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KEY LEARNINGS REPORT

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Thursday19June2019,

DearDelegates,

Thank you for coming from all over the world to be a part of this 22nd

edition of Communicating the Arts! These new encounters between

performing arts and visual arts were insightful and brought a new

energy to the discussions.

We were so privileged to be welcome by the most iconic art

institutions of Copenhagen. The gala diner at the Louisiana supported

by Plateforme 10 was an absolute highlight and will stay in all

memories. As always the Learning Safari was a great time to explore

the exciting cultural scene. Thank you to all our valuable partners for

their trust and enthusiasm.

See you in soon in Montreal and Sydney or next year in Lausanne.

Have a lovely summer,

CORINNE ESTRADA

Founder and CEO, Communicating the Arts

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MANYTHANKSTOOURSUPPORTSANDPARTNERS

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From competition to collaboration

André Kraft Head of Marketing & Communication, Member of the Management Board Komische Oper Berlin

“In the world of numbers and figures, we must remember that culture is much, much more than business. I encourage you to see yourselves as partners, not competitors.”

- Conferences only work because of collaborations – there would be no point if we didn’t share. Why do we find this so easy at a conference, but so complicated when we go back to work?

- It’s like comparing a thrilling love affair opposed to an established relationship – one of them is exciting, the other has a mortgage and shopping lists. But we definitely know which one boasts more reliability and long-term benefits.

Common fears about collaborating with another institution

- Promoting someone else - Losing audience/visitors, sponsors/partners, media attention - Having someone else get the recognition for your hard work

These anxieties invite the question, what do we mean by collaboration? Contracts, logistics and additional work? Or inspiration, generosity and trust? An opera internally requires high collaboration across hundreds of people – all

involved need to share a common dream or goal to do mutually beneficial work. External collaborations require an overall appreciation of what makes a win-win.

- Someone may start with you and go to someone else, it’s true, but it is also the case vice versa.

- Like a romance, sometimes you have to loosen the reigns a little, relax, and let go.

Berlin has three opera houses – how does this work?

- Between East and West there is historic competition, and media has done their best to intensify this competitive spirit by cycling through the opera houses as the good one, the bad one, and the boring one.

- Today, the three opera houses have unique profiles and are much less in competition, part of Berlin’s success in becoming a true capital of opera.

60+ institutions in Berlin have joined together to form a data hub, a service for

various interested parties to draw from performing arts data – newspapers, journals, websites

- Data points such as prices, numbers, seats, texts, pictures, videos etc. - A trickier part of the project is the platform: the website. There are

constant questions about how data should be presented and valorised between the many institutions of various sizes. It has improved over time but is an ongoing challenge.

- If a network becomes too crowded, involves too many different partners, positive collaboration can give in to selfishness. The more direct a connection, the more personal and respectful it tends to be.

Key Learnings Alone you run faster, together we run further. Even when small scale, offers will never lose the organisation a friend, only gain them. Direct connections are easier to manage organically. Larger networks require rules. Do not reduce an institution to its figures. Collaboration is about love – a long-term, stable love for culture and the arts.

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With less direct connection in the network, you need RULES. Case Study: partnership with the Jewish Museum Berlin 2015. Moses und Aron, an ambitious production over more than 200 singers, presented some advertising challenges – a biblical story in a non-religious staging, one season only, a need to sell as many tickets as possible before the premiere…

- Jewish Museum is an attractive partner: it is one of Europe’s leading museums, a vibrant centre of reflection on Jewish history and engages with a very different audience (77% foreign visitors, while Komische Oper’s is 70% + Berliner).

- It started small – a cup of tea to uncover interests and discuss what can be exchanged. Some special offers, mutual visits, 10€ discounts etc. These actions will never lose the organisation a friend, only gain them.

- These small steps led to events, and eventually the donation of props from the Moses und Aron show to the Museum’s permanent Jewish Museum’s next permanent exhibition which will open next year – something you cannot plan.

