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Season 2 Episode 7: Learning from Culture in Crisis with Ben Walmsley

What can we learn from the culture sector crisis during the pandemic?

In this episode I speak with Ben Walmsley, one of the world’s preeminent thinkers on the cultural sector to discuss the importance of learning from culture in crisis.

What can we learn from the culture sector crisis during the pandemic? 

In the latest episode of Theory of Creativity we speak with, Ben Walmsley, one of the world’s preeminent thinkers on the cultural sector to discuss the importance of learning from culture in crisis. 

Ben is the Director of the Centre for Cultural Value in the UK, as well as holding the roles of Professor of Cultural Engagement and Director of Research and Innovation in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries at the University of Leeds. 

Ben’s research encompasses arts management, arts marketing, audience studies, and cultural policy with a focus on audience engagement and enrichment, change management in the arts, and cultural value and leadership.

Learning from Culture in Crisis with Ben Walmsley

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In this episode, Ben and I discuss his hugely ambitious research project into the impacts of Covid-19 on the cultural sector. With an impressive national research team, Ben and his colleagues undertook a vast amount of research and gathered case studies to determine how the pandemic impacted the workforce, audiences and organisations within the arts sector.

We discuss some of the key findings from the Culture in Crisis report, specifically how the pandemic shone a light on existing negative trends within the arts and cultural industries. There is still a great need for more inclusion, representation, and equality. Ben talks about why digital is not the answer to audience development and how since the pandemic, cultural organisations are more active in stimulating everyday creativity.

As we discuss the pandemic’s impact on cultural organisations, Ben shares why networks are the key to resilience within the arts sector. We talk about what it means to take a regenerative approach and how we must learn to work with our biological rhythms and produce less, not more. We discuss the need for better HR in the culture sector, to promote healthy and balanced workplaces, encouraging creativity and time for intrinsic evaluation.

This was such an inspiring and thought provoking conversation. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 


Key points

[1:00]: Introducing Ben Walmsley and the Centre for Cultural Value

[2:25]: Taking a pragmatic approach to cultural value, the Centre’s first year of research and investigation helped develop their goal: to develop a shared understanding of the differences that arts and culture, heritage and screen make to people's lives and to society. 

[4:30]: Ben reflects on the decision to undertake research into the impact of covid 19 on the cultural sector. 

[6:20]: How the Centre of Cultural Value acts as a broker between cultural sector academics and policymakers. Because of this, they were able to form a national research team and deliver a 15 month project looking at different sub sectors. 

[8:00]: Gathering the various elements of research and data and leading this project was the most challenging time of Ben’s career and also the most rewarding. 

[9:00]: Ben talks about why it’s important to research the crisis and how their findings shone a light on things that were already happening such as inequality, lack of representation and impact on marginalised groups. 

[10:50]: The screen industries boomed very quickly. Some creative freelancers fell between the cracks and others were busier than ever. The complexity of the differences between different subsectors and demographics was important to note.

[12:00]: Ben talks about the privilege of capturing compelling stories of people who were impacted by the crisis.

[13:20]: “There are real risks that inadequate interventions could exacerbate the existing exclusions and further accelerate the negative trends, particularly in the context of consumption and production equality.” (excerpt from the culture in crisis report)

[14:15]: There is a risk that we don’t do anything and go back to how it was before. They hoped they would see a shift in digital audiences but it didn’t transpire. There was more engagement from the existing audience.  

[16:50]: Ben’s recommendation is to not invest in digital unstrategically but to be very clear on the difference between digital production, distribution, marketing and engagement. 

[18:15]: The demographic of who engages with culture in Britain hasn’t shifted since the founding of the Arts Council in 1947. Maintaining engagement is challenging and there is a lot of ambiguity.

[20:00]: There has been a shift toward the role of cultural organisations in stimulating everyday creativity rather than pushing products that people don’t want. There is more awareness of the vital need for representation and equality, and the implications for programming. 

[21:30]: One of the most powerful factors in determining someone’s arts participation is education. The government in the UK is taking a lot of creative arts out of the curriculum in schools, which is going in the absolute wrong direction. 

[25:15]: Although broadly speaking, the audience isn’t changing, audience development is happening on an individual organisational level. 

[27:00]: Due to the pandemic, a lot of organisations pivoted to engagement with local communities. There has been a rethinking of resilience and how it’s far more complex than your box office income. 

[29:00]: The better networked individuals and organisations rode out the pandemic with less stress due to the strong peer support.

[31:00]: A key recommendation is thinking about how policymakers can support networks to help sustain them.  

[32:00]: The pandemic has done a favour in opening doors with policy makers that would have been difficult to open.

[35:00]: Ben talks about what a regenerative approach is and how we can implement it. We need to work with biological rhythms and produce less, not more. The difficulty is that a lot of sectors want to go back to how it was before, which is unsustainable. 

[38:25]: If we produced less, funders would need to expect less product but it would allow time for audience development, deepened audience interaction and rest. We need to invest in HR, which is an area that is letting the sector down. 

[40:20]: A lot of arts and cultural workers feel an intrinsic work ethic and passion, which leads to overworking, exploitation and burnout. 

[41:50]: Ben talks about the evaluation process at the Cultural Value Centre and how it has been a very engaging learning process that has produced qualitative feedback. 

[46:20]: What’s happening next for the Centre for Cultural Value Centre. In the next 5 years, the focus will be on international collaboration. 

