Flying Geese Consultancy Ltd

This weekend Miri Birch went to the beautiful Welsh county of Powys and to the Presteigne Festival, which is a wonderful celebration of classical music and open art studios with concerts, events, films and exhibitions. She was there for two days working with staff and volunteers at the festival to speak with as many festival goers and those visiting the open studios as possible to record their experience and gather feedback to inform our audience evaluation project that we are working on for Presteigne Festival. Over the last month or so we have been busy prepping for this weekend building both paper and online surveys, preparing interview questions, for people would rather a more conversational approach to sharing their feedback, and designing postcards and posters with QR codes on for people to access the online survey. All of this was prepared in both Welsh and English language and had surveys tailored for people who live within 25miles of Presteigne, those who have travelled from over 25 miles of Presteigne to attend the festival and for artists and performers working at the festival. The festival ended yesterday so we'll be busy collating and processing the data now and moving on to writing the audience evaluation report. #PresteigneFestival #AudienceEvaluation #FestivalAudience #FestivalEvaluation #ArtsCultureHeritage #Powys

At a Thinking Big Workshop for Culture Leicestershire I held earlier this summer I likened ‘mechanism of change’ to when ‘yeast is heated’ During 'Theory of Change' the process of transition between what the current challenges you have identified within organisation are and what those challenges look like in the future is called the ‘mechanism of change’ - it's understanding the factors that cause the change and the way that change happens. A big problem museums and heritage organisations can face is of non-engagement due to unfavourable perceptions. To address this problem the ‘mechanism of change’ can be impelled by four guiding questions and for Culture Leicestershire I posed these question to them: How does Culture Leicestershire want people to engage with the activities of its museums? What kind of relationship does Culture Leicestershire want to establish with people? How does Culture Leicestershire want those people to feel? What thought process(es) does Culture Leicestershire want them to experience? Although museums and heritage are mentioned here specifically, the logic applies to Culture Leicestershire's other assets such as libraries and other cultural venues. To illustrate the ‘mechanism of change’ in action, I used an anology to help make visualising 'mechanism of change' to make it memorable and easy to understand. Breaking bread: In ‘the now’, one collects the necessary ingredients: (1) yeast, (2) warm water, (3) salt and (4) flour. These are mixed and heated to make bread in ‘the future’. The point at which the yeast and/or entire mixture is heated is the ‘mechanism of change’. I asked the Culture Leicestershire staff to consider the following two questions in a small-group discussion. First, what are staff teams doing to contribute to solving the problems they have identified? Second, how do staff teams want people to experience this? Tackling these questions embodies the ‘mechanism of change’ in action. There is ‘no textbook way of doing this and so inviting the teams to discuss this they identified some solutions that included: - Working hard to be perceived as a trusted source - and even a reliable partner, to ensure that people feel included in culture, and to build legacy in inclusive ways that create positive memories for people - Being respectful and responsive - Supporting other teams and units to achieve shared outcomes - Signposting effectively - Developing bespoke approaches to engagement - Being data-led, using profiling better, and continually evaluating, reviewing, and up-skilling - Bolstering the co-creation approach to service delivery and partnership working. Being asked the right questions and encouraged to engage in thought provoking discussions the teams began to unearth their bespoke Mechanism of Change. #MechanismOfChange #TheoryOfChange

Culture Leicestershire are currently experiencing extremely busy but exciting times. Back in June I delivered a 'Thinking Big Workshop' working towards communicating effectively what Culture Leicestershire is and what it does. Flying Geese has been commissioned by Leicestershire County Council to support development of an audience data strategy that clearly and confidently tells the story of what Culture Leicestershire is, does and how it improves and enriches the lives of the many audiences and local communities it serves. This development work was aimed at producing a consistent and coherent suite of data processing approaches that works for Culture Leicestershire's diverse service areas. Building on data methodologies already in use, the work is generating robust mechanisms for collecting, analysing, reporting, and acting on insightful data. I started the day-long Thinking Big Workshop with a rich mix of warm-up activities followed by lecture-style deliveries, tasks, small-group discussion, and plenary sessions where I began by introducing Theory of Change. I introduced it as one’s journey or an organisation’s journey from one point to another. That journey encompasses current circumstances (‘the now’) and what might need to happen to change those circumstances later (‘the future’). I invited the participants to think about their Theory of Change by asking the following two questions. Firstly, ‘in the now - what are the really big problems that we would just LOVE to solve?’ And ‘in the future - what does life look like once these really big problems are solved?’ What they discovered was that there was one big problem in ‘the now’ and that was that ‘some people do not think that museums are “for them”. Tackling this problem would result in many more people ‘engaging with museums and heritage as part of their daily life’ in ‘the future’. From asking themselves these questions and discussing them in the group the workshop participants indentified the first part in their Theory of Change. I asked the participants to consider the following four questions so they can move from the problem in the now to what it looks like in the future. -Who is affected by the problem of non-engagement with museums and heritage owing to the perception held by some that museums are not ‘for them’? -What are the Culture Leicestershire teams doing to solve this problem? -How does Culture Leicestershire want people to experience the change when it happens? -What makes Culture Leicestershire great at enabling people to experience the change positively? This start to the day not only introduced them to Theory of Change but set them in good stead for critical thinking for the rest of the day at least and got them to compartmentalise problems they want to address in order to break them down and ask the right questions to go from the 'now' to the 'future'. Leicestershire County Council #CultureLeicestershire #Culture #TheoryOfChange

Sending good wishes to Theatre Porto for the first day of their Topsy Turvy Festival - five days of family-friendly spectacular arts celebration in Whitby Park in Ellesmere Port. We'll be there from tomorrow looking for Scoops of Inspiration for the future of Ellesmere Port from our very own ice cream van https://lnkd.in/dW8N-TNC #EllesmerePort #Cheshire #TopsyTurvy24

Monitoring and Evaluation: Why it's important to gather real-time data.

