Guidance & Advice

In 2001 and 2002, Arts About Manchester used its experience in attracting families to arts events in a new partnership with a rural tourism consortium, Lancashire’s Hill Country. This action research project aimed to draw a new family audience to a range of events provided by consortium members, and test whether the Family Friendly approach developed in Manchester still reaped benefits outside the city. The aims were:

• to test the application of the Family Friendly scheme in a new environment
• to test the potential of cross-promoting schemes in extending opportunities for families to attend arts events
• to define and develop Family Friendly product for LHC, and to allow LHC to absorb Family Friendly practice within their own objectives
• to develop local and other audiences for family activities
• to develop a sustainable partnership.

The report, by Arts About Manchester, gives a detailed description of the project and includes:

project results and outcomes (page 13 - section 5)

a summary of the benchmarking research conducted at the beginning of the project through in-depth discussions with families (Appendix 1)

a summary of the final research conducted by means of a telephone survey with 206 participating families (Appendix 2). Information on the organisation's Family Friendly work in Manchester can be found on the following website: www.familyfriendly.org.uk

Publications & other resources	Toolkits
Arts Marketing Association (AMA)	Audience development agencies