Audience Spectrum in Action | Securing Funding for a Circus Festival

Ahead of any public campaign, we wanted to make sure every plan we had came back to the Audience Spectrum segments and to embed this language in our methodology.

When we applied for funding to Arts Council England, we discussed the exact segments we wanted to target and why, providing a common narrative for everyone working on the project across fundraising, programming and marketing. 

The programme aligned to ensure all targeted segments had work that appealed to their core characteristics and motivations.

We also ensured all sections in the application relating to our audiences used the language and attributes of Audience Spectrum to describe who this work was for.

This was most useful in sections such as public engagement where we outlined:

• How the programme would meet the needs of our existing audiences, especially Frontline Families and Experience Seekers.

We then outlined the opportunities to build audiences from these segments:

• Commuterland Culturebuffs (12% of local population) who are keen to engage with less-widely attended genres such as contemporary dance and known to practice circus, with an expectation they would take part in workshops.
   
• Trips and Treats (20%) prioritise their children’s interests and the social or educational aspects of culture. Readily engaging with circus, we expected them to be audience members and to take part in the educational trapeze workshops.
   
• Dormitory Dependables (18% of current audiences) who have a love for the outdoors and a desire to be entertained - making them ideal target audiences for the free outdoor performances.

Audience Spectrum allowed us to use a common language that was structured, understood, and could meet the needs of lots of varying groups within our community. 

It also meant when it came to the evaluation and reporting we had clear statistics, segments, and figures to work with to show the direct impact of the work.

• Within the first year the festival achieved attendance of over 3,500 and generated over £36.5k, with 33% of those audiences attending a performance for the first time.
• The festival continued in this format until 2019 and has since grown into a larger outdoor season encompassing a range of outdoor arts.
• From the festivals inception to 2019 much was achieved; audience attendance grew by 157% in four years, gaining national press coverage from 2017, launching world premieres, even the production of a short film which premiered 2019.
• With 63 performances, 67 workshops and 1 short film generating 18.7k audience and workshop attendees.