Keep up-to-date with events at Audiences NI and general arts sector news by signing up to the Agency’s bi-monthly e-newsletter.

All press enquires should be directed to sara.gunn@audiencesni.com

Test Drive the Arts NI Update seminar

Test Drive the Arts NI has encouraged over 1600 new arts attenders to enjoy 146 events in 32 venues across Northern Ireland since launching in February 2010.

75% of those surveyed said they would be keen to go again soon, leaving comments like:

‘A great chance to go to venues you might not normally attend.’

’Fantastic opportunity; Test Drive really opened the door for me into a new type of music. Thanks!’

’Thoroughly enjoyable new experience. I maybe would not have attended something like this without the input of this website, recommended to me by a friend, I shall envisage attending more up and coming events in the near future.’

If you are an arts organisation involved in Test Drive the Arts NI, come along for an update on the project to date. Find out who the Test Drivers are, where they’ve come from and what they’ve been saying.

This is also your opportunity to tell us how the project is working from your perspective and to share your experience with other arts organisations.

If you are an organisation thinking about coming on board, this is your opportunity to find out more.

Date: Wednesday 4 August
Venue:  NICVA, Belfast
Time: 11am – 1 pm followed by lunch

or

Date: Wednesday 11 August
Venue:  The Nerve Centre, Derry/Londonderry
Time: 11am – 1 pm followed by lunch

NB A separate session for organisations thinking about coming on board will run after lunch from 1.45pm – 2.45pm.

Booking is essential
To book your place please email Sara by Friday 30 July.

Audiences NI is recruiting

Audiences NI is seeking a bright, enthusiastic and personally motivated individual to join our team as Audience Development Manager.

We’re looking for an experienced candidate with the ability and drive to make the services offered by Audiences NI appropriate for, and valued by, the membership and wider sector.

Salary: £31,754 - £34,549 (subject to review)
NB: It is our practice to appoint at the lowest spine point

Applications are now closed.

Alice Lewis, Audience Development Manager is leaving Audiences NI.

After five years with Audiences NI, and twelve years in the UK arts sector, Alice is leaving to take up the post of Project Manager with the RNIB in Derry / Londonderry.

She’ll manage the Sensory Engagement Project, an exciting cross-border initiative creating access to services for people with hearing and sight loss. Alice would like to thank all the people who have sent their good wishes and she looks forward to staying in touch with the many friends she’s made during her arts career, both in NI and the UK. Alice will finish with the agency in mid August.

Download website presentation

Last month, Victoria Hutchinson, from Tibus, gave a presentation for those thinking about redesigning their current website or building a new site now or in the future.

Victoria talked through managing the process: from creating the perfect brief to launching and beyond.

If you missed the event and would like to find out more you can download the presentation here.

Audience Audit 2009

Based on actual data drawn from key arts organisations across NI with computerised ticketing systems, the Audience Audit 2009 reflects real people engaging with real arts organisations, showing who is coming to the arts, how often, how much they’re spending and how this is changing over time.

With the publication of this, our second Audience Audit, we can for the first time accurately quantify to what extent the market for arts events has grown in Northern Ireland across two consecutive years, with encouraging results given the economic climate of 2009 as a small but solid expansion in audiences of 2% shows the importance which the arts continue to play in the leisure and cultural life of Northern Ireland.

To view the report onscreen or download it to your desktop, please click here

E-Marketing

Last year, Audiences NI delivered 110 campaigns to almost 250,000 email addresses. E-marketing is an innovative and cost-effective way to get a marketing message directly to your audiences and we can help you get started with e-marketing and advise on building your databases and segmenting your lists so your targeted message goes straight to your audiences inbox.

We have recently moved to using an e-marketing system called MyEmma, a full service email management system that uses intuitive web-based forms and technology to create professional email communications, manage email lists, and track and report statistics.