The Power of Promotion Promotion encompasses all activities that communicate the value of your offer to your audiences. Tactics include advertising, PR, social media, email, distribution, and word-of-mouth. Effective promotion crafts compelling narratives that resonate with people’s interests, needs, and aspirations. Why Promotion is Crucial for Audience Development 1. Visibility and Awareness: In a crowded cultural landscape, you need to stand out. Promotion ensures people are aware of what you offer. 2. Building Relationships: It’s not just about selling tickets; it’s about building a community around your venue and creating loyal supporters 3. Expanding Reach: By tailoring your messages to different segments, you can attract a diverse audience. Understanding your audience is the cornerstone of successful promotion. Start with 1. Audience Research: Invest time in getting to know your audience. This insight helps tailor your messages to their interests and preferences. 2. Segmented Marketing: Create targeted campaigns for various groups, such as families, experience seekers, or those who think the arts aren’t for them. 3. Compelling Storytelling: Highlight the human elements of your events. Stories can transform a simple event listing into a compelling narrative. How You Can Optimise Promotion for Your Arts Venue 1. Optimise Social Media:. Share behind-the-scenes content, artist interviews, and user-generated content. Use targeted ads to reach specific demographics and track performance to refine strategies. 2. Collaborate and Cross-Promote: Partner with other organisations, influencers, and community groups to broaden your reach. 3. Streamline Email Marketing: Create segmented email lists and send personalised content matching the interests of different segments. 4. Engage with Your Community: Attend local events, participate in community discussions, and be an active presence in your neighbourhood. 5. Measure and Adapt: Use analytics tools and adapt strategies based on what works. By understanding your audience, crafting relevant messages, and using a mix of promotional strategies, you can enhance your venue’s visibility, build lasting relationships, and expand your reach. How effective is your promotion? Take our Arts and Culture Health Check to reveal your strengths and areas for growth, and get bespoke recommendations tailored to your organisation to elevate your audience development. https://lnkd.in/eqAnSwGZ #ArtsAndCulture #CultureAndHeritage #ArtsOrganisation #Arts #Culture #Heritage #Museums

How well does your organisation know your audiences? Take our Arts & Culture Health Check for your organisation https://lnkd.in/eqAnSwGZ The key to a successful audience development for arts and cultural organisations lie in deeply understanding your audiences (and those who don’t engage with you).

Delighted to have started working with Family Arts Campaign

Creating Welcoming and Findable Spaces A welcoming and easy to find arts and cultural place is as important for seasoned audience members as it is for those who are just curious, and even more so for those people who haven’t engaged with our organisations before. Our places and spaces, both physical and virtual (such as our websites), are often the first point of contact that an audience member or visitor will have with our organisation so the ease of finding them, the welcome and the accessibility, is key to audience development if we want, one day, to build audiences that love our spaces so much, that they never want to leave. Accessibility is important because: we want to make everyone feel welcome and valued in a safe space and for those spaces to be easy to find, navigate and enjoy. It is important to understand what your audience and not-yet audiences think and feel of your spaces, so that you can make adaptations that will make a difference. We can do this by: 1. Identifying the barriers: Ask big questions about any physical barriers as well as sensory issues. 2. Tailoring Solutions: Creating solutions that directly result in removing the barriers for people. Remember that the people who face the barriers are the most likely to offer solutions for removing them, so don’t think of solutions on your own. 3. Build trust: When we actively seek input from our community, we demonstrate our commitment to inclusivity. This builds trust and fosters a sense of belonging, encouraging more people come and visit, despite barriers. A user-friendly online presence is critical for ensuring that audiences can engage with us from the safety of their own home first, before they take the risk and engage with us in person. It is important to understand the user experience to understand how people navigate our sites and what information they find most valuable. It's also important to understand how people have come across our site in the first place. Inclusive design enables a diverse audience, including those with disabilities or limited tech experience, to access everything that we have to offer. Creating accessible and easy-to-find spaces, both physically and digitally, is essential for any arts and cultural organisation within their audience development strategy. How much do you bring your communities into your consultation process into the accessibility of your places and spaces? Take our Arts and Culture Health Check to reveal your strengths and areas for growth, and get a set of bespoke recommendations especially tailored to your organisation that you can put in place and take your audience development to the next level. Take the assessment now: https://lnkd.in/eqAnSwGZ Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/eNikvmtx #Arts #Heritage #Culture #AccessToArts #AccessToCulture #AccessibleArts #AccessibleCulture #DigitalAccessibility #AccessibleHeritage

Take the Arts and Culture Health Check now to find out how strong your organisation is at: -Attracting Attention -Creating Relevance -Building Trust -Driving Engagement -Developing Relevant Strategies https://lnkd.in/e2DJ8J2m #Arts #Culture #Heritage #Museum #MuseumUK #Charity #CharityUK #ArtCharity