Touchstones of a successful cooperation

- Must share a common dream and goal. - Everyone needs a clear role to play. - Use existing structures – don’t over complicate with new offers etc. - Stick to your trade – do what you do best. - Engage from within, then with visitors. - Be creative! Do not reduce an institution to its figures. - Define highlights and celebrate them. - Be generous, but know when to hold back.

Cooperation benefits

- Expand target audience - Open new horizons for your audience, your business - Strengthen your brand - Alone you run faster, together we run further

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Easier said than done, but work

towards it! Collaboration is about love – a long-term, stable love for culture and the arts.

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It takes a village: growing a successful brand when everything else is shifting

Tina Walsberger Marketing and Communications Director Edinburgh International Festival

Edinburgh Festival in numbers - 25 days - 171 performances - 20 venues - 2 800 artists - 415 568 attendances - 45 permanent staff + 150 contract staff in festival season

Let’s get right to it - how do things go wrong?

- Lack of agreed success measures – not making sure everyone is looking across the organisation for unified, project-wide goals

- Silo’d information and separation of teams - Lack of defined process - Culture of fear, especially in terms of confidence

So what is needed to not get it wrong? Shared mission and organisational identity

- No matter who or where you are in the organisation, you must know what you do, how you’re doing it and who you’re doing it for.

- Not just lip service – make mission real through staff and collaborator workshops, conversations (listening!) and empowerment.

- Rebranding was presented in company-wide presentations, rewriting goals as a team to recommend to government. Such exercised proves unifying, addressing shared values for all staff.

Agreed goals and responsibilities Have you reached the end of an event and realised in the review that all staff members had completely different metrics for success?

- Shared top line goals are essential. Marketing team’s goals: revenue, attendance, brand, cultural leadership.

- Clearly defined roles – constantly reassessing responsibilities and lines of reporting.

- Many of these temporary staff start from scratch, requiring training for various roles in all areas. Each team is led by permanent staff to assure consistent core knowledge flows down.

Internal communication Have you ever seen a change to your event on Facebook before hearing it from the team?

- Information should be ‘default to open’ – highly available, transparent and accessible.

- Key introductions to others’ roles – clarifying and breaking down assumptions of who does what and allows for better internal collaborations

Key Learnings It takes absolutely everyone. Have a plan a mission. Know what success looks like, be clear on everyone’s role. Be ready to learn. Diversity of thought at the table will always lead to better results.

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- Listen to your staff. Build structures based on what internal requests/surveys reveal. Ongoing induction sessions to keep everyone fresh.

- Logistical difficulties with different platforms and softwares bring a constantly evolving challenge– still working on how to make the constant translation between teams work.

Empowerment of excellent staff

- Creating a space that feels open and safe to speak up. - Always ask questions, listen to the answers, and remember that trust

takes a long time to build. Review and readjustment

- So important! Even if – especially if – the post-event period if when you want to never think about it again.

- Festival amnesia is real. Keep notes as you go to be able to properly review.

- Debrief thoroughly while supporting team moral by listening to feedback and addressing problems.

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Breaking down barriers

Nikolaj Møller, Content Associate, Museum for the United Nations - UN Live

Museum for United Nations - UN Live is an independent NGO, close to but not part of the UN, formed with the goal of solving global challenges. Internal collaboration is at its heart. Despite collaborate being such a positive thing that that we want, it doesn’t happen very often because our approach to work is so specialised. How can we overcome this? Working with difference The staff of UN Live is extremely diverse in their background with very different skillsets. This is a perfect stepping stone in creating projects that utilise and valorise the strengths across the team. Joint ownership and varied contributions build better projects. Big picture buy in “Lego Serious Play” is a workshop facilitation method in which all people participate. To get to a shared understanding, you can do a shared build, in which many individual builds are “plugged in” to one larger format. It’s not a negotiation of what should or should not be a part of the bigger picture, with each contributor adding their chapter to the story. The goal is not consensus but commitment. Collaboration between opposing teams Online social networks are further polarising different views and creating echo chambers, but there are places to meet in different and make it work. The Folkets Hus (People’s House) is a volunteer run space, offering programmes open to the public to meet, share and discuss. It encourages acknowledgement of difference with recognition of the things we have in common. Volunteers are called ‘activists’, not in any political sense, just that they are active in the Folkets Hus to facilitate visitor experience. Overcoming resistance

The UN’s legal department is a beast in and of its own, not because it is against collaborative methods but because of its robust and bureaucratic model. Patience is the essential ingredient.