[50:45]: Where to find the Centre for Cultural Value

[51:30]: One action that will help create a thriving cultural sector post pandemic is to BE the change. Ben talks about the importance of living and breathing regenerative practice. 

[52:55]: Top takeaways from my conversation with Ben Walmsley

  • #1: Academic research has an important role to play in studying culture in crisis as it can help us understand what’s really happening and why, and how we can address it. 

  • #2: The pandemic is accelerating some negative trends in the arts and cultural industries and in general, marginalised people have been hit the worst. 

  • #3: Digital hasn’t been the answer to diversifying audiences. 

  • #4: If we’re serious about audience development, we need to be really clear about what we mean. Looking at the quality of our education system might be more powerful than some of the other levers that we tend to use.

  • #5: If we want to see change, we need to BE the change.

Links

Resources mentioned: 

www.culturalvalue.org.uk

Culture in Crisis Report

Supported by Creative Victoria, Theory of Creativity Season 2 is focussed on 'Real Change and Renewal'. Tune in on the first Tuesday of the month as Patternmakers Managing Director Tandi Palmer Williams speaks with experts in audience trends, strategic planning, organisational change and resilience. 

CONNECT:

Connect with Tandi Palmer Williams:

Visit the website of research agency Patternmakers: https://www.thepatternmakers.com.au/

To hear more Theory of Creativity episodes:

https://www.thepatternmakers.com.au/theoryofcreativity

Stay in the loop with all the latest research, tools and resources for growing cultural organisations. Subscribe for the monthly Culture Insight & Innovation Updates: http://eepurl.com/gnwrUf

 

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Season 2 Episode 6: Marketing the Arts in Uncertain Times

The pandemic has accelerated a range of marketing and social trends - and created plenty of new challenges, like last-minute decision making.

In the latest episode of Theory of Creativity, we speak with Amy Maiden, managing partner of Anthem, to discuss Marketing the Arts in Uncertain Times.

The pandemic has accelerated a range of marketing and social trends - and created plenty of new challenges, like last-minute decision making.

In the latest episode of Theory of Creativity we speak with, Amy Maiden, managing partner of Anthem, to discuss Marketing the Arts in Uncertain Times.

We explore the rise in digital marketing, brand marketing vs selling, and the importance of focusing on the whole experience for the audience.
 
Amy talks in detail about utilising social media to effectively market productions and events by telling a story. Content is king and sometimes social media isn’t the best place for direct sells. 

Amy is embracing this time to test, learn and try new things and she has plenty of wisdom to share. We hope you enjoy it!

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In this episode, we are discussing marketing the Arts in uncertain times. Amy talks about the significant shifts that have occurred in sales patterns, how this has affected the planning and preparation of events, and how she teaches her own team to remain responsive and not to panic. 

We explore the current trends in marketing, the rise in digital marketing and the importance of focusing on the whole experience and feel for the audience. People will remember how they were made to feel and it’s vital for the brand that they’re driven to return in the future or purchase subscriptions.

Amy talks in detail about utilising social media to effectively market productions and events by telling a story. Content is king and the audience will shy away if they’re hit with a direct sell. 

In order to emerge out of these unpredictable and difficult pandemic times with a strong Arts sector, Amy shares how everyone must embrace each opportunity to test, learn and try new things.


Key points

[1:12]: Amy and I met through The Australia’s Council Art Leaders Program. Amy was one of the first people I invited to appear on the podcast in Season 1 but the episode was never published due to a technical issue! 

[2:47]: Marketing is a critical part of the Arts industry but often has a dirty name. 

[3:16]: Amy talks about how her passion is centred around the audience. Her company, Anthem, are the biggest arts and live entertainment culture advertising specialists in Australia. They work with a very wide variety of productions and Arts and culture events. 

[6:56]: Amy discusses the big shift in sales patterns. How and when people are buying tickets has completely changed. 

[9:29]: Nobody can think about buying a ticket if they’re going to a supermarket and the shelves are empty and they can’t get the test they need to operate in the community. 

[11:43]: Amy has frequent conversations with her team about planning on being responsive and not being panicked. 

[13:31]: It’s important to be really clear on boundaries. The Arts are a passion-led industry but are often ripe for burn-out because people will continue working long hours for little pay. 

[15:16]: Amy talks about current trends in marketing. There is a place for traditional media but it is vital to be in the digital space. There’s been a huge rise in audio advertising (such as podcasts). 

[18:09]: Specificity allows for personalisation and feels less like an ad. 

[20:40]: You have to look after your current audiences, people remember how you made them feel. You’ll have a higher return of investment if you focus on your core audience and the next adjacent audience. 

[23:21]: Brand is very important because people can have trust in the brand and not necessarily the production. 

[25:00]: Multi message marketing is utilised when you’re giving your audience several reasons as to why they should buy a ticket. 

[26:14]: Amy measures success with her current clients via the sales KPIs. 

[27:39]: People underestimate the power of content and socials. Storytelling is at the heart of your marketing campaign. 

[30:11]: Tailor your content to your audience. Definitely check out Six the Musical. The social media following on this show globally is next level, have a look at their channels!

[33:15]: Your content shouldn’t all be about sales. 

[34:52]: To build a strong sector post-pandemic we must embrace the opportunity to test, learn and try new things. 

[36:34]: Links to Amy and resources she recommends. 