For further information on how we can help you get started with e-marketing please email Sara

E-Marketing Benchmark Report 09/10

Benchmarking the open and click through rates for more than 50 e-mail campaigns sent out by Audiences NI's members in 2009/10, this report allows you to compare and contrast how your organisation's e-marketing is performing compared to your peers.

To view the E-Marketing Benchmark report onscreen or download it to your desktop, please click here.

Test Drive the Arts NI June update

Test Drive the Arts NI has been up and running for over four months and has seen over 1200 new attenders enjoy events through Northern Ireland.

Feedback from Test Drivers has been excellent, with many people discovering new venues, artforms or reigniting their interest in the arts.

"Fantastic opportunity. Test Drive really opened the door for me into a new type of music. Thanks."

"Really enjoyed it and the two children I brought with me had never been to the theatre before and they had a great time and want to go again!!"

"I'm not sure if it was by chance that I selected such a good show, but I would without a doubt recommend The Miser, and would certainly recommend Test Drive the Arts NI. What an excellent way to let people see what's out there, and what the arts in NI have to offer."

If you are an arts organisation and would like to get involved please email Miriam

Find out about The Lyric's re-opening plans

The Lyric Theatre, Northern Ireland’s only full-time producing theatre will re-open in spring 2011 after an £18m redevelopment. The Lyric’s new dedicated Creative Learning suite, led by Carol Moore, will now be able to offer a wide range of programmes across the performing arts. 

Whether you are a professional in the industry, in primary or second level education or simply want to have fun and enhance your creative, communication and life skills through the creative arts, the Lyric is here to help your community and help you engage with the arts.

With your needs central to our creative strategy, the Lyric is hosting two Engagement Forums in the Spectrum Centre, Shankill Road on 23rd June.

The “Community Engagement Forum” is from 9.45am to 1.30pm on 23rd June.

The “Theatre Practitioner Engagement Forum” is from 2.30pm to 5.30pm on 23rd June.

Click here to find out more

Changes in Data Protection legislation covering Northern Ireland

With large-scale breaches in Data Protection hitting the headlines in 2009, the Information Commissioner’s Office was granted new powers in April 2010 to issue monetary fines of up to £500,000 to any data controller in the private, public and voluntary sectors in the event of a breach of the Data Protection Act (1998).

The ICO will now be able to impose these fines where;

• a serious contravention of the eight Data Protection Principles has taken place (click here for more info on the core DP Principles
  
  
• this contravention is likely to cause substantial damage or substantial distress
  
  
• the contravention was deliberate OR where the contravention and its consequences were predictable, but the data controller failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the contravention

If you collect and store personal information on your audiences (e.g. name and address details) then you are a data controller and this legislation does apply to you. Fines will vary depending on the seriousness of the contravention, the size of the loss, the nature of the data involved, and the actual impact on those affected. You can minimise the risk to your organisation by making yourself familiar with the Data Protection Act using the information available on the ICO’s website to ensure you are not contravening current legislation and that you have taken reasonable steps to keep your data safe and secure. If a data loss or breach does occur, the speed with which you notify the ICO and the steps you take to address the leak and prevent further breaches could also lessen on the severity of the fine.

If you need advice on issues relating to Data Protection and your organisation, you can call the ICO helpline on 0303 123 1113 (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday).

Ideas from the US

US based WolfBrown helps funders, nonprofit institutions and public agencies understand their potential, set priorities and fulfill their promise.

They have published a series of reports on what motivates arts donors in San Francisco. Click here to read the reports and perhaps get some new ideas for your organisation.

47 Members for 10/11

Audiences NI are delighted to announce that the agency membership has grown, with 47 member organisations across Northern Ireland joining for 10/11.

We look forward to working with both recently renewed and new members to increase audiences across all artforms over the next year.

We would like to welcome new members on board:

Dance United
David Hull
Maiden Voyage
North Down Borough Council
Pride
South Bank Playhouse
The Braid

Click here to see the full list of current members.