Knowing Your Audience For Dance

2

Contents

Page 3 Introduction & Participants Page 4 Executive Summary Page 5 Methodology

Page 6 Overview Of data available Page 7 How did sales for dance vary by year?

Section 1: Measuring Dance Attendances Page 8 How did sales for dance vary by genre?

Pages 9 & 10 What types of households booked for dance

events between 2008 and 2010? Pages 11 & 12 How are these Mosaic NI groups different?

Section 2: Identifying Customer Demographics Page 13 How do dance bookers compare to the

population overall?

Page 14 Is attendance at dance mainly domestic? Page 15 Is there a Northern Ireland wide interest in

attending dance events? Page 16 Greater Belfast household bookers for dance Page 17 Derry household bookers for dance Page 18 Rest of NI household bookers for dance

Section 3: Locating Customers Geographically

Page 19 Sources of International Bookings

Pages 20 & 21 Frequency of attendance at dance events 2 Re-attendance at dance events year on year Page 23 Venue loyalty amongst dance bookers

Section 4: Exploring Customer Behaviour Pages 24 - 26 Household crossover between genres of dance

Page 27 Conclusion Page 28 Glossary Page 29 Appendix 1: Continuous Household Survey Pages 30 – 32 Appendix 2: Mosaic NI Pen Portraits Pages 33 – 35 Appendix 3: Settlement Breakdown

About Dance Resource Base: Dance Resource Base exists to support the dance community in Northern Ireland.

We provide facilities and resources for people involved in dance, as well as playing an advocacy role in raising the profile of the art form. We aim to:

o LINK - by building networks of support for people involved in or wishing to access dance;

o SERVE - by providing information services and training opportunities for the dance sector and;

o STRENGTHEN - by acting as an advocate for the dance sector.

Supported by the Creative Industries Innovation Fund

3

Introduction

For the first time, Knowing Your Audience for Dance provides an in-depth understanding of who attends dance in Northern Ireland and how these customers are engaging with the artform. The report includes dance performances and related events from the majority of the main ticketed festivals and arts venues across Northern Ireland over the last three years, and is the first artform specific report to analyse customer behaviour at this level of detail in Northern Ireland.

The commissioning of this report by Dance Resource Base represents a key part of DELVE, Dance Resource Base’s business enhancement programme for the dance sector in Northern Ireland. It is hoped that this report will encourage a conversation on the role dance can play in developing audiences across Northern Ireland.

Dance Resource Base would like to thank Audiences NI for their expertise and support in putting together this report and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure for their financial support through the Creative Industries Innovation Fund.

Participants

The data from this report has been gathered from the following ticketing organisations:

4

Executive Summary

Measuring Dance Attendances:

o There were 621 performances of 273 dance events at the 17 venues included within this report between 2008 and 2010.

o 32,216 household bookers where customer address data was captured booked for one of these dance events.

o 134,850 tickets were sold for these dance events between 2008 and 2010 worth £2,667,895.

o This represents a capacity figure of 55% of available seats sold for these dance events.

o 10% of the arts bookers overall between 2008 and 2010 booked for Dance events in that time period.

o Culturally Specific Dance and Ballet combined made up 69% of the tickets purchased between 2008 and 2010 for these dance events, and 84% of the revenue.

Identifying Customer Demographics:

o Overall, 52% of the households booking for dance came from one of three Mosaic NI Groups; Wealth & Wisdom, Better Off Families and Ageing Suburbanites.

o However, the make-up of the audience will depend on where in Northern Ireland the customer lives. The audience for dance in Belfast has a different demographic composition than the audience in Derry, and both of these urban areas have different compositions to the audience for dance coming from the remainder of Northern Ireland.

Locating Customers Geographically:

o 88% of household bookers came from Northern Ireland, representing a penetration of 5% of households overall within Northern Ireland over a 3 year period.

o 4% of household bookers for dance could be verified as coming from the Republic of Ireland and 1% could be verified as coming from England. A further 6% of household bookers were identifiable as being within the UK but there was no indication of which of the 4 regions they were from.

o 0.3% of records could be identified as being from outside the UK or Republic of Ireland. o Within Northern Ireland, 40% of dance bookers came from the Belfast Metropolitan

Urban Area (extending as far as Carrickfergus, Lisburn and Bangor) while 9% were coming from the Derry Urban Area.

o 51% of bookers came from outside of the 2 main urban areas, most prominently from Craigavon Urban Area and Bleary (2% of household bookers), Newtownards (1%), Omagh (1%) and Strabane (1%).

Exploring Customer Behaviour:

o Dance bookers are predominantly Single Time Attenders, with 82% of household

bookers for dance only attending one dance event between 2008 and 2010. o Dance bookers are predominantly venue loyal, with 76% of households attending dance

more than once over the three year period re-attending at only that venue.

o There is a low level of re-attendance year on year at dance events with only 12% of

household bookers for dance attending in two or more of the calendar years analysed. o There are primarily low levels of crossover (less than 10%) between each of the dance

genres, except for those attending Workshops & Classes (11%) that were also going to Ballet, and those attending Contemporary Dance (20%) that were also going to Ballet.

5

Methodology

This report is based on aggregated box office data drawn from 17 organisations selling

tickets for dance events across Northern Ireland connected to Vital Statistics, the analytics

software used by Audiences NI.

The analysis was carried out on sales for all dance events sold through those 17 organisations between January 2008 and December 2010. The following external datasets

were also appended to the data for analytical purposes;

o Mosaic Northern Ireland was used to establish the different demographic segments

booking for dance. Mosaic NI is a classification system which segments consumers into nine demographic groups specific to Northern Ireland, based on the post code

attached to the customer record. It is a useful way of understanding what type of person comes to see your show (e.g. likely age range, marital status and social grade)

and where they come from geographically.

o The Central Postcode Directory for Northern Ireland was used to geographically locate bookers at Settlement level.

o To analyse crossover between genres, each dance event sold through those 17

organisations was classified using the 2nd tier of the ADUK Artform Classifiers (see

Page 8 for more details or visit www.audiencesuk.org).