Key Learnings Diversity and difference in backgrounds and skillsets builds better projects. The goal is commitment, not consensus. Language, names and definitions of our identities have powerful effect.

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Breaking down barriers - Internal collaborations that brought Contemporary Muslim Fashions to life

Linda Butler Director of Marketing, Communications and Visitor Experience Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

FAMSF has done many fashion exhibitions in the past but Contemporary Muslin Fashions was different – rather than featuring one designer, it needed to represent a global community. Key opportunities:

- Transform fear and lack of cultural awareness to curiosity and understanding among general audiences

- Represent Muslim cultures authentically and engage with Muslim audiences

Key challenges: - Controversial subject matter gaining both praise and criticism. - How to do this with authenticity?

Problem solving

- New internal structure development, including a collaborative working group with representatives from all over – finance to curatorial.

- 52 designers from around the world to be represented with one cohesive look and feel for the exhibition. Building individual trust with each would have been impossible within project constraints.

- Partners provided introductions to high-profile players in Muslim fashions to produce an industry-standard photoshoot, raising credibility in Muslim and non-Muslim communities.

- The photoshoot created a unique, clear and identifiable through line for all marketing. The same garments were later used for a runway show at the exhibition opening.

Visitor experience collaboration – sensitivity training

- Two pronged goal: ‘demystifying’ Islam for non-Muslim staff + ensuring warm and seamless reception for Muslim audiences. Results:

o Accommodations outside of the exhibition to unify the visitor experience (Halal food in the café, prayer room in the building)

o Customized staff talking points and FAQ o Staff more confident and excited about exhibition

Education collaboration: Beyond the Paint podcast

- Teen Advisory Board led podcast of conversations about what it means to be Muslim in San Fransisco. Recordings were assembled and produced into thematic segments and an audio tour.

- Podcast won 2019 Gold Muse Award for Podcasts Power of collaboration

- The approach employed for this exhibition has remained beyond it. - Initiatives of change in an organisation will almost always find

pushback. Stick to the major goal – going slowly, steadily towards it together.

Key Learnings Collaboration isn’t just a feel good opportunity – it leads to innovative thinking with long lasting effects.

Stick to the major goal – going slowly, steadily towards it together.

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Creativity and diversity within cultural institutions: can partnerships help?

Mikkel Bogh Director, National Gallery of Denmark (SMK) Kasper Holten CEO Royal Danish Theatre

Why collaborate? KH: Sometimes it’s to make more money, but often collaborations can cost money. Opera houses are often in the town squares – the heart of the city, the meeting place. Now opera houses are often islands. This is why we seek to build bridges, returning the links needed to be meeting places again. MB: Because it keeps us dynamic! It’s always a learning process which is essential. Keeping arts separate from one another is a historical invention, when at their core they are mixed. Performance directors go to museums, gallery directors go to the theatre. The separation is an artificial one – we should challenge the borders that have been built up. Finding another audience KH: Unexpected collaborations can be great when they hit the mark but are painfully embarrassing if they lack a genuine connection. They must have something to say in being together. KH: It comes back to the question of purpose. Is the goal that a new audience comes back to the museum? Or is it enough to meet the tax-payers’ investment by taking your offer to them directly? This matter of perspective counts. Who really makes the partnership? MB: Sometimes through me, but often it starts with heads of departments, or a friend of a curator. It takes the managerial support to lock it in. KH: There is a management decision – it’s hard for staff to generate partnerships without it being a defined value higher up. Our partnership with SMK is possibly a terrible partnership – we’re talking to people who already love the arts and love us! We’re all very good at working with those who are just like us, who are ‘safe’, but our industry is not as good as reaching out with unfamiliar audiences. So who is the ideal partner? KH: It’s one who meets the goals you have set from the beginning. The good partnerships are those where the KPIs were clear for us, the bad ones we finished and realised we were working towards different outcomes. It helps to talk as the arts as a whole. What can be shared of a partnership – with your staff, with other partners…? MB: Collaborations work differently at different levels. For it to be a success, to get the robust framework necessary to support it, it needs common goals, shared KPIs. KH: Data sharing is in a new place now with GDPR – legally there are certain hoops to jump through. Your 9x9x9 collaboration went well. But would you do anything differently? MB: Despite developing the purchased concept further into quite a different

