We launched the After the Interval Survey only 12 days ago and have already received over 40,000 audience responses from our participating organisations, ranging from Opera Companies to small and large venues, including Concert Halls, Theatres and Arts Centres.
The results so far have been sobering:
- Only 15% of people are still actively booking tickets for future events – and those that are, are not booking for events happening before September, and a significant percentage (21%) not until 2021.
- Only 20% of audiences would return to venues ‘just because they open again’ – others may stay away on Government or health advice (53%), or just ‘prefer’ to stay away until they feel safe (26%). For over 65s the initial figure saying they would return is only 15%.
- The measures that would make audiences feel most safe in returning to venues include avoiding long queues (75%), limiting capacities (75%) and socially distanced seating (66%)
Additional findings on possible ticket levies, attitudes to giving and what respondents are looking forward to most about returning are also food for thought.
With over 100 organisations signed up to participate, most of whom will send out their surveys this week, we expect the pool of respondents to be large, and as the results come in we will be digging deeper to try and understand what they might be telling us.
If you’re a cultural organisation and would like to participate, here’s how.
