ACNI, Arts Managers

Group

Mar 10

May 09

Oct 09

Mar 10

18

Aim

3

To cham

pion audience developmen

t investmen

t an

d innovation

Objectives

Actions

Measu

res of Success

09-10

10-11

11-12

Increase

eng

agem

ent at

Exe

cutive le

vel a

mongst

membersh

ip and

funders

CEO to beg

in programme

of eng

agem

ent

Annual a

gency prese

ntatio

n

to ACNI staff

Inve

stigate potentia

l for

CEO forum

/senior leve

l ‘th

inktank

’

No. meetin

gs pa

Meetin

g on agreed date

Produce

paper for Board by agreed

date

12

Sept 09

Oct 09

12

Sept 10

12

Sept 11

Deve

lop ove

rview of

Audience

Deve

lopment

activity in

NI arts orgs*

Discu

ss m

odel o

ptio

ns with

SAC, va

rious co

nsu

ltants

Prepare funding proposa

l

Desk rese

arch

completed by agreed

date

Bid submitted by ag

reed date

July 09

Sep 10

19

Aim

4

To be an

excellent an

d sustainab

le organ

isation

Objectives

Actions

Measu

res of Success

09-10

10-11

11-12

Ensu

re m

ember

retention and growth

Produce

Marketing Plan

Deve

lop Account

Management Proce

ss

Increase

eng

agem

ent w

Visual A

rts se

ctor

Increase

eng

agem

ent w

Theatre Sector

Plan approve

d by Board

Proce

ss im

plemented across in

ternal

system

Written resp

onse

to Visual A

rts

Strategy docu

ment

Funding applicatio

n for Visual A

rts

post with

in ANI

Retain m

embership of NITA

Collaboratively plan jo

int AD in

itiative

with

NITA for Theatre Sec

tor

Ach

ieve

membership in

come

Ach

ieve

membership in

Bands as

follows:

Band O

ne (5)

Band Two (6)

Band Three (16)

Band Four (14)

Assoc. (5)

Sept 09

Mar 10

Aug 09

Sep 09

Apr 09

Sep 09

£64,424

05

06

16

16

05

Apr 10

£75,184

06

07

18

17

05

Apr 11

£84,833

07

08

19

19

05

Retain and deve

lop

skilled staff team

Implement CPD

programme for all staff

% staff to have

individual C

PD plan by

May each

year

100%

100%

100%

20

Aim

4

To be an

excellent an

d sustainab

le organ

isation

Objectives

Actions

Measu

res of Success

09-10

10-11

11-12

Maintain staff appraisal

system

% annual a

ppraisals com

pleted by

April e

ach

year

% M

id-year appraisal review complete

by Oct each

year

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%1

100%

Ensu

re good

gove

rnance

and internal

systems ag

enc

y-wide

Implement Audit & Risk

Sub-C

ommittee Risk

Register and Actions

Audit co

mpleted with

action plan and

prese

nted to Board for approva

l by

agreed date

Oct 09

Increase

leve

l and

variety of earned

inco

me

Exp

lore optio

ns and review

other UK agency m

odels

Leve

l of Increase

earned inco

me (excl

membersh

ip) pa

£34,800

£50,000

£55,000

Ach

ieve

Charitable

Status

Apply for ch

aritable status

Charitable status ach

ieve

d by date

Apr 09

Raise Charitable

Donatio

ns

Rese

arch Trusts and

Foundatio

ns

Deve

lop ‘A

NI Consu

lting’ –

a separate Trading

Company working

alongside the charity

Identify prosp

ect list by ag

reed date

Trading com

pany established by

target date

- -

Apr 10

-

- Mar 12

Deve

lop Project

Rese

rve Fund

Review financial m

odel to

include provision for

planned surplus

Increase

in project rese

rve fund

created pa

£12,500

£9,500

£9,500

21

Aim

4

To be an

excellent an

d sustainab

le organ

isation

Objectives

Actions

Measu

res of Success

09-10

10-11

11-12

Review m

embership

model*

Detailed rese

arch and

analysis of other

UK/Internatio

nal a

gency

models

Membership m

odel p

aper to Board on

agreed date

- Mar 11

-

Plan for ROI

deve

lopment*

Meetin

g with

Theatre

Forum (Dublin) and Arts

Council Ireland Audience

Project Director

No. meetin

gs

Report to Board

2

Jan 10

2

2

Maintain an

organisatio

nal rese

rve

fund

Alloca

te £150,000 to a

rese

rve fund

Leve

l of rese

rve fund

£150,000

£150,000

£150,000

NOTE TO BUSINESS PLAN:

