Community History Awards, Manchester Town Hall MANCHESTER HISTORIES FESTIVAL EVALUATION REPORT 2012 the Compiled by Jim Ralley (The Big Art People) with Abigail Gilmore, Kate Campbell Payne and Mo Yin Kwok (the Institute for Cultural Practices) PEOPLE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Manchester Histories Festival (MHF) held its second festival from 24 February to 4 March 2012, following an inaugural festival in 2009. There were 108 events, performances, talks, tours and exhibitions taking place over 10 days of the Festival. These were produced by community groups, venues, tour companies, heritage museums, academics and others. A further 84 organisations exhibited at the Town Hall on the Celebration Day Most of the events were presented in partnership with another organisation or venue, although 30 venues developed their own events, which were marketed under the banner of the MHF. The main festival partners who provided funds, value-in-kind and other forms of support, were the University of Manchester (UoM), Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), and Renaissance North West TOTAL VISITOR NUMBERS The other MHF partners who provided additional support, funds, and coordinate special events were: Arts Council England, 10,000 ModernHistory, ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), Central Manchester University Hospitals, cities@manchester, Manchester City Council’s Manchester Libraries, Information and NEW TO HISTORY or Archives, and ESRC Centre for Research of Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC). HERITAGE MHF was governed by the Festival Board and managed by a Festival Director, with a small core team of volunteers, and with 37% support from a larger team of 25 volunteers during the time of the Festival. NUMBER OF EVENTS Evaluation research was commissioned by the Festival Director, Claire Turner to show how the festival performed against its objectives. Visitor, event organiser, venue, and volunteer surveys 108 were conducted over the period of the festival, accompanied by media analysis and an estimation of economic value added through leverage. CORE BUDGET The main findings of the evaluation are as follows: 10,000 estimated visitor attendances based on event monitoring, £80,907 of which approximately 3,000 are attendances at the Celebration Day in the Town Hall. Many were new audiences for heritage events: from the profile of respondents to the visitor survey, FUNDS LEVERAGED around a third of these (32%) were infrequent attenders to history/heritage events, and 37% of them had never before attended a history/heritage event. Nearly three-quarters (71%) £158,840 were new audiences to the Manchester Histories interest groups, who benefit from the presentation Festival and nearly half (47%) were new visitors to opportunities, the chance to engage with new their event venue. audiences and the potential for new links and networks with other heritage groups and institutions The majority (84%) were from Greater Manchester, in the city. with the remainder from around the North West, notably Cheshire and Merseyside, with smaller The Festival hosted the first Community History clusters around London, Bristol, and along the M1. Awards, which promoted knowledge sharing and Within the UK, people came from as far afield as partnerships between community groups and Glasgow, Dublin, Exeter, Wales and Norwich. schools, and universities, museums, archives, galleries and libraries, awarding profile, prizes Visitor feedback suggests the Manchester Histories and recommendations to projects in a celebration Festival events were very well received. Audiences evening. rated the events they attended highly (over 90% gave them 4 or 5 stars) and event organisers Community groups who participated this year are reported higher than expected attendance. keen to use MHF as a forum for networking and developing shared interests year-round and would be Events which featured popular cultural forms with interested in seeing more frequent activity delivered strong links to Manchester (football and music) were outside of the main festival period. highlights of the Festival for new audiences and new types of events such as pervasive games and tours The Festival also offers clear value and benefits to using digital media helped to make the Festival more its core partners and funders, especially Manchester engaging for broader audiences and added to the Metropolitan University and the University of rich programme of lectures, exhibitions and walks. Manchester. It provides a platform for public engagement in research, a vehicle for social The main forms of marketing and publicity for the responsibility and widening participation, through Festival were print, social and digital media and the volunteering and internship possibilities and by word-of-mouth through professional and community working with schools, community groups and other networks. learning organisations. Visitor feedback suggested that word-of-mouth The Manchester Histories Festival is developing and online media were the main channels that into a strong brand, and its cumulative value is visitors found out about events, but both visitor therefore more than the series of events in a ten and event organisers’ feedback recommended that day programme. With further strategic planning, in there needed to be more marketing activity across consultation with the many partners in Manchester’s the festival. A longer lead-in time and additional heritage landscape, it has potential for delivering resourcing will ensure that this happens in 2014. on the Manchester Manifesto (the City’s history strategy) far into the future. The Festival had a relatively small core budget of £80,907. It leveraged a further £158,840 in-kind from partner organisations, speaker and volunteer time, and attributable projects, demonstrating an additional £1.96 for every £1 spent on the festival. The evaluation findings suggest that Manchester Histories Festival provides a strong basis for collaboration across the city and Greater Manchester area, particularly for community history and other MHF Opening, People’s History Museum CONTENTS 01 Introduction 03 MHF Aims & Objectives 05 Governance 06 Programme 10 Audience Reach 16 Marketing 20 Value 26 Partner Benefits 32 Lessons 33 Recommendations 36 Appendices INTRODUCTION Manchester Histories Festival (MHF) 2012 was a ten METHODOLOGY day programme of events and activities between the The evaluation process has been carried out by a 24th February and 04th March 2012. Its aim was small team, led by Jim Ralley, The Big Art People, to engage the people of Manchester with the past with contribution and advice from Abigail Gilmore, (and present) of their city, to celebrate the familiar, Institute for Cultural Practices at The University and to reveal new and hidden histories by bringing of Manchester. The framework of methods we together the knowledge resources of the academic employed to elicit and collate data on various and cultural institutions with the large range of local aspects of the Festival is as follows: and special interest societies in the city. • Venue/tour guide logs The 2012 Festival provided the opportunity for • Event logs people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds to • Visitor Survey (self-administered print and online) learn, explore, discover, and interpret history through • Volunteers feedback survey (self-administered, music, film, debate, talks by renowned historians, online only) performance, walking tours, etc. The use of the plural • Tour participants survey (self-administered, online “Histories” in the title is an indicator of the ethos only) behind MHF. In recognition of the plurality of voices, • Bookers data opinions and expertise which give Manchester • Interviews and personal communication with its identity, MHF sought to provide a platform for participating speakers/academics, staff and students spreading and exchanging stories and knowledge. from the University of Manchester, Manchester MHF aimed to give the city an opportunity to look Metropolitan University, and the University of Salford back on itself, focus on its past, celebrate its • Film, photos, and podcasts of key events heritage, and to think about the present. • Social media, ticketing, and website analytics • Economic valuation through in-kind support The inagaural Festival in 2009 had taken place on leverage and volunteer hours two successive days at the Town Hall: an education • Community consultation day on the Friday, and the main events on the • Case studies, including interviews with organisers Saturday. It was felt that this event demonstrated the range of Manchester’s cultural institutions and CAVEAT voluntary associations, their capacity for combined Throughout the report we refer to figures from the action, and the public demand for engagement with Visitor Survey distributed at the majority events the city’s histories. The 2012 festival aimed to build and exhibitions held over the ten days. We received on this by extending the festival period to ten days 1,127 returns that were collated and processed by and increasing the sites where festival activities a team of volunteer students from the Institute for took place. As well as the Celebration Day, a large Cultural Practice’s MA programmes. As there was programme of events was provided in a variety of no systematic attempt to undertake probability venues, developing new collaborations between or randomised sampling, the responses from the the festival, the venues and their audiences, and survey cannot be assumed to be representative widening involvement