Overview
- Explores the implications of changing audience expectations and evolving practices of engagement
- Provides a thorough summary of existing scholarship in the field, drawing out key and emergent themes
- Draws on the experience of the author as theatre producer and manager turned academic to explore audiences from an interdisciplinary perspective
Part of the book series: New Directions in Cultural Policy Research (NDCPR)
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About this book
This book explores the concept of audience engagement from a number of complementary perspectives, including cultural value, arts marketing, co-creation and digital engagement. It offers a critical review of the existing literature on audience research and engagement, and provides an overview of established and emerging methodologies deployed to undertake research with audiences. The book focusses on the performing arts, but draws from a rich diversity of academic fields to make the case for a radically interdisciplinary approach to audience research.
The book’s underlying thesis is that at the heart of audience research there is a mutual exchange of value wherein audiences ideally play the role of strategic partners in the mission fulfilment of arts organisations. Illustrating how audiences have traditionally been side-lined, homogenised and vilified, it contends that the future paradigm of audience studies should be based on an engagement model, wherein audiences take their rightful place as subjects rather than objects of empirical research.
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Keywords
Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
“Ben Walmsley's book draws together and reviews a considerable body of existing scholarship and does a vital job in identifying and drawing out key and emergent themes. In doing so it marks a moment in the maturation of the field. It has a particular and persuasive focus on the trajectory from arts marketing to audience engagement, which it argues with commitment and impressive scholarship.” (Matthew Reason, Professor of Theatre and Performance, York St John University, UK)
“This book offers a fluid, engaging and philosophical approach to the topic of audience engagement that will make its mark on the creative industries.” (Ruth Rentschler OAM, Professor of Arts & Cultural Leadership, University of South Australia, and Author of Arts Governance: People, Passion, Performance)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Ben Walmsley is Associate Professor in Audience Engagement in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries at the University of Leeds, UK and Director of the Centre for Cultural Value. Previously, Ben was Producer at the National Theatre of Scotland and an Assessor for Drama for Arts Council England. Since 2014 he has been the Academic Director of the Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy Programme, now one of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organisations. He is also Co-Editor of Arts and the Market.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Audience Engagement in the Performing Arts
Book Subtitle: A Critical Analysis
Authors: Ben Walmsley
Series Title: New Directions in Cultural Policy Research
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26653-0
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-26652-3Published: 23 September 2019
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-26655-4Published: 23 September 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-26653-0Published: 11 September 2019
Series ISSN: 2730-924X
Series E-ISSN: 2730-9258
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 248
Number of Illustrations: 3 b/w illustrations, 7 illustrations in colour
Topics: Performing Arts, Cultural Theory, Arts, Media Studies, Creativity and Arts Education, Cultural Heritage