[37:48]: My top takeaways: #1 Sales trends are likely to fluctuate dramatically this year. #2 Digital marketing makes up 90% of many marketing budgets. #3 Selling tickets and marketing a brand are two different things. #4 Content is king and to succeed on socials we should be telling stories rather than selling. #5 Audiences are looking to be uplifted. #6 The opportunity now is to throw out what is not working and try new things. 

[39:10]: Most clicked resource in The Culture Insight Innovation Update was a report by Creative Partnerships Australia: Beyond Sponsorship (see link below).


Links

Resources mentioned: 

Supported by Creative Victoria, Theory of Creativity Season 2 is focussed on 'Real Change and Renewal'. Tune in on the first Tuesday of the month as Patternmakers Managing Director Tandi Palmer Williams speaks with experts in audience trends, strategic planning, organisational change and resilience. 

CONNECT:

Connect with Tandi Palmer Williams:

Visit the website of research agency Patternmakers: https://www.thepatternmakers.com.au/


Stay in the loop with all the latest research, tools and resources for growing cultural organisations. Subscribe for the monthly Culture Insight & Innovation Updates: http://eepurl.com/gnwrUf

 

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Season 2 Episode 5: Cultivating Wellbeing in the Arts with Tracy Margieson

To talk about fostering mental wellbeing in the arts sector, I had a great discussion with Tracy Margieson. Tracy is from the Arts Wellbeing Collective at the Art Centre Melbourne. The Arts Wellbeing Collective is a mental health and wellbeing program specifically tailored for the performing arts industry. It has grown rapidly, since its pilot in 2017, to become a one-of-a-kind, comprehensive sector-wide initiative.

To talk about fostering mental wellbeing in the arts sector, I had a great discussion with Tracy Margieson. Tracy is from the Arts Wellbeing Collective at the Arts Centre Melbourne. The Arts Wellbeing Collective is a mental health and wellbeing program specifically for the performing arts industry. It has grown rapidly, since its pilot in 2017, to become a one-of-a-kind, comprehensive sector-wide initiative.  

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The performing arts sector faces systemic and structural challenges that have been present long before Covid-19. These include low financial security, low job security, working contract to contract, a highly casualised workforce, freelancers that aren’t protected, and no access to paid leave or sick leave. The pandemic has shined a light on these challenges and provided us with new reasons to take this issue seriously.

Tracy discusses the founding of The Arts Wellbeing Collective and the gap it filled in the industry helping and supporting people working in the arts. She goes on to talk about how the pandemic has impacted the performing arts sector and the mental health determinants that influence people in the arts far more than people working in the general public. 

Using this evidence-based research and knowledge, The Arts Wellbeing Collective works with workers and organisations to improve the wellbeing of their employees. Together they identify the challenges, design preventative initiatives and promote positive mental health. 

This will look different for every company and depends on how they visualise their ideal healthy workplace. Tracy and her team encourage leaders to examine the cause instead of just treating the symptoms to effect true change. 

This episode is full of useful information that we can utilise to protect and preserve our mental health - whether we are creative practitioners, technical staff or management. You’ll feel energised and inspired to improve the wellbeing of not only yourself, but the people around you. 


Key points

[2:51]: The Arts Wellbeing Collective is an Art Centre Melbourne initiative that promotes positive mental health and wellbeing in the performing arts industry. There are hundreds of arts and cultural organisations they work with. Together they identify the challenges and design preventative initiatives to promote positive mental health. 

[4:51]: Tracy shares her background. She has worked across local government, small to medium sector, independent producer and theatre maker, playwriting, Arts marketing, and management. She has an undergraduate degree in Semiotics and a postgraduate in Arts Management and Business Psychology. 

[6:13]: Tracy operates from meaning and purpose. She didn’t find meaning and purpose in marketing and bringing people to the Arts. Tracy was passionate about people and needed to find a sector-facing role. 

[7:45]: Mental health is not a new issue in the performing arts sector. 

[8:07]: Tracy talks about how the pandemic has impacted the wellbeing of people in the performing arts. The pilot program of the Arts Wellbeing Collective was in 2017. She discusses the mission of the collective and the gap that it has filled in the industry. 

[10:17]: 15.2% of the 3,000 people working in the performing arts have experienced symptoms of moderate to severe depression - 5x higher than the general population. 44% had experienced symptoms of moderate to severe anxiety - 10x higher than the general population. 1 in 10 had reported suicidal ideation. 

[11:43]: This research interviewed production teams, crew members, technical teams, artistic directors, general managers, publicists as well as frontline creatives. The results are cultural and systemic and don’t just impact the artists. 

[13:33]: In March 2020, there was a crisis response. All of the cancellations, postponements, and closures were very confronting. 

[14:21]: The Arts Wellbeing Collective focused on supporting people through connecting people to the help they needed, advocacy work, and considering the financial implications. The challenges they were facing were problems they had experienced before but were absolutely magnified by Covid. Low financial security, low job security, working contract to contract, highly casualised workforce, a freelance workforce that aren’t protected, and no access to paid leave or sick leave. 

[18:18]: Tracy talks about the broader understanding in the public of the challenges in the performing arts industry post-Covid. The industry is entirely people-driven. For workers to perform well, they need to feel well. 

[20:44]: There’s a mentality that if you’re really exhausted after the show then you must’ve given everything and performed really well. But people do their best work when they’re energised, excited, passionate, authentic, and awake. 

[22:26]: Tracy and her team want to create T-shirts that say ‘Have you tried resting?’. 

[23:05]: Role modeling is very important. If our leaders are exhausted and burnt out, it flows through to everyone. Leaders can role model looking after themselves. 

