With support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the James Irvine Foundation, Dance/USA launched Engaging Dance Audiences (EDA), a $2.1 million pilot program that enables Dance/USA to analyze current dance-going activities, and its members to explore and research methods of engaging audiences for dance, learn from peers, and share the learning nationally.
The Four Components
EDA consists of four components, all of which are designed to result in learning that is shared with the full Dance/USA membership. The Reports below are the first in a series of resources that will be disseminated over a two year period. In conjunction with Dance/USA staff, Suzanne Callahan of Callahan Consulting for the Arts will manage the granting program and learning community (components 1 and 3); Alan Brown and Jennifer Novak of WolfBrown will manage the research aspects (components 2 and 4).
1) Project Support. Out of a highly competitive process, nine Dance/USA members were funded to develop new or refine existing engagement practices and share their discoveries with the dance field. A total of $1,300,750 will be distributed to the grantees to support their projects and operations, in addition to technical assistance. Project activities begin in January 2010 and will wrap up by June 30, 2011.
Download the Press Release
Read about the grantees, projects, and review process.
Report on the Call for Ideas, Callahan Consulting for the Arts
Download the Summary | Download the Full Report | Download the PowerPoint
A review of the 179 Submissions to the Call for Project Ideas, the first phase of the application for project support, revealed the dance field’s current practices, new thinking and future plans in audience engagement. It examines the geographic distribution, of organizations that applied; projects applied for; and themes or trends of interest. It shows much consistency and some divergence among the Submissions in current activities, challenges, and future aspirations.
2) Audience Engagement Research. Grantees will cooperate with WolfBrown to conduct research on their own audience engagement. WolfBrown will provide technical assistance to the grantees in designing and executing audience surveys.
The Survey of Current Audience Engagement Practices, WolfBrown
Download the Summary | Download the PowerPoint
The core goals of this survey were to provide a snapshot of current audience engagement practices occurring in the dance field, and to gather insights about the field’s philosophy towards audience engagement and thoughts on its future role to serve dance. The survey was open to Dance/USA members and non-members. The report covers: types of engagement activities undertaken; barriers faced; planning and responsibility for, and evaluation of, engagement programs; and perspectives on “audience engagement” and “audience development.”
3) Learning Community. At its core, EDA is a learning initiative for Dance/USA members and the field. A national learning community will begin by joining the grantees, through meetings, conference calls, and use of social media. The full membership will be invited to share in the learning that emerges from projects through the use of social media, webinars, at meetings, through reports such as the ones referenced on this page, and in other ways. Learning is designed around themes that have relevance and importance to the field at large.
4) Additional Audience Research. Dance/USA has commissioned WolfBrown to conduct the first, large-scale study of its kind field-wide research on dance audiences.
Field-Wide Audience Engagement Research
The overall purpose of the study is to provide dance presenters and producers with new information that will help them more effectively engage their audiences. Specific research questions to be explored in the study include:
•What types of engagement and enrichment activities are likely to please different audience segments in terms of age, experience with dance, etc.?
•How much preparatory work do audiences like to do before they attend dance performances?
•How do dance audiences like to ‘process’ their experiences afterwards?
•What engagement methods and practices are likely to attract the next generation of dance audiences?
•How can dance presenters and producers optimally configure their audience engagement programs?
•What role will technology play in the future of audience engagement?
•How else are audience members involved in dance?
The study was conducted in the summer of 2010 with the help of 42 partners who sent a standardized survey to their dance ticket-buyers. The survey garnered over 7,000 responses, and the data is being analyzed now.
Preliminary results will be presented at the Dance Forum on January 7, 2011 in New York City.
The final report will be released at the Dance/USA Annual Conference, July 13-16, 2011, in Chicago, IL.