Households, not people

This analysis is based on households rather than the total number of people attending, as

name and address data collected during the booking process is related solely to the

person making the booking.

There is currently no standard process for gathering information on who a booker is bringing with them at the point of sale, so the most reliable level of data to analyse is the

combined purchase history of everyone within each individual household.

For statistics relating to the population overall rather than household bookers attending dance, see Appendix 1 for results from NISRA’s Continuous Household Survey 2008/09.

A minimum level for dance attendances

This report should be considered as representing a minimum level for dance

attendances between 2008 and 2010, as it is based solely on the data available through these 17 computerised box office systems.

The majority of box office systems in Northern Ireland are connected to Vital Statistics making this one of the most robust analyses of dance audiences in Northern Ireland to

date. However, this report does not represent a comprehensive measurement of the market for dance as some attendances may not have been included for these reasons:

o A household may have booked for dance at an organisation not included in this report o A household may not have had their data captured when they booked

o A household may have attended a dance event, but not made the booking themselves.

6

Section 1: Measuring Dance Attendances

Overview of data available

621 Performances of 273 dance events between 2008 and 2010

32,216 identifiable households including 28,441 verifiable Northern Irish household bookers

= 5% of households in Northern Ireland

= 10% of arts bookers between 2008 and 2010

134,850 tickets sold = approximately 55% of available seats sold

£2,667,895 worth of tickets sold

NB: These figures are not indicative of the market for dance as a whole during 2008 to 2010, just at the venues where data was available for analysis. These figures represent a minimum level of attendance and sales for dance as other dance events will have taken place that were not sold through the 17 organisations included within this analysis.

7

How did sales for dance vary by year?

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

2008 2009 2010

Year

Tic

kets

£0.00

£200,000.00

£400,000.00

£600,000.00

£800,000.00

£1,000,000.00

£1,200,000.00

Rev

en

ue

Tickets Revenue

Performances Tickets Revenue

Average Ticket Yield

2008 197 51,339 £1,021,113.70 £19.89

2009 211 50,034 £1,076,681.23 £21.52

2010 213 33,477 £570,100.02 £17.03

Total 621 134,850 £2,667,894.95 £19.78

Explaining the sales trends: The number of performances remains reasonably

consistent across the 3 individual years, but ticket sales and revenue vary slightly between 2008 and 2009, and to a larger extent between 2009 and 2010.

2008 to 2009: There is a small drop in ticket sales, but a small rise in revenue made. 2009 to 2010: There is a larger drop in both ticket sales and revenue generated.

Some of the drop in 2010 could be explained by a decline in sales, but it will also have been influenced by changes in programming and variations in available capacity:

o A large scale dance performance which had performed in Northern Ireland in both 2008 and 2009 moved to a different venue not included in this analysis in 2010.

o Excluding this event, there was also a further drop in available capacity for attendance compared to 2009 of nearly 8,500 seats.

8

How did sales for dance vary by genre?

Genre Performances Tickets Revenue Average Ticket

Yield

Culturally Specific Dance 89 53,142 £1,395,392 £26.26

Ballet 88 40,555 £853,053 £21.03

Youth Dance 81 13,127 £92,970 £7.08

Workshops/Classes 253 10,545 £58,460 £5.54

Commercial Dance 13 9,728 £195,973 £20.15

Contemporary Dance 96 7,737 £71,503 £9.24

Other 1 16 £545 £34.06

Total 621 134,850 £2,667,895 £19.78

For the purposes of this analysis:

o large scale productions such as ‘Riverdance’ or ‘Lord Of The Dance’ have been classified under “Culturally Specific Dance” rather than “Commercial Dance”.

o Youth Dance includes both performances of youth work and participatory workshops and classes for young people.

Culturally Specific Dance and Ballet made up 69% of the tickets purchased between 2008 and 2010 at these venues, and 84% of the revenue.

On average, customers were spending £19.78 on a ticket for dance, with Culturally Specific Dance (£26.26), Ballet (£21.03) and Commercial Dance (£20.15) having the highest yielding tickets on average.

Under the ADUK Artform Classifiers which have been used to code these events, Culturally Specific Dance includes the specialisms Traditional Dance (Indigenous to region), Asian Dance, African Dance and Other World Dance.

The ADUK artform classifications are a set of common artform categories designed to help analyse attendances at arts events, which have been adopted for use by Arts Council NI and Audiences NI for reporting purposes.

To view the full ADUK classifiers visit www.audiencesuk.org.

Culturally Specific Dance

39% of tickets

Ballet

30% of tickets

Youth Dance

10% Commercial Dance

7%

Workshops/ Classes

8%

Contemp Dance

6%

9

Section 2: Identifying Customer Demographics

What types of households booked for dance events between 2008 and 2010?

Mosaic NI Group Number of Household

Bookers

Percentage of Household

Bookers

Penetration of Northern Irish

Households

A Wealth and Wisdom 4,066 16% 8%

B Better Off Families 4,067 16% 6%

C Ageing Suburbanites 5,253 20% 4%

D Younger Nestmakers 2,377 9% 4%

E Small Town Renters 1,838 7% 2%

F Students and Singles 1,535 6% 4%

G Poor Seniors and Solos 1,076 4% 2%

H Housing Exec Tenants 2,380 9% 2%

I Farming Communities 3,510 13% 3%

Total 26,102 100% 4%

NB: Only households with an accurate post code could be allocated to a Mosaic NI group which is why the overall penetration within Northern Ireland is lower than is cited on Page 6

BOOKED

DANCE

Each house above represents 1% of households attending

dance events in Northern Ireland between 2008 and 2010.

10

What types of households booked for dance events between 2008 and 2010?

