Museums Audience Report
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November 2018 Museums Audience Report What Audience Finder says about audiences for Museums Contents: This report, based on data from the Audience Finder standard national survey of visitors, shows the breadth of people 2. Introduction & Contents museums are able to engage through their diverse appeal, 3. The Big Picture collections, learning activities and specialist knowledge. 4. Who visits museums? The Museums and Heritage sector is one of Britain’s finest cultural assets, encompassing over 5. What are their cultural habits? 1700 accredited museums. A remarkable 52% of people* visited a museum in 2016/17 and an 6. Where are they coming from? even greater 74% visited a heritage site. 7. How do the visit? Many museums have evolved, through sporadic acquisitions and the generous bequests of 8. Why do they visit? benefactors, to hold a diverse range of objects, often housed in older heritage buildings. For the contemporary non-museum-going audience, these can seem imposing mausoleums, filled 9. How do they feel about their visit? with curious ‘dead stuff’ set in the past and bearing little personal relevance. Museums located 10. Local Loyalties beyond the convenience of a city centre face the further challenge of attracting visitors who are 11. Paying the Price less mobile (financially and physically) in a competitive leisure market. 12. Barriers and Gateways The Audience Finder data, however, shows us that museums are evolving to bridge this gap. 13. What’s next? There are clear examples of museums reaching and connecting with their local communities and contributing to important political agendas of social cohesion, improving health and well- 14. Participating Organisations being and boosting the visitor economy. Successful museums are using this data to build their 15. Context and Methodology resilience, influence funders and form collaborative partnerships. 16. Get in touch This report is based on a sample of 39,318 visitors from 105 varied museums – those managed by local authorities, independent trusts, universities and national museums – collected in the 2017/18 benchmark year. The museums range in scale from specialist to broad collections, offering uniquely different visitor experiences. The report offers comprehensive insights into the demographic profile and behaviour of visitors, comparing them with patterns for other forms of arts and culture. Individual museums can use this national benchmark as a comparator for their own findings using Audience Finder dashboard analytics, as well as comparing to population data and other cultural organisations by region. More broadly, the report serves to illuminate how England’s amazing range of museums is able to serve such a vast cross-section of its people. * www.gov.uk/guidance/taking-part-survey 2 The Big Picture What do we know about Museums audiences? Older audiences are highly represented: Visitors whose primary 41% of all Museums motivation is to visitors are over attract a the age of 55 learn something broad range travel further Local of visitors of audiences: 52% all ages of visitors live within a 30 minute drive of of the museum Museums attract more female than Museums with male visitors - a free entrance higher proportion of attract a higher male visitors attend proportion sporting, science of BAME and and transport younger visitors museums Museums attract a higher Regular museum proportion of goers visit the family visitors same museum 3 times a year than other on average artforms 3 Looking at this demographic profiling, if your museum is on a 10 year exhibition cycle – what does this mean for the displays Who visits museums? ? you should be planning for a decade’s time? The Core Four Age 23% 23% 22% Four key audience groups, drawn along demographic and 19% 20% 17% 18% 17% 17% 18% 15% 16% 15% Museums behavioural lines, emerge clearly from the dataset. These core four 13% 14% 14% 10% 9% groupings, profiled below, exhibit notable differences in attitude Audience Finder Benchmark and engagement. We’ll be examining these distinct behaviours Population throughout the report. 16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65 & over Young Creatives • Museums attract higher • Middle-aged audiences are • Older learners are well represented. 16 -24 year old independent young adults and thinkers proportions of 25-44 year olds slightly less prominent in museum Over 55s make up 41% of museum who want to learn, create and curate their experiences. than other artforms. audiences than for other artforms. audiences but only a third of the population. Families Age × Ethnicity Visitors attending museums with children, wanting to be entertained and educated together. 