News from December 2011

The emerging picture for those audience development agencies that have decided to merge into what is notionally titled Audiences Plus will no doubt have come to your attention over the recent weeks and perhaps has left you thinking ‘where next?’ for &Co.

In the development of our future plans, we have been in consultation with other agencies about Audiences Plus and have considered its merits in relation to the 20 year track record of &Co, the dramatic re-drafting of the cultural landscape nationally and the needs our clients have been reporting to us.

With this in mind,  the &Co Board have decided that our future is not to be part of Audiences Plus but instead will be re-built upon the expertise we have developed over the years in supporting cultural organisations’ audience engagement needs but with a fresh approach. 

We will apply our shared learning from initiatives we have delivered recently including the national evaluation of A Night Less Ordinary, House Lights theatre benchmarking, Audience Influencers and the development of our national digital platform through www.digyorkshire.com  to inform our new remit and the redesign of our company structure. 

This will include consolidating our reach and networks already established beyond the region through our partnership working with Cultivate in the East Midlands and Audiences North East’s Chief Executive in particular.  Our new way of working from 2012 will involve strategic support for cultural organisations aiming to provide the best experiences for audiences and visitors through:

• access to better market intelligence
• creative application of digital technologies
• effective organisational development

Although it is important to state that our future business model will not depend solely on core funding our plans align closely with Arts Council England’s Strategic Funds ‘Audience Focus’ for 2012 – 2015 and therefore we will be applying to these funds by Monday 9 January 2012.  .  Please don’t hesitate to contact me for further details by emailing alison@andco.uk.combut I look forward to bringing you some further news about our future developments in the new year.  Until then, thank you on behalf of the &Co Board and management for your continued support and inspiration over the last 12 months. 

We  wish you a very merry Christmas and a prosperous 2012.

Alison Edbury

Chief Executive