[24:43]: What does a mentally healthy workplace look like? It’ll be different for every company. 

[25:50]: We can associate mental health with mental illness. But our mental health is often about what’s going well and our physical health. 

[27:00]: When we jump into action we can often treat symptoms instead of causes.

[28:48]: Through working with organisations that have had success instigating mental health change, she has observed common themes of a real curiosity of how things can be done better, a thoughtfulness over whether it’s the best way, an openness to learning, and a commitment to people. 

[29:51]: The risk of the passion felt by the people in the performing arts is they will often accept bad practices and conditions. People don’t know how good it could be. 

[32:39]: The complexity of what people are living with in lockdowns is changing every day. 

[33:43]: Having conversations with people and finding out what they need in that moment will benefit everyone. 

[34:24]: We haven’t quite adapted after the industrial revolution for people-driven businesses. We’re still thinking of people as machines. 

[34:45]: Active hope - acknowledging disturbing realities and finding our part in a constructive response. If the story of things working out well was to happen through me, what part might I play? 

[35:40]: Optimism is the agency that each of us has to look after ourselves and each other. If we place our energy into the things that we have agency over to share our optimistic vision of how our industry and communities can be, true change will happen. 

[36:42]: Where to find Arts Wellbeing Collective. 

[37:31]: Summary of my key takeaways from our conversation. #1 Most people do their best work when they’re energised. Our work is people-driven and we need to look after ourselves. 

[37:57]: #2 There are systemic issues that lead to poor mental health outcomes in the arts sector. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The pandemic has highlighted these issues. 

[38:55]: Don’t just think of the symptoms of burnout, look at the causes behind it. 

[39:25]: Cultural Insight and Innovation Update: Last month the top 2 clicked resources were Pattern Markers publications: The Audience Outlook Monitor and Tips and Tactics for Sustaining Audience Engagement through the Pandemic. 

[40:19]: The 3rd most popular resource from the newsletter was a new research report from the Museums Association recently showing that almost 70% of people think that cultural spaces make their local area a better place to live. These cultural spaces are more sought after than pubs and restaurants. 

[41:18]: We’re going to create a new normal in our sector. 

If this interview raises any issues for you, or if you or anyone you know is struggling with mental ill-health or needs support, call or visit the online resources below:

Links

Resources mentioned: 

  • The Arts Wellbeing Collective: https://artswellbeingcollective.com.au/

  • Active Hope Article: https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/how-active-hope-may-help-sustain-us-through-the-uncertainty-20210824-p58ljg.html

  • The Audience Outlook Monitor: https://www.thepatternmakers.com.au/covid19

  • Tips and Tactics for Sustaining Audience Engagement through the Pandemic: https://www.thepatternmakers.com.au/tips-and-tactics

  • Museums Association Reporting on New Research: https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/2021/08/culture-more-in-demand-than-pubs-on-the-high-street/

Supported by Creative Victoria, Theory of Creativity Season 2 is focussed on 'Real Change and Renewal'. Tune in on the first Tuesday of the month as Patternmakers Managing Director Tandi Palmer Williams speaks with experts in audience trends, strategic planning, organisational change and resilience. 

CONNECT:

Connect with Tandi Palmer Williams:

Visit the website of research agency Patternmakers: https://www.thepatternmakers.com.au/


Stay in the loop with all the latest research, tools and resources for growing cultural organisations. Subscribe for the monthly Culture Insight & Innovation Updates: http://eepurl.com/gnwrUf

 

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Season 2 Episode 4: Tools for Creative Equity with Lena Nahlous

Our guest today is a powerhouse and champion of cultural diversity and racial equity in Australia’s art sector. Lena Nahlous, Executive Director at Diversity Arts Australia, joins me to discuss the Creative Equity Toolkit, an incredibly valuable and practical resource to help organisations make headway in this area.

Our guest today is a powerhouse and champion of cultural diversity and racial equity in Australia’s art sector. Lena Nahlous, Executive Director at Diversity Arts Australia, joins me to discuss the Creative Equity Toolkit, an incredibly valuable and practical resource to help organisations make headway in this area.

TOC_S2E4_EpisodeGraphic_Square.jpg

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In many ways, racial equity is one of the most important challenges of our time. We have certainly made progress in this space, but there is more work to be done. 

Our guest today is a powerhouse and champion of cultural diversity and racial equity in Australia’s art sector. Lena Nahlous, Executive Director at Diversity Arts Australia, joins me to discuss the Creative Equity Toolkit, an incredibly valuable and practical resource to help organisations make headway in this area. 

With a long list of achievements working with migrant and refugee communities and a range of roles in community and cultural development, Lena took on her role at Diversity Arts Australia to help influence change at a systemic level. The Creative Equity Toolkit is a curated collection of easily accessible resources, language prompts and practical checklists, helping organisations make real cultural change from within.

Lena talks about how the toolkit works, the topics it includes and how to navigate through the numerous resources available. We talk about what meaningful progress looks like in an organisational setting, and how this must be done first in order to create a real shift in our society. 

We discuss how important it is to have an action plan with tangible goals, responsibilities, an allocated budget, and review processes in place and how diversity and inclusion is an ongoing journey because things are always shifting.  There is always more to learn but every small step we take has a ripple effect. Keep listening, keep learning.