There are dance bookers in every Mosaic group present in Northern Ireland, demonstrating that dance attracts a diverse audience demographic. However, while bookers are spread throughout the various demographic groups, more than half of the household bookers for dance came from one of three Mosaic NI Groups in particular; Wealth & Wisdom, Better Off Families and Ageing Suburbanites. These three groups tend to contain older married people, with degrees and household incomes in the higher ranges (£25,000 + or £50,000 +) and in Social Grades A/B and C1. Fuller descriptions of these three groups are available in Appendix 2 on pages 30 - 32.

Comparisons with the Audience Audit:

The annual Audience Audit for Northern Ireland quantifies the minimum level for arts attendances across all artforms. This report shows that the make up of dance audiences is not dissimilar to the make up of arts audiences in general.

The biggest differences were amongst the Wealth & Wisdom and Better Off Families groups which were both slightly more prominent amongst dance attenders than amongst arts attenders generally (up by 3% and 2% respectively).

View the most recent Audience Audit in the Library section of www.audiencesni.com.

11

How are these Mosaic NI groups different?

Wealth & Wisdom (16%): Above average levels of:

• people aged 45-64, 65+ & 85+

• married couples

• in social grades A/B and C1

• people with O-Levels, A-Levels and Degrees

• household incomes of £25k+ and £50k+

Better Off Families (16%): Above average levels of:

• people aged 45-64 & children aged 5- 17

• married couples



• household incomes £25k+ and £50k+

Ageing Suburbanites (20%): Above average levels of:

• people aged 45-64, 65+ and 85+

• married couples



• household incomes of £13.5k+, £25k+ and £50k+

Younger Nestmakers (9%): Above average levels of:

• people aged 25 - 44 and children aged 0 - 4

• co-habiting or married couples

• in social grades A/B, C1 and C2


• household incomes of £13.5k+, £25k+ and £50k+



12

Small Town Renters (7%):

Above average levels of:

• people aged 65+

• divorcees, widowers and cohabiting couples

• in social grades C2, D and E

• people with O-Levels

• household incomes of less than £7.5k, £75.k + and £13.5+

Students and Singles (6%):


• people aged 18-24, 25-44 and 85+

• single people, cohabiting couples and divorcees

• in social grades A/B, C1 and E

• people with A-Levels and Degrees

• household incomes of less than £7.5k and £50k+

Poor Seniors & Solos (4%):


• people aged 45-64, 65+ and 85+

• single people, cohabiting couples, widowers and divorcees

• in social grades D and E

• no levels of qualification

• household incomes of less than £7.5k & £13.5k+

Housing Exec Tenants (9%):


• people aged 18-24 and children aged 0-4 & 5-17

• single people, cohabiting couples and divorcees

• in social grades D and E


• household incomes of less than £7.5k & £13.5k+

Farming Communities (13%):


• people aged 25-44 and children aged 0-4 or 5-17

• married couples

• in social grade C2


• household incomes of £13.5k+, £25K+ and £50k+



13

How do dance bookers compare to the population overall?

Some Mosaic groups are more inclined to book for dance events than others, but each Mosaic group is not necessarily similar in size and this also needs to be taken into account.

� The Ageing Suburbanites group has the most households in Northern Ireland at nearly 121,000.

� The Students & Singles group has the lowest at just over 42,000. Where the percentage of a Mosaic group amongst dance bookers is higher than the percentage of the household population of Northern Ireland in that Mosaic group, there is above average interest amongst that group in the artform. Wealth & Wisdom, Better Off Families and Ageing Suburbanites are all more prominent amongst dance bookers than they are in the general population and therefore have an above average level of interest in dance events.

Wealth & Wisdom Above Average Interest Better Off Families Above Average Interest Ageing Suburbanites Above Average Interest

Students & Singles Average Interest

Younger Nestmakers Below Average Interest Farming Communities Below Average Interest Small Town Renters Below Average Interest Poor Seniors and Solos Below Average Interest Housing Exec Tenants Below Average Interest

14

Section 3: Locating Customers Geographically

Is attendance at dance mainly domestic?

Attendance at dance events is primarily from the domestic market, with at least 88% of household bookers verifiable as being in Northern Ireland. Outside of Northern Ireland, the most important region for attracting bookers is the Republic Of Ireland which provided 4% of the households booking for dance between 2008 and 2010.

Country Of Origin Household

Bookers % Tickets % Revenue %

Northern Ireland 28,441 88% 107,291 80% £2,193,781.49 82%

Republic Of Ireland 1,180 4% 3,904 3% £104,931.02 4%

England 449 1% 1,606 1% £41,055.43 2%

Scotland 124 0.4% 408 0.3% £7,878.29 0.3%

Wales 14 0.04% 30 0.02% £837.25 0.03%

Isle Of Man 2 0.01% 4 0.003% £116.00 0.004%

UK (unknown region) 1,915 6% 7,958 6% £115,606.50 4%

International 91 0.3% 242 0.2% £5,700.11 0.2%

TOTAL 32,216 100% 134,850 100% £2,667,894.95 100%

NB: 10% of tickets purchased and 7% of revenue generated were sold to accounts with no data capture which cannot be geographically located.

15

Is there a Northern Ireland wide interest in attending dance events?

Each of the dots above represents a Northern Irish post code containing at least one booker for dance between 2008 and 2010. There is a Northern Ireland wide interest in dance, despite data from some regional venues not being available for this analysis. Where this data is missing – most notably around areas such as Coleraine, Ballymena and Enniskillen - the density of dots would be expected to be greater in reality.

Map: Copyright © Experian Ltd. 2007, Copyright Navteq 2007,

Based on Crown Copyright Material.

16

Greater Belfast household bookers for dance

Settlements in the Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area

Number of Household Bookers

Percentage Of Household Bookers

Belfast Urban Area 4887 19%

Bangor 1179 4%

Newtownabbey Urban Area 1114 4%

Castlereagh Urban Area 1082 4%

Lisburn Urban Area 1013 4%

Carrickfergus 446 2%

Holywood Urban Area 286 1%

Greenisland Urban Area 154 1%

Carryduff 140 1%

Helens Bay 63 0.2%

Groomsport & Crawfordsburn 46 0.2%

Seahill 25 0.1%

Milltown (Lisburn) 20 0.1%

Total 10,455 40%

NB: Only households with a complete and identifiable postcode could be assigned to a Settlement.

