Bright Culture was contracted by Buckinghamshire Culture, in September 2023 to deliver an audience development project with the cultural organisations they support.
Buckinghamshire Culture is an independent charity established to nurture and champion the arts, heritage, and culture in the county. Bright Culture’s commission supported their work in helping cultural organisations better understand their audiences, through training sessions followed by one-to-one mentoring support for organisation.
Two in-person bespoke half-day training workshops were designed and delivered at Wycombe Museum in October and November 2023. Representatives from 11 different cultural organisations from across Buckinghamshire attended. The audience development training sessions covered approaches to identifying audiences, best practices in collecting qualitative data and evidence, engagement methods and tools, and structuring an audience development plan.
Following the training sessions, organisations were invited to receive one-on-one mentoring to continue building their confidence in audience development from Bright Culture Consultant Catherine Bloodworth. Nine organisations participated in the mentoring over the four months: Wycombe Arts Centre, Fish Eye Film Festival, Buckinghamshire Archives, Cue 34 Theatre, Wycombe Museum, Queens Park Arts Centre, Obsidian Art, Dew Dance, and Young Creative Bucks.
Mentoring support was offered through calls and emails, encouraging people to explore ideas, reflect on their work, and focus on priorities. Additional practical support was provided by defining audience development goals and objectives, developing audience development plans and questionnaires, and exploring engagement opportunities.
All the organisations supported with mentoring were unique and bespoke in their mission and what they are trying to achieve; however, they were all small organisations run by one person or a small team. Several were in the early stages of establishing themselves, while others faced external challenges or wanted to refresh their offer.
Organisational support concluded with an online group call facilitated by Buckinghamshire Culture in March 24. The call sought feedback on the training and mentoring experience, its impact, and people’s thoughts on future opportunities. The group explored ideas for working collaboratively and sharing resources and expertise, and a summary report was written discussing outcomes and future possibilities.
Catherine was a pleasure to work with from the perspective of a commissioner – organised, communicative and great at providing what the project and participants needed. I know that the mentees that took part found Catherine to be incredibly supportive and helpful and they all benefitted from their time with her
Lallie Davis, Director Buckinghamshire Culture
It has helped me to unpick our audiences and our objectives. It was really helpful being able to talk everything through with Catherine and benefit from her expertise. My Audience Development Plan is almost finished and that wouldn't have happened if I didn't have that support and would have taken me a lot longer to do.
Programme Manager Young Creative Bucks