Wakefield Museums and Castles: West Yorkshire Local Authority Museum Partnership Audience Development Commission

Commissioned by Wakefield Council Museums Service on behalf of West Yorkshire Local Authority Museums Partnership [WYLAMP]

We are looking for an experienced audience development specialist to develop and test a programme of promotional activity working across the WYLAMP group with the aim of sharing expertise and increasing visitor figures.

Context:

WYLAMP

WYLAMP is a partnership between the five West Yorkshire Local Authority museum services to share best practice, encourage collaborative working and promote the value and benefits of Local Authority museums. The partnership includes Bradford; Calderdale; Kirklees; Leeds and Wakefield.

Starting Conversations Research

In 2016 WYLAMP commissioned some audience development research that investigated what motivated people to visit and then recommend our venues.

A new level of insight into visitor behaviour revealed the building blocks of recommendation, and suggested ways to use these for development. The study describes how a recommendation is formed by many factors; by a great visit; and within that, by something that we don’t always think so much about – the ability to fit into people’s lives. In addition, there are quite separate social factors: the motivations for making any recommendation.

The research suggested that the goal is to ‘start conversations’, with and between visitors. Conversations help museums engage visitors, and reach the depth that museums want to achieve, but it is also a key benefit of museum visiting. Starting conversations also pays back in more visitors: for the WYLAMP group, the majority (around 70%) of its visitors will be attracted in this way, through recommendation, or positive word of mouth.

The ‘Starting Conversations’ report contained eighteen recommendations for action. As part of Wakefield Museums Arts Council Resilience Round Two project we have secured funding to develop and test some audience development approaches based on the Starting Conversations recommendations.

Purpose of the Work

The purpose of the work is to develop a set of practical audience development approaches that can be used by the WYLAMP group to:

Increase visitor figures
Share expertise
Use existing audience development resources effectively and efficiently
Develop and encourage cross-over visits

Deliverables

Work in partnership with audience development and marketing staff across WYLAMP to develop and test mutually beneficial audience development approaches based on the ‘Starting Conversations’ recommendations.
Evaluation of test approaches.
Preparation of ‘how to guides’ to ensure a workable and practical legacy of the project.
Report of findings, summary, recommendations to be prepared
Presentation of findings to WYLAMP

Fee

A fee of no more than £9500 (plus VAT if applicable) payable on receipt of an invoice and paid in instalments as agreed. This includes all costs for delivery of test projects.

Timeline

Jun 17	Jul 17	Aug 17	Sept 17	Oct 17	Nov 17	Dec 17	Jan 18	Feb 18	Mar 18
Selection process	Familiarisation and set up	Develop programme of activity		Test and review approaches				Evaluation, ‘how to guides’ and final report