40% of the Northern Irish households booking for dance came from the Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area. In particular, 19% of households booking overall were from Belfast itself, followed by Bangor, Newtownabbey, Castlereagh and Lisburn which contained 4% of dance bookers each. Bookers in the Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area are predominantly in the Wealth &

Wisdom (28% ), Ageing Suburbanites (25% ), Students & Singles (12%

) and Better Off Families (11% ) categories.

Central Post Code Directory, Source: Neighbourhood Statistics (NISRA). Website: www.ninis.nisra.gov.uk. Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO.

17

Derry household bookers for dance

Settlements in the Derry Urban Area



Derry 2,223 8%

Culmore 123 0.5%

Newbuildings 53 0.2%

Strathfoyle 37 0.1%

Total 2,436 9%


9% of Northern Irish households booking for dance came from the Derry Urban Area. In particular, 8% of households booking overall were from Derry itself. The remaining 3 settlements in the Derry Urban Area made up less than 1% of bookers each

Bookers in the Derry Urban Area are predominantly in the Housing Exec Tenants

(30% ) and Ageing Suburbanites (25% ) categories.


18

Rest of NI household bookers for dance

Top 20 Settlements outside of the Belfast/Derry Urban Areas



Craigavon Urban Area and Bleary 491 2%

Newtownards 367 1%

Omagh 335 1%

Strabane 306 1%

Armagh City 262 1%

Ballymena 261 1%

Antrim 245 1%

Coleraine 242 1%

Larne 205 1%

Limavady 201 1%

Ballyclare 192 1%

Crumlin 179 1%

Downpatrick 160 1%

Cookstown 151 1%

Banbridge 149 1%

Newry 132 1%

Comber 122 0.5%

Dungannon 120 0.5%

Newcastle 110 0.4%

Eglinton 109 0.4%

Total 4,339 16%


51% of households booking for dance came from outside the main Belfast Metropolitan Urban and Derry Urban Areas. There were no particular concentrations of bookers in the rest of the country, with the top 20 settlements containing no more than 2% of household bookers each and making up 16% of bookers in total. Bookers outside of Belfast and Derry are predominantly in the Farming Communities

(26% ), Better Off Families (21% ), Ageing Suburbanites (15% ) and Younger

Nestmakers (12% ) categories.

For a full breakdown of settlements across Northern Ireland, see Appendix 3.


19

Sources of International Bookings

The figures below illustrate the range of countries from which cultural tourists have attended dance in Northern Ireland. They should NOT be interpreted as representing an official total for cultural tourists attending dance at these venues.

Why? Cultural tourists are likely to be underrepresented in computerised booking data as international bookers may not have had their data captured as part of their booking (e.g. they purchased their tickets on the door at the event), or their tickets may have been allocated to a UK address (e.g. their hotel, their tour company, the venue’s).

91 households from outside of the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland could be verified as having been to see dance at one of the Northern Irish venues analysed (0.3% of the households booking).

MAINLAND EUROPE (30 total) Germany (9 bookers) Spain (5 bookers) Holland (4 bookers) Italy (4 bookers) France (3 bookers) Switzerland (2 bookers) Austria (1 booker) Norway (1 booker) Sweden (1 booker)

CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARRIBEAN (4 total) Honduras (1 booker) United States Virgin Islands (1 booker) Netherlands Antilles (2 bookers)

OCEANIA (7 total) Australia (7 bookers)

NORTH AMERICA (43 total) United States (33 bookers) Canada (10 bookers)

ASIA (3 total) Japan (2 bookers) Thailand (1 booker)

MIDDLE EAST (4 total) Israel (2 bookers) Saudi Arabia (1 booker) United Arab Emirates (1 booker)

20

Section 4: Exploring Customer Behaviour

Frequency of attendance at dance events

The majority of bookers for dance events have only booked once at any dance event at one of these venues during the last three years.

82% of households made 1 visit to a dance event between 2008 and 2010

12% of households made 2 visits to a dance event between 2008 and 2010



+

2% of households made 5 or more visits to a dance event between 2008 and 2010

21

Frequency of attendance at dance events

Single Time Attender: A booker that has only attended once within a time period.

Irregular Attender: A booker that has attended 2 or 3 times within a time period.

Regular Attender: A booker that has attended 4 or more times within a time period.

2008 2009 2010

1 visit per year 87% 90% 91%

2 visits per year 9% 7% 7%



5 or more visits per year 1% 1% 1%

Total 100% 100% 100%

o Overall across the three years analysed, and in each of the individual years studied,

the majority of dance bookers were Single Time Attenders. The level of Single Time Attendance overall is lower than the level of Single Time Attendance in any single year however, so a segment of bookers have never been more than once in a year, but at least they have re-attended in a subsequent year.

o 15% of households were Irregular Attenders (attending 2 to 3 times) across all three

years, although the level of Irregular Attenders in individual years was lower at 11%/8%/8% respectively.

o Only 3% of households were Regular Attenders (attending 4 or more times) across

all three years, which was slightly above the level of Regular Attenders in individual years (2%/2%/1% respectively).

The existing dance audience of the last three years would therefore fall into one of four segments, based on how often they attend each year and to what extent they have re-attended.

1 Single Time Attenders

Only attended dance once in three years.

2 Single Time Re-attenders

Attended dance more than once in the last three years, but never more than once a year.

3 Irregular/Regular

Attenders in a single year

Attended dance more than once in a single year, but not attended in subsequent years.

4 Irregular/Regular

Attenders in multiple years

Attended dance more than once per year in multiple years.

22

588 Households (2%)

Re-attendance at dance events year on year

o 12% of household bookers booked for dance events in at least 2 of the last 3 years. o 77% of households booking for dance in 2010 hadn’t booked for dance in either 2008

or 2009.