Key points

[3:00]: Lena’s work background, anti-racism activism and why she came into the role as Executive Director at Diversity Arts Australia

[6:45]: How the Creative Equity toolkit came about in connection with the British Council and how it’s so accessible and practical in helping organisations become racially diverse

[10:30]: The toolkit enables Diversity Arts to support and provide information to organisations without exhausting individuals who are labouring because of the systemic issues 

[12:00]: Before you go to your friends for information, do the work first by reading and listening to the vast amount of resources available.

[13:15]: The topics included in the toolkit and how it’s so easy to navigate and inviting. Lena shares examples of how to navigate through the toolkit to determine which resources you want

[16:15]: The toolkit includes different actions you can take for each topic and a practical checklist. Lena shares some of these under the anti-racism section and how it’s a great entry point for a lot of people unsure how to approach situations.

[18:30]: The Calling Out and Calling In resource. Lena talks about what these terms mean and what the section includes to help people speak to others and know how to be an ally

[22:30]: The practical language that the toolkit provides 

[24:20]: The Fair Play Project and how it’s important to take the time to do the work ongoing, not just as a one off training. Diversity Arts works with organisations to establish equity action plans.

[27:00]: Language is always changing. This work is always continuing and Lena approaches it as education which is always practical and evolving. 

[28:00]: Organisations must have a good equity action plan with concrete outcomes, a budget and review process. It needs to be owned by the whole team and wholly embraced by the leadership. 

[29:50]: When you diversify the leadership team, the flow on effect goes into the programs you offer, the language used and the audience

[32:20]: Music Victoria and the Opera House are two examples of organisations using and recommending the toolkit

[35:30]: One thing business can do for real change and renewal is to listen, read, watch, access the content out there and review your own practises. 

[37:00]: The next steps for the toolkit is to do an overview of the First Nations Content, funded through the Australian Council Reimagine program. They will be collecting in depth case studies to make the information accessible. 

[38:30]: The toolkit will go international, working in many countries with multilingual resources.

[40:25]: Top takeaways from this episode

[41:40]: The most clicked resource in last month’s newsletter was the Australia Councils Toward’s Equity Publication

Links

The Creative Equity Toolkit: https://creativeequitytoolkit.org/   

Colour Cycle Podcast: http://diversityarts.org.au/project/the-colour-cycle/

Stop Everything! on Apple Podcasts

The Towards Equity Research Overview 

Diversity Arts Australia

LinkedIn: Lena Nahlous


Supported by Creative Victoria, Theory of Creativity Season 2 is focussed on 'Real Change and Renewal'. Tune in on the first Tuesday of the month as Patternmakers Managing Director Tandi Palmer Williams speaks with experts in audience trends, strategic planning, organisational change and resilience.


CONNECT:

Connect with Tandi Palmer Williams:


Visit the website of research agency Patternmakers: https://www.thepatternmakers.com.au/


Stay in the loop with all the latest research, tools and resources for growing cultural organisations. Subscribe for the monthly Culture Insight & Innovation Updates: http://eepurl.com/gnwrUf

 

All episodes

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Patternmakers Patternmakers

Season 2 Episode 3: Achievable Accessibility with Morwenna Collett

Image description: A black and white photo of Morwenna wearing glasses, smiling at the camera.

My guest today is Morwenna Collett, an accomplished Sydney based consultant, leader and facilitator working in the arts. Morwenna is sought after nationally and internationally for her expertise in diversity, access and inclusion.

My guest today is Morwenna Collett, an accomplished Sydney based consultant, leader and facilitator working in the arts. Morwenna is sought after nationally and internationally for her expertise in diversity, access and inclusion

Fuelled by her own lived experience as a musician with disability, Morwenna is passionate about increasing accessibility within the music industry.

Morwenna_Collett_Theory-Of-Creativity

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Transcript: A full transcript of the interview is available to download, Achievable Accessibility Transcript.

In this episode, Morwenna shares how her diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis whilst studying at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music opened her eyes to the fact that the arts was not set up for inclusion. Morwenna shares why she believes music hasn’t made as much progress in the area of inclusion as other sectors and the different types of barriers that organisations need to navigate in order to advance.


We talk about the difference between diversity and inclusion, the imperatives for change and how art has a pivotal role in helping the community understand and break down the barriers for people with disabilities.


Morwenna discusses some of the research she has found and the 5 key pillars to success in making organisations more accessible. She shares some examples of impactful work and how artists with disability are creating some of the most exciting, groundbreaking and risk taking work out there.


Key points

[3:37]: How Tandi and Morwenna first started working together and a particularly impactful project that they worked on at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

[5:00]: How Morwenna started out in this industry and the journey it has taken to where she is now

[5:40]: Morwenna was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis during her time studying at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, and how through this diagnosis she saw that the university and arts in general was not set up for inclusion 

[6:20]: Through her experiences, Morwenna moved into arts management and has landed as a consultant to arts organisations for diversity, access and inclusion

[8:25]: The differences between diversity and inclusion 

[9:17]: In the UK they have the equalities act - 9 different protected characteristic areas

[10:15]: Why Morwenna believes that music hasn’t made as much progress in this area as other sectors

[11:40]: Why would an organisation pursue this area - the imperatives for change:

  • The moral imperative. It feels like the right thing to do

  • Funding and legislation is another key driver

  • Artistic potential - artists with disability are making some of the most exciting, groundbreaking and risk taking work out there

[13:40]: Examples of artistic potential - disabled Scottish dancer Clare Cunningham and her piece - Guide Gods

[14:52]: The impactful work of Jess Thom and Touretteshero

[15:40]: How Morwenna feels that art has a pivotal role in helping the community understand and break down the barriers for people with disabilities

[16:45]: The economic benefits of incorporating diversity, access and inclusion and the UK talks about the “purple pound”

[17:45]: How does Morwenna make headway with organisations to make change happen?

