How to develop audiences for jazz – Jazz Development Trust and Morris Hargreaves Macintyre (2000)
Author(s): Jazz Development Trust and Morris Hargreaves Macintyre
Organisation/Affiliation: Arts Council England
Date: 2000
This report summarises the outcomes of a major audience development initiative supported by the Arts Council of England’s New Audiences Fund. The project, entitled A Tale of Four Cities, had a specific, non-London, geographical focus. The four cities selected were Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham. All are metropolitan centres with lively arts and cultural sectors, but with different provision and support for jazz. The project involved venues, promoters, audiences and potential audiences from these cities. It was devised and led by the Jazz Development Trust (JazzDev) and carried out by Morris Hargreaves McIntyre, a leading audience and organisational developments practice. The impetus for the project was JazzDev’s analysis that the infrastructure of the jazz industry, and particularly that of the funded sector, was so fragmented that it prevented jazz from attracting and retaining audiences. In particularly, not only did jazz lack marketing staff, skills, budgets and resources, but crucially, it lacked an understanding of its audiences and potential audiences.