Item

s marked * represe

nt areas of potentia

l interest and/or deve

lopment and m

ay be dependent upon additional funding not included w

ithin

current budg

ets. The agency’s contin

ued success is

not dependent upon their ach

ieve

ment and the

y will only be addressed as objectives if all

other areas with

in the current plan are deem

ed ac

hieva

ble/ach

ieve

d.

22

APPENDIX 1: Membership 08/09

Band Organisation 1 Millennium Forum 4 Belfast Philharmonic 1 Ulster Orchestra 4 Voluntary Arts Ireland 1 BCC/Waterfront/Ulster Hall 4 Kids In Control 1 QUB Arts & Culture 4 Belfast Music Society 2 Burnavon Arts & Cultural Centre 4 Creative Writers Network 2 Island Arts Centre 4 Studio Symphony Orchestra 2 The Braid 4 Orion Duo 2 North Down Borough Council 4 Oh Yeah! 2 Strule Arts Centre 4 Belfast Operatic Society 2 University Concert Hall, Limerick 4 Festival of Fools 3 Castleward Opera 4 Outburst 3 Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival 4 Queens Street Digital Studios 3 Music 55-7 4 Dance Resource Base 3 Down Arts Centre 4 John Hewitt Society 3 Linenhall Library Assoc. Belfast Welcome Centre 3 Moving On Music Assoc. FLGA 3 OMAC Assoc. Craft NI 3 Prime Cut Assoc. Theatre Forum 3 The Alley Assoc. Lyric Theatre 3 Young At Art 3 Clotworthy Arts Centre Band 1 4 3 Cinemagic Band 2 6 3 Ulster Youth Choir Band 3 16 3 Millennium Court Arts Centre Band 4 15 3 Earagail Arts Festival Assoc. 5 3 Open House Festival Total 46 4 PLACE

23

APPENDIX 2: Staffing Structure 2009/10

CHIEF

EXECUTIVE

FINANCE

OFFICER

AUDIENCE

DEVELOPMENT

MANAGER

BUSINESS

SUPPORT

(POST TBC)

RESEARCH

OFFICER

MARKETING

OFFICER

24

APPENDIX 3: Financials 2009/10 – 2011/12

2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Planned Income Membership £64,524 £75,184 £84,833 Grants £215,593 £221,953 £224,911 Earned £34,800 £50,000 £55,000 Other £73,302 £12,500 £9,500 £388,219 £359,637 £374,244 Planned Expenditure Salaries £198,728 £195,247 £201,484 Overheads £95,648 £97,798 £106,260 Programmes £81,343 £57,093 £57,000 Other £12,500 £9,500 £9,500 £388,219 £359,638 £374,244

Planned Income 2009-10

£64,524

£215,593

£34,800

£73,302

Membership

Grants

Earned

Other

Planned Expenditure 2009-10

£198,728

£95,648

£81,343

£12,500

Salaries

Overheads

Programmes

Other

25

APPENDIX 3: Financials 2009/10 – 2011/12

3 YR Income Projections

Mem

bersh

ip

Gra

nts

Earn

ed

Oth

er

£0

£50,000

£100,000

£150,000

£200,000

£250,000

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

3 YR Expenditure Projections

Sala

ries

Ove

rhead

s

Progr

amm

es

Oth

er

£0

£50,000

£100,000

£150,000

£200,000

£250,000

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

26

APPENDIX 4: AUDIENCES NI BOARD MEMBERS

Richard O’Rawe (Chair) Richard O’Rawe is Managing Director of Aurion Leadership, a company which specialises in leadership development and performance management. He holds an MSc in Executive Leadership from the University of Ulster. He spent twelve years as Managing Partner at Venture International. He has just completed a three-year term as Chair of the Beat Initiative, a carnival development organisation. He is currently Chair of the East Belfast Partnership Board’s Connswater Community Greenway Project (recently awarded £32m from the Big Lottery) and on 24 September 2008 he became Chair of Audiences NI.