2008 2009 2010

10,562 Households (33%)

X X

X


X

X

X


X

X

X

X

NB: Greyed out boxes containing “X” indicate a year in which the household did not attend.


923 Households (3%)

686 Households (2%)

23

Venue loyalty amongst dance bookers

If Single Time Attenders (those who have only attended dance once during the last three years) are excluded from this section of the analysis then; o 4,458 households (76% of those attending dance events more than once during the 3

year period analysed) re-attended at the same venue each time, o 1,148 households (24% of those attending dance events more than once during the 3

year period analysed) attended at least two different venues during that time. Dance bookers that have been attracted back to re-attend that artform are therefore more likely to re-attend at the same venue they attended previously than try a different venue. 24% did crossover between different venues however, although this was mainly only at 2 venues at most (22%). A small percentage of multiple attenders did attend 3 different venues (2%) across the three year time period, while less than 0.3% attended 4 or more different venues.

‘Loyalty’ and Single Time Attenders The majority of households booking for dance between 2008 and 2010 only attended once and therefore only attended one venue by default. A single attendance does not provide enough information about a customer’s behaviour to make any judgements about the presence or lack of loyalty towards particular venues, so these Single Time Attenders have been excluded from this particular section of the analysis.

76% of household bookers made multiple visits to dance events between 2008 and 2010, but only ever re-attended for dance

at the same venue.

24% made

multiple visits to two or more

different

venues.

24

Household crossover between genres of dance

Ballet

Ballet has mainly low level crossover with the other dance genres. At most, 5% of Ballet bookers between 2008 and 2010 also booked for Culturally Specific Dance.

Commercial Dance

Commercial Dance has mainly low level crossover with the other dance genres. At most, 5% of Commercial Dance bookers between 2008 and 2010 also booked for Ballet.

Dance

Workshops 1%

Culturally Specific Dance 4%

Contemp Dance 1%

Ballet 5%

Commercial Dance Bookers

Youth Dance 1%

Dance

Workshops 1%


Contemp Dance 3%

Commercial Dance 2%

Ballet Bookers

25

Contemporary Dance

Contemporary Dance has mainly low level crossover with the other dance genres, except for Ballet. At most, 20% of Contemporary Dance bookers between 2008 and 2010 also booked for Ballet.

Culturally Specific Dance

Culturally Specific Dance has mainly low level crossover with the other dance genres. At most, 7% of Culturally Specific Dance bookers between 2008 and 2010 also booked for Ballet.

Youth Dance 1%

Contemp Dance 1%

Commercial

Dance 2%

Ballet 7%

Culturally Specific Dance Bookers

Youth Dance 1%

Dance

Workshops 3%


Commercial

Dance 2%

Ballet 20%

Contemp Dance Bookers

26

Dance Workshops

Dance Workshops have mainly low level crossover with the other dance genres, except for Ballet. At most, 11% of Dance Workshop bookers between 2008 and 2010 also booked for Ballet.

Youth Dance

Youth Dance has mainly low level crossover with the other dance genres. At most, 9% of Youth Dance bookers between 2008 and 2010 also booked for Ballet.

Dance

Workshops 4%


Contemp Dance 2%

Commercial

Dance 2%

Ballet 9%

Youth Dance Bookers

Youth Dance 4%


Contemp Dance 4%

Commercial

Dance 2%

Ballet 11%

Dance Workshops Booker

27

Conclusions

As the first report of its kind into the audience for dance in Northern Ireland, this analysis challenges stereotypical preconceptions about niche audiences for the artform.

� Overall, 5% of households in Northern Ireland have booked for a dance event between 2008 and 2010

� This equates to 10% of arts bookers during that time period booking for a dance event � Dance events are attracting the same types of people as the arts generally, and in

very similar proportions to the arts overall (compared to the Audience Audit) � Dance is attracting attendances from a diverse range of Mosaic NI groups within

Northern Ireland, although some groups (Wealth & Wisdom, Ageing Suburbanites and Better Off Families) are more prominent than others

� Dance events are attracting an audience from all across Northern Ireland, and are not just confined to the two main urban areas (which contain a combined 49% of dance bookers)

The issues which dance organisations face in deepening engagement with existing dance bookers are also primarily the same issues which are faced by the arts overall;

� High levels of Single Time Attendance (82% of households made only 1 visit to a dance event in 3 years)

� A predominantly venue loyal customer base (76% of household bookers making multiple visits to dance events re-attended for dance at the same venue)

� Mostly low levels of crossover between different genres (only Contemporary Dance and Workshops/Classes shared more than 10% of their bookers with any other genre, in this case Ballet)

However, dance does differ from the arts more generally in the area of re-attendance.

� 77% of households booking for dance in 2010 hadn’t booked for dance during the previous two years

� The Audience Tracker 2009 shows that over an earlier 3 year time period of 2007 to 2009, 46% of bookers in the final year had not booked for the arts in either of the previous years

� However, this difference is not surprising, as the findings of the Audience Tracker show that where households do re-attend they are more likely to remain loyal to the same venue, but will book for a different artform

An audience of dance bookers does therefore exist across Northern Ireland, but the level of engagement with dance as an artform is currently low. With 45% of seats unsold for dance events between 2008 and 2010, this report highlights the potential for working collectively to grow the audience for dance and increase engagement amongst existing bookers.

Finding a benchmark for comparison

As this is the first report to go into this much detail relating to sales levels, population penetration, customer demographics and behavioural trends for a particular artform in Northern Ireland, there is no natural benchmark currently to compare this information to.

Audiences NI’s existing sectoral reports (the Audience Audit and Audience Tracker) can provide some general context, but the statistics in these reports are primarily for single calendar years rather than the three year period covered by this report, making direct comparisons more difficult.

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Glossary

Crossover: Where someone from the same household has made a booking for 2 or more different arts organisations or genres. Frequency of attendance: The number of visits made to an arts event within a given time period. Genre: A descriptive classification of an event type, which is more detailed than an artform but more generic than a specialism in its description.