Key Learnings In spite of the charm of a one-night stand, go for a long-term relationship. Make pilots, try different things, but do it with the long term in mind. Don’t just go with the flow, use it to challenge and change. Partnerships must be genuine, they must have something to say by being together. Partnerships need needs common goals, shared KPIs.

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project, copyright laws muddied the waters on who would hold the rights. KH: Have a plan for several years – it takes time to build relationships. This time allows for further mutual benefit and understanding and being able to maximise on these relationships.

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Transforming Designmuseum Danmark

Anne-Louise Sommer Director Designmuseum Danmark Dan Stubbergaard Architect and Founder, COBE

Fantastic ingredients of a fantastic client: demanding, respectful, excited to do something new while remaining faithful with the existing identity. Designmuseum Danmark

- Pretty stable visitation of 2000-2011 of about 60k, then huge swing into almost 300k in 2017.

- More than 80% international visitation, half of which are under 30. - High expectations given Denmark’s identity as a global leader of design. - Focus on everyday life, craftsmanship and innovation, presented with

values of life-long learning and hands-on experiences Transformation challenges

- How to extend the museum in the public space? The outside space is just as important as what you experience inside the museum.

- How can we be more generous to the city? - How to turn from a dusty, classical museum to a more engaging and

experiential one? The solution? Turn the museum inside out.

- It is impossible to radically change a heritage protected site. Strong collaborative work COBE to develop plans for small display stations to be installed in the museum front courtyard.

- Design items from the collection are now shared in this free-to-access space in small display cases, a subtle intervention into the public city life

- Audience can hang out in the plaza, have a coffee and a enjoy preview of the collection without buying a ticket

Key Learnings We are stronger together. Remaining open minded is key. Open up and give back. Meet together around the core idea – you must hold the common ground together.

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Mental Revolution

Erlend Hoyersten Director ARoS Aarhus Art Museum

It is helpful to talk about what we were supposed to do at Aros – in terms of partnerships and political support. We are partly subsidised, but like many other countries facing deep cuts, a majority of income is through visitation. I like the trampoline metaphor. Museums are like performers. When they start trying new tricks, they learn to jump higher and higher. “The goal is not to see the whole world, but just a little bit of your neighbour’s garden.” As they go into a bigger public, they should develop humour and personality. The beginning of a partnership also feels like the first few jumps on a trampoline: uneasy. You can’t start jumping if you’re passive. Museum staff can be active participants. You need to make them actively involved in order to create new partnerships. To overcome uneasiness, institutions need to let go. If you dare to talk to somebody you don’t know, magic can happen. Art is not an empty vessel – it’s a fitness centre for the mind. Building mental fitness takes time, effort and strength but the science is clear – it’s good for us. Trying to change the attitude of the institution itself is a valuable undertaking. Not in a competitive sense, but simply to see if there is another, better way to be an institution. Keep this curiosity for improvement. Changing strategy can be painful and demanding. But art does this too – it changes perspective before we are ready. We need artists to imagine that which is not yet there. But we also need a shift amongst the general population. We’re talking about thinking, about brains, of the future – we have the potential and the solutions to face the problems in today’s status quo, and art is just one of the ways towards new revolutions.