[18:30]: Change can feel slow in this area, so Morwenna is an advocate for having a multi-year plan to manage expectations

[19:31]: The different types of barriers that organisations need to navigate to be inclusive

[20:50]: A standard question should always be “do you have access requirements?” - it’s much easier to answer a question if you’ve been asked it.

[21:32]: What’s involved with an “access audit”

[22:40]: Our websites are the front line for engagement with audiences and accessibility of websites is the first step

[23:30]: The pandemic actually opened up a whole new world for disabled communities with the rise in live streaming - we want to keep these open as live events start to return

[25:20]: This concept of universal design - creating something that was designed for one segment, but it actually benefits so many more

[27:00]: If you have a PDF online, you should also have an access friendly version too because PDF’s can’t generally be read by anyone who uses a screen reader

[28:00]: Other areas where we can improve in accessibility online is social media 

[29:30]: Sometimes there is the idea that to make things accessible will be very expensive, but there are a lot of small or no cost things that can be done to improve accessibility

[30:00]: We can be hesitant to write an image description for example because we fear that we might not do it correctly, but giving it a go is better than nothing!

[31:40]: The role of user testing and a “critical friend” to help you when you’re looking to make your business more accessible

[33:30]: How does someone get started and make headway in this area - what research Morwenna has found and the 5 key pillars to success:

  • Getting started is the key. Looking for the low hanging fruit and things that you can do right now

  • Doing your research. Listening to the questions of those with lived experience and surveys

  • Organisational culture and responsibility

  • Planning and continuous improvement. You won’t get it all done by tomorrow.

  • Connection and keeping on learning. Doing training, being involved in professional development and conferences

[37:00]: Inclusion is a journey, not a destination

[38:30]: Once you’re opened up to this world, you really can’t unlearn it. You will be more aware and continually strive to improve in this area.

[40:00]: Be conscious that when you’re asking for advice from people with lived experience, to pay them for their time and expertise

[41:00]: Examples of change that has started to take place in the arts sector

  • Relaxed performance. Having a more relaxed approach to noise and movement during a performance. Great for people with sensory sensitivities

[41:30]: A project that Morwenna is working with Music NSW seeing whether they can set up the first accessibility charter for live music in this country. A rating system for venues for accessibility

[42:55]: What keeps Morwenna going in this industry and the benefits that she sees for the future

[43:50]: Morwenna’s final tip for creating real change in this space - know who are the disabled artists in your artform and support them!




—-

Links

Morwenna’s Website: https://www.morwennacollett.com/ 

Resources that Morwenna recommends: https://www.morwennacollett.com/resources

Twitter:@morwennacollett

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morwennacollett/

Accessible Arts - NSW

Arts Access Australia



Morwenna’s article on ‘Building a musically inclusive future’ in Limelight Magazine: https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/features/building-a-musically-inclusive-future/ 


Free Strategy Tool Library: https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1WYXc-NPMOg2luu0BUbRiDvipxN8i3A2BeKMAjn48LGk/mobilebasic?mc_cid=1ae001a2ab&mc_eid=098abd67ec

Storythings newsletter:https://storythings.com/newsletters/


Supported by Creative Victoria, Theory of Creativity Season 2 is focussed on 'Real Change and Renewal'. Tune in on the first Tuesday of the month as Patternmakers Managing Director Tandi Palmer Williams speaks with experts in audience trends, strategic planning, organisational change and resilience.


CONNECT:

Connect with Tandi Palmer Williams:


Visit the website of research agency Patternmakers: https://www.thepatternmakers.com.au/


Stay in the loop with all the latest research, tools and resources for growing cultural organisations. Subscribe for the monthly Culture Insight & Innovation Updates: http://eepurl.com/gnwrUf

 

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Season 2 Episode 2: Segmenting Audience Mindsets with Andrew McIntyre

Nothing is ever one size fits all. We often talk about culture audiences simply by age group, but this only takes us so far when it comes to developing meaningful engagement strategies.

Nothing is ever one size fits all. We often talk about culture audiences simply by age group, but this only takes us so far when it comes to developing meaningful engagement strategies.

My guest today is Andrew McIntyre, co-founder of MHM (Morris Hargreaves McIntyre), one of the world’s biggest and best consultancies specialising in the culture sector. He joins me today to discuss psychographic segments, which reveal how a person’s value system and beliefs shape their engagement patterns and the type of messaging they are receptive to.

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In this episode, Andrew talks about their product ‘Culture Segments’ and how an understanding of culture mindsets can help us navigate these times and connect with audiences more deeply in the future. Andrew goes into detail about 4 of the 8 segments and explains how understanding the different audiences can help organisations tailor their programs and marketing strategies to create real community impact and engagement. 

Andrew discusses how psychographics help to understand deep seated values and cultural beliefs and the role people perceive culture will play in their lives. He shares how this helps organisations to build relationships with people on a heart level and how incorporating this understanding in the foundations of the entire organisation can help shift to an audience focus.

We talk about COVID-19, the online experience for the different segments and what he believes organisations should focus on moving forward. Stay tuned toward the end of the episode for a new segment where I share the most clicked item in our latest newsletter and why people found it so interesting. 

