Evaluation case study | The Late Shows
To
share or not to share? When
it comes to sharing evaluation for The
Late Shows, Newcastle and Gateshead’s annual Museums at Night event, the
short answer is yes, we do need to share evaluation. But how?
The
team here at Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums has been running The Late
Shows for six years now. In 2007 it started as a one-night event with 14
cultural venues taking part including Discovery Museum, Baltic Centre for
Contemporary Art and the Laing Art Gallery. All the venues stayed open late and
put on free events and exhibitions, which aimed to entice a new, younger
audience through their doors [see image].
With
so many venues and artists taking part, and The Late Shows being a free,
non-ticketed event, it has the potential to be a difficult or expensive project
to evaluate but we have tried to keep it as simple as possible.
All
the marketing and evaluation for The Late Shows is carried out in-house by the
Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums communications team. Through our
evaluation we aim to not only evaluate our marketing and track visitor
satisfaction [see image of happy visitors] but also to see whether we have
achieved various aims which include encouraging people to visit venues they
have never been to before and inspiring them to return again throughout the
year.
Every
year we work with a fantastic team of Late Shows volunteers [see image] who act
as ambassadors for the event, welcoming visitors to each venue, keeping track
of visitor numbers and, of course, handing out those sought-after glowsticks.
Another of their key tasks is to encourage people to fill in our incentivised evaluation
survey which they can do online [using Survey Monkey] or by returning a
freepost form after the event.
The
findings from our evaluation are essential when it comes to shaping subsequent
years’ events. It’s vital that the results are shared with all 50-plus participating venues so they can take the
feedback into account when they programme their event for next year. We have
seen everything from ghost tours and snake handling to mass drawing and
performance art in The Late Shows programme over the years and each have played
a role in making The Late Shows what it is – a showcase for the outstanding
creativity and culture here in the North East. However, no venue wants to take
the risk of programming something blind, with no knowledge of the audience and
what they value.
The
important thing about The Late Shows is that it’s a collaborative effort, with more
than 50 different venues coming together to make one of the biggest events in
our region’s cultural calendar. That can only work if we share what we know.
All
venues are sent the headline survey results so they can see who came, which venues they went to and
what they thought of them. Comments on specific venues or artists are shared
individually, although many of the venues then choose to share these with each
other. There is close, two-way communication between The Late Shows team and
staff from all the venues so that experiences can be passed back and forth.
We
also share specific
feedback with some of our
suppliers and partners – for example, feedback on the free Late Shows bus
services, which transport visitors around the cities on either an open-topped
bus or a mini-bus, is shared with the bus drivers so we can work together to
tweak the route or timetable the next year.
We
are also keen to share
knowledge more widely. Every
May, thousands of venues around the country – and the world – stay open late
for Museums at Night. We are in conversation with Culture24, who promote the
Museum at Night festival nationally, to share our experiences with other areas
whom may wish to put on a partnership cluster event.
Although
it’s so important to know the answers to those quantitative questions – did we
meet our visitor target? Did we reach our target audience? - every year, I find
that some of the most enlightening feedback comes in the form of the visitor
comments we receive via social media and through Survey Monkey, which can
really capture the spirit and atmosphere of The Late Shows.
We
always include an open ended question so that people can give us any
suggestions they might have for improving the event or let us know if there is
something they especially enjoyed or didn’t like. One of my favourites from
2012 was: ‘It was an
amazing event. I took my two children (both under six) and they had an amazing
time learning to make a clay pot on a wheel, making masks, decorating tiles,
learning circus skills and seeing magic. My son said "it was the best
night of my life". Thank you!'
The Late Shows is a collaborative effort and with feedback like that, why
would we keep it to ourselves?
The
Late Shows 2013 takes place on 17 and 18 May 2013. www.thelateshows.org.uk
Author | Bill Griffiths, The Late Shows
Project Manager bill.griffiths@twmuseums.org.uk
Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums
All images courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums
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