Key Learnings Art is not an empty vessel – it’s a fitness centre for the mind. We must therefore stay active to stay healthy. Always look to improve, to change, to experiment, to take the leap. We have the potential and the solutions to face the problems in today’s status quo. Art is just one of the ways towards revolution.

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Audience engagement in the experience economy

Niels Righolt CEO Danish Centre for Arts and Interculture (CKI)

If we – arts institutions – are the answer, what is the question? What are we the solution to? Why do we keep building, redefining? Why do we keep arguing that we are worth the money, attention, time? To what extent does collaboration and engagement become a bridge to relevance, or at least engage in relationships with potential audiences? In Scandinavia, arts participation is very much a matter of politics. About 80% of arts institutions rely on public funding, i.e. tax payers’ money is core to running its operations. Democracy is therefore a central value within. The arts should be relevant to the changes, development and innovations within society. This is a relatively recent shift with draws on many factors – political, economic, societal, technological. Change is taking place at a rate too fast for the traditional structures to cope with. Institutions are therefore constantly responding to these pressures to develop new dynamics, forced to lean into innovation to become more communicative, porous spaces. This shift raises important questions about cultural authority, cultural democracy and social justice. We must dare to reach out, to make the first contact with audiences that we do not know, with interests and competencies we do not typically recognise. So who are these people that we don’t know? They are paying for the parties we throw, but are they invited? How do we ensure a diversity of modes, stories, expressions, events and projects that reflects different societies and finds resonance within their respective communities? It is about the stories we tell – we can’t reach out and collaborate with an audience with traditional communication techniques. Audiences have different aspirations and expectations in the ways institutions should interact with them. We are now be dialogue platforms – the channels through which to talk, share, exchange. Culture is less entertainment, but a social fibre, a glue, a connecter. It can redefine cities, identities. They can be the accelerators of innovation. Politicians in Nordic countries are noticing this. There are 8 variables drawn upon as parameters for the formulation of cultural policies – national narrative, identity matrix, entertainment, societal ‘driver’, democratic glue, innovation engine, ‘glocal’ fix point, or game-changer. In the early 2000s, Tate and V&A were the rock stars of cultural institutions, daring the challenge the traditional audience engagement models, addressing the questions of who we can reach out to and how to do things differently for them. In Denmark we see this too, e.g. SMK Fridays. These are not experiences handed over to audiences, but developed through processes of dialogue and co-creation to work with relevance, resonance, relations.

Key Learnings Relevance, resonance, relations. We must dare to reach out. Culture is less entertainment, and more a social fibre. Who is paying for your parties? Are they also invited?

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Understanding how audiences engage differently and what motivates them is key. One may prefer to be a spectator, while other want to be part of the artistic process. So how do we address this? Audience policies and decisions have been taken hostage by audience marketing. If we want to succeed for audience, we need to reorganise. The knowledge about audiences needs to loop back to those preparing the experiences for the audiences in order to guide how we do it. We must trust their competence. This should not be a blind relationship.

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Perks and pitfalls of co-creation

Erlend Høyersten Director ARoS Aarhus Art Museum Gry Worre Artistic Director Sisters Academy Sue Donnelly Executive Director Belvoir Theatre Chair: Jo Marsh Brand Consultant, Winster Marsh,