Tony McCance (Vice Chair) Tony McCance is Manager at the Burnavon Arts & Cultural Centre, which acts as a catalyst for the development of the arts within Mid Ulster. As a community focused arts and cultural resource, the facility caters to the arts and cultural needs and aspirations of the inhabitants of the Cookstown District and the greater Mid Ulster region. He is a Board member of the Association of Regional Theatres Northern Ireland (ART NI) and a member of the Northern Ireland Theatre Association as well as the Arts Marketing Association. Tony was elected to serve by Band Two members of Audiences NI to serve as Board member for a one year period until August 2006.

Lydia Gamble Lydia is responsible for overseeing the marketing, development and education and outreach functions at the Ulster Orchestra. Lydia joined the Ulster Orchestra in June 2008 having previously spent seven years in the Economic Development Sector in Northern Ireland. Lydia was a Business Development Manager at Castlereagh Enterprises Ltd (Local Enterprise Agency). Lydia was also instrumental in the set up and growth of the business network Business for Business (B4B) which supports the networking and development of SMEs in Northern Ireland.

Nick Garbutt Nick Garbutt is managing director of Asitis Consulting, the Belfast-based public relations and public affairs consultancy. He is a specialist in corporate communications and crisis management. Nick is a former editor of the Irish News and deputy editor of the Belfast Telegraph. He was also head of corporate affairs, Europe for National Australia Bank. In September 2007 he founded Mightier Than The Sword, Ireland’s first dedicated writing school. Nick writes a weekly column in the News Letter.

Tim Husbands Tim has worked within the arts, tourism and conference sectors for over twenty years, managing large concert halls and conference venues in Blackburn, Folkestone, Doncaster and Torquay. For the last twelve years he has been managing director of the Belfast Waterfront and is also responsible for the management of the Ulster Hall. He was until recently a director of The Beat Initiative.

Brenda Kent Brenda heads up Voluntary Arts Ireland, the charitable body promoting participation in arts and crafts across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. She has extensive research and marketing experience, having worked with the Integrated Education Fund, the Prince’s Trust, the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action and the Simon

27

Community. She has also worked in advertising and PR and in the arts has worked with a wide range of organisations, including Opera Northern Ireland, the Golden Thread Theatre Committee, the NI Visual Arts Forum and Down Arts Forum, as well as the Steering Group for the formation of Audiences NI.

Siobhan McCormick A Master of Arts graduate in Cultural Management, Siobhan has extensive experience in creating, developing and marketing programmes of activity on a local and national level within the private and public sectors. Having joined Lisburn City Council in 1996 as Arts Development Officer, Siobhan now heads the Council’s Arts Service, where she is responsible for the strategic development of the arts and the management function of Island Arts Centre. Siobhan was previously a Board Member of Tinderbox Theatre Company and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Forum for Local Government and co-Chair of the NI Arts Managers Group.

Áine McVerry Áine joined the Old Museum Arts Centre in 2004 as Marketing and Press Manager, since September 2006 she has assumed the role of Acting Deputy Director with the responsibility for programming OMAC’s live events. The Old Museum Arts Centre is one of Ireland’s leading contemporary arts centres. Previous to this, Áine worked in marketing and fundraising for an international charity. She has also been the Chair of the Belfast Arts Marketing Group since January 2006.

Mary Trainor Mary has worked in marketing for the arts and the business sector for over ten years. Arts marketing roles in Northern Ireland have included five years with the Grand Opera House, where she set up and headed the marketing function, marketing for the Arts Theatre heading up the marketing departments of both the Lyric Theatre and Ulster Orchestra. She is currently Northern Ireland Director of Arts & Business.

Damian Smyth As Head of Literature and Drama with Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Damian serves as Observer from the Agency’s principal funding body.