Paid employment and performance opportunities for 818 artists, or 26 artists / practitioners for each day of the month!
30 different dance types and 4 commissions of new work.
New dance forms emerged including the integration of Persian and Breakdance producing a stunning new piece performed by local artists, and Cyclone a choreographed dance on bicycles performed on World Dance Day.
Audiences of over 13, 000 people and an estimated 2, 444 taking part in participatory events.
Marketing
A dedicated campaign was initiated including:
Since the aim was to develop new audiences and participants for dance, the publicity needed to attract the layperson as much as the dance aficionado. Partners also wanted to shout about the range of local talent, and demonstrate the range of dance available to breakdown barriers to entry. This was taken into account in the design, commissioning a local photographer and using local professional and amateur dancers as models in all of the publicity.
SWAM also initiated a dedicated media campaign which raised the profile of dance during the event.
Coverage included:
Results from the research revealed the time and effort was well spent, with both recall of publicity and use of the specially produced print featuring highly.
Top 5 named information sources for Dance Live! Bristol
Word of Mouth 20%
Festival Brochures 16%
Bristol Evening Post 7%
Venue / Magazines 5%
Festival Posters 5%
The audiences during Dance Live! Bristol exhibited a more equitable spread of the population in terms of socio-demographic profile than previously evident.
The most dramatic increase was in the ACORN category whereby people find life toughest in the most difficult social conditions (137% increase in attendance). This could be due to the free and accessible outdoor events, the effective marketing, or saturating the city with events.
The top five types of Dance Live! Bristol attenders were:
Type
1. 21 – prosperous enclaves, highly qualified executives: 11%
2. 37 – Multi-occupied town centres, mixed occupations: 9%
3. 16 – Well off town and city areas: 8%
4. 31- Home owners in older properties, young workers: 6%
5. 38 – Multi ethnic areas, white collar workers: 5%
Compare this to the profile prior to the initiative:
1. 21- Prosperous enclaves, highly qualified executives: 21%
2. 16 - Well off town and city areas: 12%
3. 37- Multi-occupied town centres, mixed occupations: 11%
4. 3 - mature affluent home owning areas: 9%
5. 31 -Home owners in older properties, young workers: 8%
The key difference is the ethnic mix. 33% of the population are from Black or Asian groups. Thus Dance Live! was facilitating involvement across cultures and reaching traditionally socially excluded groups in addition to those who are not traditional dance attenders.
When asked if it was likely that they would come to dance events in the future 90% responded that they would, compared to 58% prior to the event, and 22% said that they would like to have similar events in the future.
The bigger picture….
New research by South West Tourism revealed that visitor figures for July to September 2002 were up on the same period in 2001. It is estimated that the actual number of visitors to Bristol was up by 23%.
Figures show that visits to performing arts venues were the highest in 2002 since records began in 1993, and the Harbourside area recorded over 1.6 million visits – a 6% rise on 2001.Though these results cannot be directly attributed to Dance Live! Bristol, it could be assumed that the project contributed in some part to this increase in numbers.
The full analytical report including conclusions and recommendations will be available from mid May 2003.
2002-2008 © Audiences South West