These new vocabularies around arts institutions – campfire, organism, mental fitness centre, trampoline – how do they link back to co-creation? EH – Creating together is the definition of society, therefore co-creation should be at the core of what we do. A concrete example is the first meeting I had with my curators five years ago, pitching ideas with little sense of where they may go – and the response was ‘yes’. It was not a fully formed idea at all, but was slowly built to become stronger, clearer. Going from top-down creative processes to more team-based work was one thing, but then bringing in audience feedback to guide these decisions made it more. Does this process translate to the performing arts? SD – Belvoir was built on co-creation, it is the basis of all we do – we are open because 600 supporters donated to buy the theatre back from being shut down. So the theatre has never had an issue with co-creation. The arts reality in Australia is financially dire, so constant collaboration to make things happen is key. Theatre is also a demanding art – the audience must be in a certain place at a certain time, in silence, technologically disconnected, all looking at the same thing. Plus it’s often expensive, which risks turning people off all theatre if they didn’t feel it was worth it. (But you don’t stop going to the cinema if you didn’t like a film, do you?) Performing arts are playing a different ballgame to museums – we’ve been in this a long time. Is there a lot of fear about co-creation? GW – Co-creation is at our core: All our work is based on our manifesto outlining a vision for a sensuous society. We see and implicate our audiences as participants. We turn the value system upside down with this idea of sensuous society – what would education or politics in a world of sensuousness, of sensitivity? This is so far removed from what the world currently is, the experiences are an immersive escape. If we’re valuing outside of economics, what are the metrics for success? SD – We definitely need to be bigger and bolder. Shrinking funding is leading to shrunken ambitions and programmes. We need to be ambitious, dare to engage new ideas and new visions, invite people to interact with these ideas. All that which brings about change. GW – The logic of our framework is that with sensuous experience as the driver of the society, that the economy would follow to support this modus operandi. I have strong and deep faith in humanity for this potential for change. Our archives shows that the work has a deep transformative impact on participants who are left craving and striving for this potential framework in their lives. EH – It’s obvious the world needs to be changed, but the question is how will we – or could we – be involved in producing these changes? What is our active role in change? There is much division today. Are there audiences we don’t want to work with? SD – Engaging with new, political and change-making ideas underpins our approach, and we try to make even the political entertaining.

Key Learnings We need to be ambitious, dare to engage new ideas and new visions, invite people to interact with these ideas. Co-creation can seem destructive! Joy is not to be found in the process, but in the product. It’s about expanding creative ability through empowerment – with that people can then fly a long way.

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EH – It needs to make sense to connect. How to balance between identifying as an activist and democratic institution? SD – There is a need for both in society. Many institutions will go down one path or the other. GW – We are activist artists – even our organisation is not particularly democratic. And within it there is much liberty. This comes to light even more when we go into other institutions, e.g. taking over the leadership of a school. This question of what would a sensuous society look like is a trick – we don’t know, because we have never lived it. These experiences are experiments, and nonetheless we insist upon the importance of this potential societal framework. It’s not utopia! But it is an alternative possibility. What would a more co-creative future look like for you? EH - Would like a better understanding of our audiences, what they like and would like. But also of those who are not in our audiences – would they would like to see and experience, and why we are not connecting with them. GW - The experience is generative – often participants will come back to us to ask if they can be a part of our advisory board etc. SD - Working with new, emerging and established artists, but also involving staff across activities. It is a particularly challenging time in Australia with a conservative government, it is very rare to hear about culture as a value as society. This ebbs and flows, it will turn back around. Audiences are great too – they’ll tell you the second something wasn’t right, which is a positive and necessary thing. One piece of advice? EH – Co-creation can seem destructive! Joy is not to be found in the process, but in the product. GW – It’s about expanding creative ability through empowerment – with that people can then fly a long way. SD – Maintaining openness, letting things sift and settle. You can’t rush this process. And remaining positive.