Household: A household comprises one person living alone, or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address within common housekeeping – that is, sharing either a living room or sitting room or at least one meal a day. (NI Census) Household Booker: A household that made at least 1 booking for an arts event within a given timeframe. Mosaic NI: Mosaic NI is a Northern Ireland Specific consumer classification system, which segments consumers into 9 groups based on a mixture of census information and lifestyle surveys. Any data which includes a post code can be classified using the profiling software, providing demographic information specific for each group, and allowing records to be geographically mapped. Organisation Loyal: A household which has only booked for an arts event at 1 arts organisation within a given timeframe.

Penetration: A comparison of one amount against a total figure to give a percentage. In the case of audience specific data, the extent to which a facility is attracting actual users or attenders from within its relevant identified markets. (An A-Z of Commonly Used Terms and Protocols relating to Box Office and Audience Data, Stephen Cashman/Audience Data UK, 2005) Performance: An individual show within a run of performances. Post Code: A code used to identify a postal address, made up of a combination of letters and numerals. All Northern Ireland Post Codes begin with BT, followed by a one or two digit number, a space, a one digit number and two letters. These typically relate to around 15 residential addresses or one large user, such as a business address. (www.royalmail.co.uk) Revenue: The amount (in Pounds £) paid per single ticket to see a performance. Single Time Attender: A household which only made 1 visit to an arts event within a given time period. Ticket: A ticket is a single seat sold for a single event. Visit: A visit is where a booker attends a venue to see a single performance of a show along with any other person they have booked tickets for. Regardless of the size of the party, this constitutes 1 visit. However, if the same customer attends an arts event a second time in 2009, even if it is the same show at the same venue on a different date, this constitutes a separate visit.

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Appendix 1: Continuous Household Survey

The Continuous Household Survey (CHS) is one of the largest continuous surveys carried out in Northern Ireland. The survey is designed, conducted and analysed by the Central Survey Unit of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). It is based on a sample of the general population resident in private households and has been running since 1983. The Survey is designed to provide a regular source of information on a wide range of social and economic issues relevant to Northern Ireland. The CHS is an important source of information in Northern Ireland and is used by many Government departments and Agencies.

The 2008/09 survey indicates the following levels of engagement (either through participation or attendance at events) with dance during that year.

5% of the population had participated in either performing or learning a style of dance that was not Ballet within the last 12 months

3% of the population had attended an Irish dance performance within the last 12 months

2% of the population attended a dance performance which was not Irish dance or Ballet within the last 12 months.

1% of the population attended a Ballet performance within the last 12 months

<

0.3% of the population had participated in either performing or learning Ballet within the last 12 months

What are the differences between using survey based data and analysing box office data? The main advantage of using the CHS figures is that the results are applied to the whole population of a country, regardless of whether they booked the tickets for the event. It therefore provides us with information about the behaviour of those customers we aren’t able to capture information about during the booking process. However, the CHS does not analyse different genres in depth as it only specifies Ballet and Irish dance specifically within the survey. In addition, survey based research like the CHS can be affected by both recall error (where the respondent provides incorrect information because they have incorrectly remembered their past behaviour) or sampling error (where the responses of those asked are not fully representative of the population as a whole).

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Appendix 2: Mosaic NI Pen Portraits

Wealth & Wisdom consists mostly of

households in higher income groups, who live in the most desirable parts of town, and who work in the most prestigious jobs. Typically married couples with older or grown up children, these are people who are now enjoying the fruits of their previous hard work. Often graduates with strong professional or technical skills, they have now risen up their chosen careers, to the point where they have become senior managers or high ranking professionals. Many others have chosen to set up and run their own businesses.

In addition to their high incomes, many people have built up significant equity, whether in their houses, their pension funds, in stocks and shares or in the businesses which they own. Most of their houses are semi-detached or detached, and are situated on spacious plots in low density suburbs. Although house prices may not be as high as Great Britain, most of these properties will have been purchased for much less than they are now worth. Many mortgages are now approaching maturity, and with children through university, and themselves in well paid careers, Wealth & Wisdom are building up significant savings in shares and other investments. Typically higher tax payers, they take considerable interest in managing their financial affairs so as to maximise returns and minimise tax liabilities.

Wealth & Wisdom is found in neighbourhoods built before and just after The Second World War, in what were, in their day, the better suburban locations accessible to Belfast. They were laid out at lower densities than contemporary high status developments. As years have passed the population has aged, and many of the residents have now retired. In contrast to Great Britain, these older people have preferred to stay in familiar locations, rather than retire to the seaside, the country or to the Mediterranean. Consequently, there are a very large number of pensioners, many of them very elderly, either living in their own homes or in the private nursing homes converted from the larger houses. It is likely that Wealth & Wisdom has the longest life expectancy.

Not only are these areas favoured by the very comfortably off, they are also ones which experience very little deprivation. Wealth & Wisdom is particularly unlikely to experience life’s most serious sources of disadvantage, whether ill health, disability, single parenthood, unemployment or the lack of a car. In general these areas are also free of the more serious manifestations of sectarian conflict. Indeed Wealth & Wisdom is the most likely to attract migrants from elsewhere in the UK, and is also the most likely to have friends and relations working elsewhere in the UK.

Despite their comfortable lifestyles, Wealth & Wisdom does have a strong sense of responsibility, both to the local community and to social, political and professional networks. Compared with their counterparts in Great Britain, they are driven more by moral standards and less by material aspirations. For most, quality, range and service are more important than price, and significantly more important than fashion. For many, success is expressed with inward discretion rather than flaunted conspicuously, through the purchase of expensive cars or dining at expensive restaurants. Golf, sailing and attending plays and concerts are popular leisure activities.

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Better Off Families consists mostly of

comfortable families whose breadwinners commute some distance to well paid, white collar jobs in service industries. They are highly focussed on home and family, with a strong work ethic and a high level of material ambition.