Key points

[2:00]: Andrew’s funded project about sharing audience data among organisations and establishing a data warehouse that enabled cross marketing whilst upholding privacy legislation. It is still thriving now.

[3:45]: How Andrew came to be at the helm of MHM, beginning with a degree in politics and history. Working at a museum, he became obsessed with why people visited the museum which opened numerous doors in the culture sector.

[6:00]: Andrew’s position as head of research in one of the first audience development agencies in the UK and how this eventually merged into MHM.

[7:00]: How the questions we face in the culture sector aren’t easy 

[8:05]: How the way cultural organisations act is fundamentally political because it’s about cultural access and social justice. How the community is a group of highly intelligent, creative and committed people and the impact they can make.  

[10:30]: What Culture Segments is and how it helps to engage different types of audiences on a deeper level.

[12:08]: Segmentation can be inefficient because demographic isn’t a good guide to your cultural engagement.

[13:24]: Psychographics help to understand deep seated values and cultural beliefs and the role people perceive culture will play in their lives. This helps organisations to build relationships with people on a heart level in a practical way.

[14:52]: Most creatives tend to be in the Essence segment, in pursuit of self-actualisation. Culture and Art’s isn’t something they do but who they are. They are high value and high maintenance.

[16:30]: Stimulation segment is all about ideas. They like thinking in big concepts, mixing artforms and breaking rules. It’s about seeking out adventure and bringing others to it.

[17:55]: The Expression segment is made up of people who are community-minded and hardwired to support cultural organisations. 

[19:45]: The Affirmation segment are adults who have decided that culture is good for them and will make their lives better. They are somewhat about self improvement, constantly looking for things to do but need a lot of recommendations and assurance.

[21:50]: There are 8 segments but they don’t lock people into just one because humans are nuanced. 

[22:30]: How Release is usually when you are time poor and that people tend to go there when they have young kids or busy lives. You can change segments. 

[24:31]: How Essence is one group who don’t like to be segmented.

[25:40]: How your segment is based on answers to a survey and how they went about creating the algorithm.

[26:32]: How the Culture Segments insight itself is powerful and organisations can go through their programs to determine the primary and secondary segment for each activity. 

[27:30]: You can use the tool for marketing and also programming to cater to each segment, even with no data.

[31:00]: When you have data of your audiences, you can begin to hone in on Essence and Stimulation because they will tell everyone about the event.  

[32:00]: For large organisations, it’s important to be tailored with email marketing so people don’t get overloaded. Culture Segments don’t market based on behaviour history, but on what they’ll likely want next. 

[34:50]: How during Covid, MHM wanted to know how to support organisations and became interested how people were engaging online, seeing that each segment was behaving in very different ways.

[35:12]: Essence were the number 1 users of digital art but were only tolerating it because they need the real thing. Expression used less than half but were so impressed and pleased with the availability of digital content. 

[37:40]: Affirmation segment is now able to road test everything and loving digital content.

[38:00]: How the tool can be used as a great team building exercise and internal strategic planning session to build awareness of the segments within the organisation.

[40:16]: Audience Atlas is a giant population survey that delves deeply into the audience lives within Victoria. Individual organisations can map out their segment audience for free. 

[42:20]: How during Covid, Andrew had chats with numerous organisations on how to use Culture Segments and is always happy for people to reach out.

[43:50]: How Andrew’s role is largely about organisational change looking through the lens of audience engagement. Covid has created a space where anything is possible and created opportunity for organisations to reimagine themselves in an audience focussed way.

[44:30]: It’s not a marketing objective but a fundamental methodology, designing audience focus within every part of the organisation’s function.

[45:30]: The organisations who have taken the time during Covid to rethink the way they operate will get through it stronger.

[46:57]: Top takeaways.

  1. Different people have different motivations for engaging in cultural experiences and along with demographics, it’s the beliefs and values that dictate which experiences people seek out

  2. If we can be conscious of how that thinking works, we can design marketing campaigns that resonate more deeply 

  3. A knowledge of culture segments is powerful even if you don’t quantify your audience through survey

  4. It’s great for programming, marketing, visitor information and a strategic exercise for the whole team

  5. For organisations with a large database, targeted marketing campaigns that are targeted to segments can provide an alternative to marketing based on past participation

  6. By becoming more attune to audiences’ mindsets and values, we can more quickly satisfy their needs

  7. Audience engagement is usually seen as an objective within the marketing department but it can be a fundamental strategy within an entire organisation.

[57:20]: The most clicked item in our last newsletter.


—-

Links

Andrew’s thought leadership series ‘Culture in Lockdown’: 

PART 1: We can do digital, can we do strategy? 

PART 2: The 7 Pillars of Audience-focus 

PART 3: Covid Audience Mindsets 

Creative Victoria Audience Atlas

Audience Outlook Monitor Australia - Key Findings March 2021 

The NFT craze, explained in the Los Angeles Times

Supported by Creative Victoria, Theory of Creativity Season 2 is focussed on 'Real Change and Renewal'. Tune in on the first Tuesday of the month as Patternmakers Managing Director Tandi Palmer Williams speaks with experts in audience trends, strategic planning, organisational change and resilience.

