The Country’s Arts Venues Collaborate To Tempt Audiences
As part of a national arts campaign, top venues in Ireland have announced Take Your Seat week, which runs from 9th to 14th November, promising to offer discounted tickets and fantastic promotional offers for venues across the county including Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co. Kildare.
Upon booking a ticket for a show at a participating venue, on www.takeyourseat.ie, consumers will be offered a range of promotions and incentives to come back to see another show at a later date at the same venue.
This is the first of many initiatives being planned under Arts Audiences, the Arts Council-backed initiative designed to encourage more people to attend the many world-class plays, concerts, dance and other performances taking place across the country.
Linda Geraghty, PR and Marketing Coordinator at Riverbank Arts Centre said: "Take Your Seat is something theatres and venues across the country have been talking about for years – a national campaign promoting the fantastic range of live performances happening in venues all around Ireland. Our own programme for the week includes cinema with the Irish surfing documentary Waveriders, theatre with JP Miller’s Days of Wine and Roses and the entertaining children’s show Blenny.
We’ll be delighted to welcome audiences in with this innovative promotion and with the special offers up for grabs, we hope that trips to Riverbank Arts Centre will become an even more regular habit”.
‘Take Your Seat’ has united over thirty venues around the country and their representatives have vowed to collaborate for the long-term to encourage existing customers to come back more often, and tempt more newcomers through their doors – in spite of the recession.
According to Pat Moylan, Chairman of the Arts Council:
“A focus on audiences for the arts is essential in these difficult economic times. There are fantastic opportunities for arts venues and organisations right now to collaborate on marketing, to promote and sell, to expand audiences and encourage people to return more often. An initiative like ‘Take Your Seat’ sends a clear signal that Ireland is a highly creative and competitive place – and it will benefit performers, artists, venues and the public alike.”
Ms Moylan’s view is borne out by recent research. An average of 67 percent of people who attend events go to a cultural venue only once a year; if all of these were to return again and purchase a ticket for a show, it would put approximately €20m back into the economy.
The concept for Take Your Seat came from those working in the industry, and is being co-ordinated by Arts Audiences, with the support of the Arts Council and Temple Bar Cultural Trust, which aims to help arts organisations maintain and increase their audience and revenues by undertaking audience-focused initiatives and improve their ability to market themselves effectively. Supporters also include Fáilte Ireland and RTE Radio while private sector interests have also rowed in, providing considerable pro bono promotional support for an initiative hoped to be the first of many.
Take Your Seat provides a model of innovative practice for public and private interests working together to address the issues which arise in difficult times.
Full details about the venues and arts centres taking part in Take Your Seat will be published on www.takeyourseat.ie from today.
For more information on Arts Audiences log onto www.artsaudiences.ie