Marketing and Touring Information
Marketing performance, developing audiences and taking your work on tour are perhaps the most challenging aspects or working in the arts. Thankfully, there are organisations who aim to support organisations who do not have access to an advertising budget or have not toured before and require information about the logistics and legal considerations of taking work on the road.
Arts Council England’s Project Grants can be applied for by those looking specifically for funds for marketing and audience development. Background information to help those considering applying for this grant is available here.
Other organisations who offer marketing assistance to arts professionals include the Arts Marketing Association and The Audience Agency.
The Audience Agency works with cultural organisations to build audiences. With offices in Manchester and London and a network of Regional Directors across England, they provide unparalleled service built on in-depth knowledge and understanding of the cultural sector. Generating insight and evidence to inform individual and organisational decision-making and to help to grow a more sustainable cultural economy.
More resources:
- Marketing and Touring: Arts Council England also provides an extremely helpful and comprehensive online guide to marketing and touring on its website. It covers subjects such as developing effective partnerships, setting up a tour, campaign planning and communicating with audiences, and includes sections on case studies and top tips.
- Accessibility: Diverse City have created some great guidelines to Creating Accessible Marketing, for being effective in communication and interaction with D/deaf and disabled people.
- Pricing: You can also find information on pricing your work in their publication called Call it a Tenner: The Role of Pricing in the Arts, published by Arts Council England.
- Tour Booking: ’10 Top Tips for Tour Booking’ list: Mark Makin pulls together his most helpful tips for successful tour booking. You can find other useful resources like this from housetheatre.org.uk
- Developing Audience: IETM have published a toolkit entitled Guidebook for hopefully seeking an audience, which calls for artists to rethink ‘audience development’ in terms of connection with fellow citizens.