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Arts audience segmentation: data, profiles, segments and biographies

Arts audience segmentation: data, profiles, segments and biographies
Arts audience segmentation: data, profiles, segments and biographies
This article critically examines how segmentation is used to identify, understand and engage arts audiences. Policy reports and academic publications are reviewed to establish the priorities of arts policymakers and practitioners for understanding arts audiences and their continued focus on audience data and segmentation. This article then makes two contributions. Firstly, critical perspectives on the use of data for audience profiling are applied to arts audience segmentation. Secondly, research using biographical methods is introduced as a new approach for critically evaluating arts audience segmentation. This research, employing biographical methods, shows the exploration and negotiation of audience identity positions. This article takes these insights to critically examine the implications of how profiles and segments are used to define and understand audiences for the arts. The conclusion addresses the implications of segmentation in terms of the design and communication of cultural experiences, the complexities of aligning audiences’ identities with segments, and the seemingly inevitability of exclusion. This article will be of relevance in the scholarly study of arts audiences and for arts and cultural organisations and policymakers in reflecting on the implications of quantitative and qualitative approaches in designing and undertaking audience research.
Arts audiences, audience segmentation, audience profiling, biographical research, research methods, exclusion
1469-3690
146-161
Ashton, Daniel
b267eae4-7bdb-4fe3-9267-5ebad36e86f7
Gowland-Pryde, Ronda
e1ea18b3-8a04-4107-b09e-0fca1d6f02a9
Ashton, Daniel
b267eae4-7bdb-4fe3-9267-5ebad36e86f7
Gowland-Pryde, Ronda
e1ea18b3-8a04-4107-b09e-0fca1d6f02a9

Ashton, Daniel and Gowland-Pryde, Ronda (2019) Arts audience segmentation: data, profiles, segments and biographies. Cultural Trends, 28 (2-3), 146-161. (doi:10.1080/09548963.2019.1617938).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article critically examines how segmentation is used to identify, understand and engage arts audiences. Policy reports and academic publications are reviewed to establish the priorities of arts policymakers and practitioners for understanding arts audiences and their continued focus on audience data and segmentation. This article then makes two contributions. Firstly, critical perspectives on the use of data for audience profiling are applied to arts audience segmentation. Secondly, research using biographical methods is introduced as a new approach for critically evaluating arts audience segmentation. This research, employing biographical methods, shows the exploration and negotiation of audience identity positions. This article takes these insights to critically examine the implications of how profiles and segments are used to define and understand audiences for the arts. The conclusion addresses the implications of segmentation in terms of the design and communication of cultural experiences, the complexities of aligning audiences’ identities with segments, and the seemingly inevitability of exclusion. This article will be of relevance in the scholarly study of arts audiences and for arts and cultural organisations and policymakers in reflecting on the implications of quantitative and qualitative approaches in designing and undertaking audience research.

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Ashton_and_Gowland_Pryde_2019_Arts_audience_segmentation_28_2_3_ - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 25 April 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 21 May 2019
Published date: 27 May 2019
Keywords: Arts audiences, audience segmentation, audience profiling, biographical research, research methods, exclusion

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 431527
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/431527
ISSN: 1469-3690
PURE UUID: 439584f1-ba94-4dd0-9a69-489abb18ec30
ORCID for Daniel Ashton: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3120-1783

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 07 Jun 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 07:54

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