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Reopening Nationalmuseum - How a PR fiasco turned into institutional openness

Anna Jansson Public Relations Officer Nationalmuseum Sweden

Nationalmuseum Sweden closed for 5 years, reopening in October 2018. Co-creation was not a focus as such during closure, but openness has been and remains a core value, so it may be more important in the future. Reopening the museum The reopening saw twice as many visitors as expected, with overwhelmingly positive reviews and up to 30% brand new visitors. We could not be happier. But getting there was not a straightforward process. With the doors closed entirely, the public were sceptical of what the museum was actually doing, intensified with the knowledge that it is their public money funding it. Meanwhile, digitisation was excellent boon for public relations – if a museum has no building, it has only collections, so it is the dream to have this content available. 3000 hi res images with metadata were freely available to public. Building buzz There was an absolute no photography policy in the 6 months leading up to the reopening, - applying to press, staff, installers, everyone! – to be sure the reopening reveal an absolutely new experience to the people, and of course to raise expectations. This ban was lifted two weeks prior to opening the doors to create a concentrated flurry of attention. Social media was kept active with teasers, facts, etc. Several young feminist influencers were brought on board to show that their ideas and values are seen and represented by the Museum. We figured that the reopening would produce an explosion of photos of the finally-visible collection. Marketing campaign was therefore who-we-want-to-be rather than what-you’re-going-to-see. Open doors We held a VIP opening night – but if we’re for the people, how could this be considered fair? Making clear to the public why this night was happening was essential. We repeated the event four months later, for free, for the general public. Queues – while a mainstay of Swedish society – are an entirely new challenge for the Museum and its audiences. Still working on managing this! Backlash and rebuilding trust The advertising campaign in public spaces were presented like an exhibition – four consecutive portraits featuring several fancily dressed white people and one nude black man. Backlash began on social media spaces. Deep sadness and anger was expressed, “slave porn” was use a lot.

Key Learnings Through social media, PR and marketing you can meet audiences that think the museum is not for them or they might not like what you do. Use this opportunity to connect and learn from your audience. Acknowledge when you have done wrong. Include your critics. Practice makes perfect, but you need to start somewhere.

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Using art in marketing, we need to be aware of what visual culture we are engaging in today. We addressed this head-on – how come we did not recognise it? If we missed this, what else are we missing? This has led to many partnerships and programmes about becoming a better, more inclusive institution.

- Participating in the African Swedish History Week - Dedicated council with representatives from the museum, activist

groups, experts on African Swedish history and curators from other Swedish museums.

- Thanking those who criticised.

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Audiences of the future

Alex Burch Head of Exhibitions, Learning and Outreach The Natural History Museum of London Dani Parr Director of Participation Almeida Theatre Key Learnings An ideal cultural offer speaks to four realms of experience – educational, escapist, aesthetic and entertainment The competition in the experience economy is sophisticated. Take the time to understand your partners’ differing vocabularies and hierarchies.

“Audiences of the Future” is a research and development project supported by UKRI that explores questions of sustainability and resilience through an innovative partnership between the creative industries, research organizations and museums in order to create a new generation of experiences for the next generation of visitors. The Natural History Museum has been called a place of “Dead things shorn of context.” This is not very consistent for today’s audiences, who seek ‘experiences over commodities, pastimes over knick-knacks, doing over having’ (The Economist). The audiences of today are not the audiences of tomorrow – we are losing demographics faster than gaining them. Experience economy shows that audiences want quite different things. An ideal cultural offer speaks to four realms of experience – educational, escapist, aesthetic and entertainment. I am not suggesting we have a ball party inside the museum, rather, that we recognize that our competition has changed and is very sophisticated. Audience, financial and digital challenges are complex. The proposition is to bring a new generation of mixed reality adventure experiences drawing on globally appealing dinosaurs and robot content from two top museums. We will combine our storytelling and design skills with spatial computing, spatial audio and multi-sensory stimuli to create an entirely new audience experience. This all means working very closely with scientists and other sectors e.g. programmers, producers, medias, designers. They are all from the UK but coming from different sectors, they speak entirely different languages with different values and hierarchies. Ongoing and developing approach. Palaeontology and robotics are new things to work but it is incredibly rewarding to create stories together. Trialling different variables to test different challenges and how they best can be overcome – with or without actors, 15 or 50 minutes. Teaser experiences are also being run in public places e.g. shopping centres for a very quick dip into entirely different audiences.

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KeyLearningscompiledbyMaddiNewlingandMaudJossier

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