Audience Engagement in the Performing Arts, 1st ed. 2019 A Critical Analysis New Directions in Cultural Policy Research Series

This book explores the concept of audience engagement from a number of complementary perspectives, including cultural value, arts marketing, co-creation and digital engagement. It offers a critical review of the existing literature on audience research and engagement, and provides an overview of established and emerging methodologies deployed to undertake research with audiences. The book focusses on the performing arts, but draws from a rich diversity of academic fields to make the case for a radically interdisciplinary approach to audience research.

The book?s underlying thesis is that at the heart of audience research there is a mutual exchange of value wherein audiences ideally play the role of strategic partners in the mission fulfilment of arts organisations. Illustrating how audiences have traditionally been side-lined, homogenised and vilified, it contends that the future paradigm of audience studies should be based on an engagement model, wherein audiences take their rightful place as subjects rather than objects of empirical research.

Chapter 1.- Introduction.-Chapter 2 .- Understanding audiences: a critical review of audience research.-Chapter 3 .- Deconstructing audiences' experiences.-Chapter 4 .- Capturing, interpreting and evaluating cultural value.-Chapter 5 .- Research (with) audiences.-Chapter 6 .- From consumption to enrichment: the long slow death of arts marketing.-Chapter 7 .- Co-creating art, meaning and value.-Chapter 8 .- Engaging audiences through digital technologies.-Chapter 9 .- Conclusions and implications.

Ben Walmsley is Associate Professor in Audience Engagement in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries at the University of Leeds, UK and Director of the Centre for Cultural Value. Previously, Ben was Producer at the National Theatre of Scotland and an Assessor for Drama for Arts Council England. Since 2014 he has been the Academic Director of the Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy Programme, now one of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organisations. He is also Co-Editor of Arts and the Market.

Explores the implications of changing audience expectations and evolving practices of engagement

Provides a thorough summary of existing scholarship in the field, drawing out key and emergent themes

Draws on the experience of the author as theatre producer and manager turned academic to explore audiences from an interdisciplinary perspective