95% The demographic of Museum 86% audiences is broadly representative 81% of the population and aligned to Older Learners typical cultural engagement habits. Museum visitors aged 55+ who want to be active, social and connected. • Younger museum audiences are substantially more diverse, particularly in urban areas, reflecting museums’ Cultural Tourists endeavours to engage a changing demographic in their locality. This not only 10% Predominantly affluent adults, these cultural enthusiasts will 7% 4% 4% 3% 2% reflects the population make-up but, more frequently invest time and money to travel more than 60 1% 1% 2% 1% 1% 1% significantly, the levels of education being minutes for new experiences and knowledge. 16-25 25-34 35 and over achieved by a greater diversity of people. • Asian and Asian British groups have a Men and Women Women Men White Asian or Black or Mixed/Multiple Other Asian British Black British ethnic background particularly strong showing in younger museum audiences. Audience Finder Museums Audiences English Population 35% 39% 49% 51% 10% of museum visitors identify as having some degree of limiting disability, 65% 63% compared with 18% of the English population 4 What are their cultural habits Using Audience Spectrum helps identify key barriers to and opportunities for engaging different audiences. How can and preferences? museums engage cash-strapped groups like Facebook Families? ? High engagement Medium engagement Low engagement Metro- Commuterland Experience Dormitory Tips & Home & Up Our Facebook Kaleidoscope Heydays culturals Culturebuffs Seekers Dependables Treats Heritage Street Families Creativity Museums attenders 6% 14% 10% 18% 16% 12% 9% 9% 4% 3% 101% Audience Finder Benchmark (cultural events attendance across all artforms) 12% 18% 12% 16% 13% 10% 6% 5% 6% 2% 100% England population aged 15+ 4% 11% 8% 15% 17% 10% 9% 11% 9% 5% 99% Audience Spectrum, The majority of museum visitors are Young Creatives Families which maps both medium or high cultural engagers. Other artforms are Dormitory Dependables levels of engagement dominated by highly cultural and Trips and Treats Dormitory Trips and Treats and attitude towards Dependables Mainstream arts and engaged Experience Seekers, dominate family attendance Suburban and small popular culture Dormitory Dependables towns’ interest in inuenced by children, the arts across the UK heritage and family and friends mainstream arts but museums appeal as much to museums, making up population, shows how broad and accessible the museums 18% Suburban and small towns’ interest in Commuterland Home and Heritage to Facebook Families and 38% of all family audiences. heritage and mainstream arts Culturebuffs offering is. Museum audiences are more evenly spread than Rural and small town AfuentDormitory and daytimeTrips and activities Treats and professionalDependables historical events Trips and Treats millennials. Dormitory Trips and Treats Mainstream arts and other artforms across High (30%) Medium (45%) and Dependables consumers of culture Suburban and small popular culture Mainstream artstowns’ and interest in inuenced by children, Trips and TreatsSuburban and small popular culture heritage and family and friends Low (25%) cultural engagers, with almost half of attenders towns’ interest in inuenced by children,mainstream arts heritage and family and friends hailing from the middle-engaged segments. These middle Mainstream arts andmainstream popular arts culture influenced 16% Commuterland Home and Heritage Culturebuffs Commuterland Home and Heritage Rural and small town by children, family andCulturebuffs friends Older Learners Cultural Tourists groupings are typically regular (though not frequent) Afuent and daytime activities and Dormitory RuralTrips and Treatssmall townprofessional historical events AfuentDependables and daytime activitiesconsumers and of culture attenders, low-risk in their arts engagement habits and professional historicalMainstream events arts and consumersSuburban and of culture small popular culture For most art forms, older 47% of Commuterland towns’ interest in inuenced by children, heritage and family and friends constitute the largest section of the population. Commuterlandmainstream Culturebuffs arts audiences tend to be Culturebuffs travel Affluent and professionalCommuterland consumersHome and Heritage of culture Museum audiences are less dominated by high engagers 14% Culturebuffs Commuterland Culturebuffs. substantial distances to visit Rural and small town Afuent and daytime activities and than most forms of culture and are more representative of professional historical events In museum audiences though, museums either with specific consumers of culture the population. What we see in museums, then, is a broad the older middle engaged collections or in areas of array of cultural experiences that meet the needs of a wide Home and Heritage Rural