This Group is likely to live in modern housing, designed specifically for the needs of families with children, and often located at some distance from shops, community centres and public transport. Homes are spacious with adequate to generous gardens, and there is better access to good quality schools and public services than would be found in the inner city. These neighbourhoods attract second rather than first time buyers, but once established, people tend to stay in their homes for a long time, often keeping the company of their grown up children.

Such neighbourhoods occur in a variety of forms. Some consist of late inter war and early post war semi-detached houses in privates estates in the Belfast suburbs, just below the top tier of status; others occur in rural villages which have become major dormitory suburbs for Northern Ireland’s larger centres; such neighbourhoods are also found on the very outskirts of Belfast; others occur as infill developments in Belfast’s more prosperous suburbs, where developers have created modern estates of large detached or semi-detached houses, often in a mock Tudor style.

Though not quite top tier, neighbourhoods of Better Off Families are exclusive in the sense that they accommodate very few people with any sort of material hardship. These are not areas where you would find households with County Court Judgments, or with unemployed family heads, or workers without worthwhile qualifications. Everyone is doing well. As a result, and because of the relatively narrow range of incomes, there is considerable peer pressure to maintain the standards which make such areas attractive. Gardens are expected to flower, lawns to be manicured, cars to be clean, and children to be well behaved and do well at school. People tend to know their neighbours by sight and name, although few are likely to feel that they can rely on them for more than small favours.

Better Off Families is likely to focus on career enhancement and consumption in ways which are socially visible. These are not, by and large, people who are motivated by social responsibility. They are well informed about brands, prices and new technologies, and are ‘savvy’ in so far as they are well able to work out the best deal on offer. Though well informed and ready to adopt new products or channels, they are not necessarily cosmopolitan in attitude, preferring traditional styles to the exotic or avant garde. Grocery shopping is typically undertaken once a week at large supermarkets.

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Ageing Suburbanites consists of middle

of the road families, paying off mortgages on semi-detached homes with gardens, in mid market suburban settings. Mostly living in neighbourhoods which were developed during the 1950s and 1960s, these people live a routine existence, commuting to white collar office jobs which yield reasonably comfortable but seldom exceptional incomes and prospects.

This Group very much reflects ‘middle’ Northern Ireland, a lifestyle that lies above the working class cultures caught up in the sectarian divide, but a number of rungs below the higher income tax payers, living in the smarter areas of detached houses. These suburbs are located beyond the dangers of the inner city but also some distance from the recreational opportunities of open countryside.

Unlike other Groups, Ageing Suburbanites represents a cross section of Northern Ireland’s population in terms of age and income. However, due to the age of the housing, the profile of the population is now significantly older than the Northern Ireland average. Most are married couples, and many are now approaching or have just entered retirement. Many families are empty nesters, or are enjoying the benefits of children still living at home and to the household income. However, as people get older, many leave the area in favour of smaller and more convenient homes. The homes they leave behind are taken over by younger families, and many will struggle to keep up mortgage payments while bringing up younger children.

Ageing Suburbanites tends to have only moderate levels of education and relies on common sense rather than intellectual skills or technical qualifications at work. They are careful with money, set their sights on simple pleasures, and take satisfaction from the roles they play within the local community. Their orientation is practical and parochial in the best sense of the word, recognising the value of supporting friends and neighbours in an uncertain world. Although mostly living in distinctly Catholic or Protestant neighbourhoods, they tend to be a force for political moderation.

As consumers, their lack of sophistication tends to make them uncritical advocates of mainstream brands, preferring range and prices rather than quality or service. However due to their long association with their local neighbourhood, many residents enjoy personal contacts with local shopkeepers and suppliers. Financial behaviour is focused on the need to provide adequately for retirement.

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Appendix 3: Settlement Breakdown

Settlement Household

Bookers % of Household

Bookers Cumulative Percentage

Belfast Urban Area 4,887 19% 19%

Derry 2,223 8% 27%

Bangor 1,179 4% 31%

Newtownabbey Urban Area 1,114 4% 36%

Castlereagh Urban Area 1,082 4% 40%

Lisburn Urban Area 1,013 4% 44%

Band H* (Lisburn LGD) 607 2% 46%

Craigavon Urban Area and Bleary 491 2% 48%

Band H* (Armagh LGD) 479 2% 50%

Band H* (Down LGD) 461 2% 51%

Carrickfergus 446 2% 53%

Band H* (Antrim LGD) 444 2% 55%

Band H* (Omagh LGD) 371 1% 56%

Newtownards 367 1% 58%

Band H* (Ards LGD) 342 1% 59%

Band H* (Strabane LGD) 337 1% 60%

Omagh 335 1% 61%

Band H* (Derry LGD) 318 1% 63%

Band H* (Magherafelt LGD) 307 1% 64%

Strabane 306 1% 65%

Holywood Urban Area 286 1% 66%

Band H* (Dungannon LGD) 283 1% 67%

Band H* (Cookstown LGD) 275 1% 68%

Armagh City 262 1% 69%

Ballymena 261 1% 70%

Band H* (Craigavon LGD) 259 1% 71%

Band H* (Newry And Mourne LGD) 258 1% 72%

Band H* (Banbridge LGD) 246 1% 73%

Antrim 245 1% 74%

Coleraine 242 1% 75%

Band H* (Limavady LGD) 234 1% 76%

Band H* (Ballymena LGD) 223 1% 77%

Larne 205 1% 77%

Band H* (Newtownabbey LGD) 201 1% 78%

Limavady 201 1% 79%

Band H* (Coleraine LGD) 199 1% 80%

Band H* (Larne LGD) 194 1% 80%

Ballyclare 192 1% 81%

Crumlin 179 1% 82%

Band H* (Fermanagh LGD) 162 1% 83%

Downpatrick 160 1% 83%

Band H* (Ballymoney LGD) 157 1% 84%

Greenisland Urban Area 154 1% 84%

Cookstown 151 1% 85%

Banbridge 149 1% 85%

Carryduff 140 1% 86%

* BAND H denotes open countryside, small villages and hamlets which are too small to name - the Local Government District name simply denotes which LGD these households fall under.