CONNECT:

Connect with Tandi Palmer Williams:

Visit the website of research agency Patternmakers: https://www.thepatternmakers.com.au/


Stay in the loop with all the latest research, tools and resources for growing cultural organisations. Subscribe for the monthly Culture Insight & Innovation Updates: http://eepurl.com/gnwrUf

 

All episodes

Read More
Patternmakers Patternmakers

Season 2 Episode 1: Transforming Anchor Institutions with Steven Wolff

What started out as a health crisis, Covid made waves throughout the globe, hitting us with massive social and economic implications. With many arts and cultural institutions completely shut down, cultural professionals have been forced to rethink how they work and what role they play in people’s lives.

The pandemic has been a crisis on many levels, but how has it shaped the creative industries?

What started out as a health crisis, Covid made waves throughout the globe, hitting us with massive social and economic implications. With many arts and cultural institutions completely shut down, cultural professionals have been forced to rethink how they work and what role they play in people’s lives.

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In the midst of the loss and unknown, the pandemic has presented us with a great opportunity to reflect on what really matters. In this space, organisations have begun to transform the role they play in their communities, bringing about fundamental change and addressing critical issues such as inequality and social justice.

In this episode, I’m joined by Steven Wolff, Director of AMS Planning & Research, an organisation committed to the value of arts, culture, and entertainment in communities. Steven discusses the importance of cultural ‘anchor institutions’ and how their success should be measured by the quantum of entanglement with their communities.

We explore the role these institutions play in communities and what successful anchor institutions will look like post pandemic. Steven talks about switching the question from focusing on the “what” to the “why” we do what we do, and shares some practical advice for what people in director roles can start doing to make this shift.

We discuss how vital institutions aren’t defined by their scale but by how entangled they are in their communities, what this looks like and what some cultural institutions have been doing to take advantage of the opportunities that this crisis has presented.

This episode is absolutely jam-packed with inspiring, thought-provoking and really vital discussion for the time we are in. We explore the tools, techniques and ideas we can harness to build a thriving arts and culture sector post-pandemic. Who knows, we may even herald in the next renaissance.


Key points

[1:27]: Steven’s role with AMS Planning & Research and how they focus on capital facility development work, strategic planning and organisational development work, helping to create vital organisations

[3:45]: How AMS Analytics focuses on data for operations benchmarking for large performing arts centres 

[5:20]: When Covid first hit, they were concerned about how they could survive a shutdown but saw that it was a great opportunity to focus on the things that really mattered

[6:55]: Steven explains anchor institutions and how they are determined by the way an organisation is integrated into the community

[8:00]: The evolution of the measures of success from quality, outputs, effectiveness to community entanglement, based on the quantum physics law

[9:20]: How cultural organisations are civic anchors and should be included when public and social policy is being made

[10:40]: Steven’s discusses the thoughts behind “The Long Runway” and how he now sees it’s not a linear way back and that the current climate is a real opportunity for transformation

[12:00]: How a lot of organisations were continuing to operate as normal, consuming capital without making revenue and that they would be under-resourced to reopen

[13:20]: 

Producing organisations had content they could convert digitally, but presenters didn’t and were at a loss for what to offer while the theatres and galleries were closed

[13:50]: The critical issues that were there before Covid, such as equity and social justice, are still there and this is a time to focus on those things

[14:20]: Most organisations took years to recover after the GFC so getting back up after Covid will be even longer and it won’t look the same as it did before

[15:40]: With many venues closed down and large venues not operating at full capacity, it’s a great opportunity to rethink how we use our physical assets

[16:30]: Covid was not only a health crisis but an economic and social crisis and arts and cultural organisations can be vehicles for social change and justice

[17:25]: Steven talks about an old museum that resides in a community where there is 70% people of colour and how they are transforming their organisation from top to bottom to become more community engaged

[19:00]: Another large and very new performing arts centre has reinvented itself by launching an outdoor venue to facilitate 500 socially distanced events, partnering with 16 restaurants and local establishments.

[21:18]: How the opportunity presented to us is to change the fundamental question we’re askin. Instead of focusing on what we do, we need to think about why we do it.

[23:50]: Think about what it means to be entangled with the communities you wish to serve, which will bring about fundamental change 

[24:30]: We have to move away from hierarchical organisations to matrix organisations with decentralised partnerships. It’s also an opportunity to shift the way we think about governance and philanthropy and that they are different structures.

[26:50]: Ask yourself, “what is success and how do we measure it?” Then articulate the answer in a very clear way so you know when you are achieving it.

[27:45]: The strategic triangle, where high performing not for profit and non-governmental organisations find success at the intersection of value, capacity and support

[29:40]: What anchor institutions will look like post-pandemic and how they will be more approachable, both physically and operationally 

[31:40]: We will see big brands with live and digital distribution capacity and also grassroots uprisings. 

[32:30]: We will also see an internal evolution where an authentic voice is heard

[33:55]: Anchor institutions will be appropriately resourced in every way to adapt and change without institutional threat

[36:30]: Top takeaways from today’s episode.


—-

Supported by Creative Victoria, Theory of Creativity Season 2 is focussed on 'Real Change and Renewal'. Tune in on the first Tuesday of the month as Patternmakers Managing Director Tandi Palmer Williams speaks with experts in audience trends, strategic planning, organisational change and resilience.

Links

CONNECT:

Connect with Tandi Palmer Williams:


Visit the website of research agency Patternmakers: https://www.thepatternmakers.com.au/


Stay in the loop with all the latest research, tools and resources for growing cultural organisations. Subscribe for the monthly Culture Insight & Innovation Updates: http://eepurl.com/gnwrUf

 

All episodes

Read More