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Settlement continued J Household



Newry 132 1% 86.5%

Band H* (Castlereagh LGD) 124 0.5% 87.0%

Culmore 123 0.5% 87.4%

Comber 122 0.5% 87.9%

Dungannon 120 0.5% 88.3%

Newcastle 110 0.4% 88.8%

Eglinton 109 0.4% 89.2%

Hillsborough 104 0.4% 89.6%

Magherafelt 104 0.4% 90.0%

Dromore (Banbridge) 91 0.3% 90.3%

Whitehead 90 0.3% 90.6%

Donaghadee 87 0.3% 91.0%

Moira 87 0.3% 91.3%

Portstewart 87 0.3% 91.6%

Ballymoney 83 0.3% 92.0%

Band H* (Moyle LGD) 72 0.3% 92.2%

Band H* (North Down LGD) 69 0.3% 92.5%

Randalstown 67 0.3% 92.7%

Portrush 65 0.2% 93.0%

Helens Bay 63 0.2% 93.2%

Dungiven 59 0.2% 93.5%

Glenavy 58 0.2% 93.7%

Enniskillen 57 0.2% 93.9%

Saintfield 56 0.2% 94.1%

Newbuildings 53 0.2% 94.3%

Ballycastle 46 0.2% 94.5%

Groomsport & Crawfordsburn 46 0.2% 94.7%

Richhill 46 0.2% 94.8%

Ballynahinch 44 0.2% 95.0%

Greysteel 44 0.2% 95.2%

Doagh 43 0.2% 95.3%

Waringstown 41 0.2% 95.5%

Ballygowan 39 0.1% 95.6%

Band H* (Carrickfergus LGD) 39 0.1% 95.8%

Claudy 39 0.1% 95.9%

Strathfoyle 37 0.1% 96.1%

Templepatrick 37 0.1% 96.2%

Maghera 35 0.1% 96.3%

Warrenpoint 34 0.1% 96.5%

Sion Mills 33 0.1% 96.6%

Ahoghill 30 0.1% 96.7%

Castlederg 29 0.1% 96.8%

Coalisland 29 0.1% 96.9%

Tandragee 29 0.1% 97.0%

Castlewellan 28 0.1% 97.2%

Castlerock 27 0.1% 97.3%

Ballykelly 26 0.1% 97.4%

Keady 26 0.1% 97.5%

Kilkeel 26 0.1% 97.5%

Annahilt 25 0.1% 97.6%


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Settlement continued J Household



Seahill 25 0.1% 97.7%

Dollingstown 24 0.1% 97.8%

Cogry (Kilbride) 23 0.1% 97.9%

Maghaberry 23 0.1% 98.0%

Broughshane 21 0.1% 98.1%

Moy 21 0.1% 98.2%

Crossgar 20 0.1% 98.2%

Millisle 20 0.1% 98.3%

Milltown (Lisburn) 20 0.1% 98.4%

Ardglass 19 0.1% 98.5%

Killyleagh 19 0.1% 98.5%

Cullybackey 18 0.1% 98.6%

Magheralin 17 0.1% 98.7%

Dunloy 16 0.1% 98.7%

Portaferry 16 0.1% 98.8%

(Location not revealed) 16 0.1% 98.9%

Draperstown 15 0.1% 98.9%

Rostrevor 15 0.1% 99.0%

Band H* (Belfast LGD) 14 0.1% 99.0%

Ballywalter 13 0.05% 99.07%

Cushendall 13 0.05% 99.12%

Gilford 13 0.05% 99.17%

Kilrea 13 0.05% 99.22%

Castledawson 12 0.05% 99.26%

Markethill 12 0.05% 99.31%

Moneymore 12 0.05% 99.35%

Annalong 11 0.04% 99.40%

Cloughmills 11 0.04% 99.44%

Bushmills 10 0.04% 99.48%

Carnlough 10 0.04% 99.51%

Irvinestown 10 0.04% 99.55%

Portavogie 10 0.04% 99.59%

Portglenone 10 0.04% 99.63%

Garvagh 9 0.03% 99.66%

Kircubbin 9 0.03% 99.70%

Greyabbey 8 0.03% 99.73%

Kells (Connor) 8 0.03% 99.76%

Lisnaskea 8 0.03% 99.79%

Ballinamallard 7 0.03% 99.81%

Drumaness 7 0.03% 99.84%

Dundrum 7 0.03% 99.87%

Newtownstewart 7 0.03% 99.89%

Dromore (Omagh) 6 0.02% 99.92%

Lisbellaw 6 0.02% 99.94%

Rathfriland 5 0.02% 99.96%

Fintona 4 0.02% 99.97%

Bellaghy 3 0.01% 99.98%

Crossmaglen 2 0.01% 99.99%

Fivemiletown 2 0.01% 100%

Grand Total 26,317 100%


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About Audiences NI

Audiences NI was established by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in August 2004 to help grow and diversify audiences for the arts and cultural sector in Northern Ireland. The agency is one of 12 audience development agencies operating throughout the UK, providing vital audience development support to organisations through the provision of market intelligence, training, projects, research and forums.

Since its inception, Audiences NI has been carrying out research on audiences for the arts in Northern Ireland, including demographic and geographic profiling using Mosaic NI, trend analyses on box office data and customer focused online surveys for its members.

For more information on Mosaic NI and interpreting the results of this analysis, please email [email protected] or phone 028 90436480.

Please note that the contents of this document may not be cited, reproduced or distributed without express written permission from ether Audiences NI or Dance Resource Base.

Report compiled by Chris Palmer, Research Officer, Audiences NI.

Cover image: Maiden Voyage Dance, Cinderella Syndrome, Photo by Joe Fox

Page 4 image: Photo courtesy of Eileen McClory

Audiences NI

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Belfast

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t: +44 (0) 28 9043 6480

f: +44 (0) 28 9023 1429

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w: www.audiencesni.com

Knowing Your Audience For Dance

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