here - Toi Wairarapa

 Analysis of Wairarapa Arts, Culture & Heritage Survey: Background From 21 November to 5 December 2014, two surveys were conducted and each targeting (1) the general public and, (2) arts/culture/heritage organisations and business/sole practitioners, with the main objectives to: 1. capture a current snapshot of who/where/when/what in arts, culture & heritage; 2. build on, and expand the survey conducted in 2008; 3. gauge, in general terms, participation levels and attitude towards the arts; 4. identify skills, capability gaps and needs across the sector; and 5. inform Toi Wairarapa’s direction. Format: The questions gauging Attitude were lifted directly from the 2005 Combined Councils strategy, and were common in both surveys. Analysis of results from individuals then, organisations follow. The comments selected best represent the general tenor of respondent feedback. Methodology Survey Monkey was the digital application used to facilitate design, collect and analyse the survey. Various mixed mediums used to disseminate the survey included, online (Facebook, website and email), face-­‐to-­‐face interviews, and phone were adopted. Editorials featuring the campaign were complemented with paid advertising through Facebook and local papers. Timeline The response deadline initially set for 21 November was extended to 5 December 2014 to broaden the response time and ensure a spread across the regions broadly categorised as: Masterton, Carterton and South Wairarapa. Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 1 of 16 Mena Antonio managed the survey with assistance from Rowena Patterson. This is the first major survey of this scale designed, undertaken, collected and analysed by Toi Wairarapa, and expanded on the narrower and smaller survey conducted in 2008. Returns: Organisations: 105 were targeted, including schools, overall nine disqualified themselves as being out of the area resulting in an above average return of over 50%. The general public was a broader and random audience target netting 219 returns. Summary and Recommendations: • That the arts, culture and heritage strategy have a stronger economic development emphasis thus aligning with local and central government direction; • That, the Vision statement for Wairarapa arts, culture, heritage strategy reflect feedback desire for a snappier version, “A rich place to live”. ‘Rich’ connotes posterity, diversity, creativity, layered etc, and calls to action a more-­than-­transitory commitment i.e. “a place to live”; • That, focus be narrowed to workshop support for funding, audience development or business development for providers; • That, support continue for arts, culture and heritage for key providers mentioned in particular, King Street Live, Aratoi, Toi Wairarapa, Kokomai, WaiArt; • That, a region-­wide art trail weekend be supported and developed as a tourist product; • That, though actual engagement with Maori was low, the attitude to raise visibility of Maori heritage and arts was overwhelmingly positive indicating an appetite (and maturity) for things-­Maori is ripe. Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 2 of 16 ATTITUDE: questions relating to the 2005 Combined Councils’ Arts, Culture & Heritage Strategy The following questions relate to the 2005 strategy and were common to both the Organisations and General Public surveys. Table 1 75% agreed or strongly agreed that pride in the Arts was being fostered in the Wairarapa, only 10% disagreed or strongly disagreed. Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 3 of 16 Table 2 53% agreed or strongly agreed that arts was being encouraged and sufficiently recognised in Wairarapa, 26% disagreed or strongly disagreed. However the common feedback was though things were improving, more could be done. Table 3 Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 4 of 16 54% agreed or strongly agreed that excellence in the arts is supported in Wairarapa, and 18% disagreed or strongly disagreed. Comments from the Organisations survey conveyed there was a long way to go for Wairarapa to understand “excellence” in the arts (table 3). Table 4 Table 4 shows 75% agreed or strongly agreed a trial would be of benefit and 2% disagreed. Comments referred to the MainArtery group set up as an art trail linking member artists and studios. Others commented that the trail should be promoted more and broadened to include/complement other activities e.g. bikes, wine etc. Also suggested was a weekend arts trail (open to all artists and artforms) be established and marketed like the weekend garden tours. Friends of Aratoi’s inaugural art & architecture one-­‐day tour proved highly successful in 2014, for example. Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 5 of 16 Table 5 71% agreed or strongly agreed there would be benefits in having a regional communal art space established, only 6% disagreed or strongly disagreed (table 5). Comments from General Public respondents were mostly positive, whereas comments from the Organisation survey were reflective and pondered logistics, location, costs etc. Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 6 of 16 Table 6 Table 6 shows 59% agreed or strongly agreed with the 2005 strategy Vision statement, ‘Wairarapa is a place to live that is rich with interest, strong involvement and celebrating a highly visible arts, culture and heritage dimension’. 26% disagreed or strongly disagreed. However comments said the statement was wordy and complex, and though improving, there was much more needed to realise the Vision. Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 7 of 16 GENERAL PUBLIC (individuals): Response The general public survey had a broader and random audience target and netted 219 returns. Demographics: The largest band was the 36-­‐50 group with 37% (table 7). Face to face interviews were adopted to offset the biases presenting in the online surveys. Table 7 Table 8 Yet, some biases managed to prevail. Almost three quarters of the respondents were female (table 8). Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 8 of 16 Spread of demographic by place of residence reflected 30% from Masterton, 27% Carterton and the remaining from the three South Wairarapa towns (table 9). Table 9 Participation Levels: Table 10 Data in table 10 shows high engagement in the performing arts by either attending or actively involved over the last 24 months. However this falls below the 2011 national levels (85%) founded in the study carried out by Creative New Zealand New Zealanders and the arts: attitudes, attendance and participation in 2011, 1. Only local literature participation levels of attending at least once (18%) suggest higher than the national average (12%). We can make, at best, correlations only rather than true comparisons with the national findings based on 12 rather than 24 months, in this case. Included in the heritage category are museums (65%). Literature and Maori arts/marae were the categories least engaged with near 66% not engaged or attended over the same 1 Findings of the next national survey is due in 2015 Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 9 of 16 period. However the participation levels for literature could rise should the momentum of emerging groups like Wairarapa Word and Featherston’s Book Town continue. Given the suggested higher than national literacy participation levels, an opportunity to market Wairarapa as a literary region may be worthwhile exploring. This is a point of difference. And, can give Featherston’s Book Town efforts greater context. And emerging category is textile namely the Wairarapa Oversew Fashion Awards, and various Wearable Arts events. Actual vs Desired Spend: Over 77% respondents’ actual spend amounted to at least $200 in the last 12 months. Less than 1% spent over $5000 compared to 23% spending nothing on arts, culture & heritage activities. Almost half (48%) were prepared to pay between $31-­‐$50 to attend a quality live event. Some (21%) would pay between $10-­‐$30. Slightly more (29%) would pay the upper ticket band of $51-­‐$70 or over. Barely 2% would pay nothing. Motivating factors to engage: Relational and personal connections were prime motivators respondents attended events. Over 77% selected personal interest and 63% noted ‘people or organisers known to them’ as drivers to convert interest into sale or attendance. Aged under-­‐20 respondents were motivated ‘if friends were going’. Events that were locally hosted or education reasons were singled out as key motivators to engage. People were least motivated by a social or business networking opportunity. Best communication means: Word of mouth was the medium most (77%) heard of local events followed by newspaper (62%). Other than mobile (less than 1%), digital mediums email and social media scored in the same cluster as poster display and leaflet drops at 47%. Radio ranked at 27%. Transport Respondents gave a resounding yes at 97% when asked if they would drive to another town, within Wairarapa, for a quality event, show or exhibition. Only 38% respondents were more likely to attend if transport were provided. Preferable time The weekend, in particular Saturday then Friday evenings were period most were likely to attend. Weekdays were least popular. The preferred time is a moving target as 41% Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 10 of 16 answered ‘depends’ which suggests best times correspond with life stages according to work and family commitments. Heritage & Museum visitation Of the selected heritage venues listed, 76% visited Aratoi of which 9% visited over ten times over 24 months. The next most patronised was Cobblestones Regional Early Settlers Museum in Greytown at 51%. The least or never visited sites were mostly independent, local museums. More than half (58%) never visited a marae. Though not offered as options, respondents stated mostly Carterton Event Centre and King Street Live as venues patronised. Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 11 of 16 ORGANISATIONS: Response Fifty of the 105 organisations/small groups/businesses/schools targeted, responded: nine were invalid as out of area; two disqualified themselves. Survey Monkey specialists state that 20% to 30% is a good rate of return.2 Based on the 94 valid prospects, a return of over 53% is above average. Table 11 In table 11, literature and Maori arts were two categories least represented, thus the three main categories were performing arts (34%), heritage (32%) and visual arts (30%). Others included festival-­‐type and education. When further analysed, respondents offered a wide range of services and involved in a raft activities. Among the most popular were theatre, dance (26% highest), painting, books, museums, music – bands and singing rated from 20%. The least popular tended to be more specialist activities like Kirituhi, Ta Moko, glass-­‐making, genealogy, print-­‐making. 2 https://www.surveymonkey.com/blog/en/blog/2012/03/28/improve-­‐survey-­‐response-­‐rate/ Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 12 of 16 Formal structure: staff, volunteers and members Legal structures were spread near-­‐evenly between charitable and incorporated society, and over a third (39.02%) were private businesses. Others were district councils, schools, volunteer groups. Most (66%) did not operate a membership model. Seven groups listed 101 plus members. We are aware that Friends of Aratoi have over 400 members listed. Cobblestones, too has a Friends base of hundreds. Respondents were confined to the option ranges given. Some (42%) listed one to ten volunteers that worked with them, and two groups stated between 51-­‐100 volunteers on their books. There was virtually a clear split between groups which hired and did not hire staff. Most that did employed between one to five staff. Only one group employed over twenty-­‐one which was a school. Funding sources Various sources of funding were identified with over 40% attributing support from contestable pools or grants provided by the likes of Lotteries, local and community trusts. Admission charges applied to 34% of respondent groups followed by membership and in-­‐
kind donations at 26%. Private donations including bequests applied to 24% of organisations. Fewer (18%) identified local or central government contracts – also the least common – as a source for funding. Comments pointed to professional fees, fundraising, koha and art and service sales contributing to financial income. Venues: Over 85% hosted performances, events or displays open to the public corresponding to a similar level doing so at least once. Most (53%) hosted between one to ten displays compared to 13% that offered over 51 public activities. Twenty groups (40%) own their building while 12 (24%) either leased/hired or rented their venue. Others had no building or worked from home, and in one case a group had secured a MOU to use the Carterton Event Centre. Capacity of venues mostly ranged up to 50 (29%). Equally 15% of venues each had capacity range within the 51-­‐200, and 201 to 300 range. Nearly 10% (or four groups) had venue capacities of over 350. As expected a variety of responses were received when asked to complete the sentence: ‘Our organisation, and community, would benefit greatly if only there were a venue Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 13 of 16 that…”. Emerging themes were accessibility, facilities with performing art-­‐focused fittings like lighting and sound; as well as affordability. In summary, the main call was for purpose built spaces for arts exhibitions, live stage theatre that were suitably fitted and affordable to access. Nearly half of groups (24 or 48%) hosted visitors. Eleven of these groups each hosted over 1,001 visitors. Nine groups applied admission charges, of which six also hosted over 1,001 visitors. Maori & Heritage Tables 12 and 13 show responses to questions lifted directly from the 2005 strategy that found that Maori heritage is important to Wairarapa. This survey is the first quantitative affirmation of the sentiment captured in the strategy nine years ago that most agree higher Maori visibility presence (87%) and bi-­‐lingual signage (67%) are rich contributors to this region (table 13). It must be noted that this desire does not correlate with the actual engagement and participation levels (table 10). However if more support were committed to Maori visibility, the community is sufficiently receptive to embrace this (table 13). Table 12 Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 14 of 16 Table 13 Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 15 of 16 Table 14 Support for funding and marketing remain the greatest concerns for the sector in table 14. The findings inform Toi Wairarapa, and other providers, of areas where its programmes can help. These programmes/workshop should be not viewed as a panacea to resolve adequately the gaps, but rather a stop-­‐gap measures only to build capacity and capability among organisations and individuals in the arts, culture and heritage sector. Ends. Survey Analysis Arts Culture & Heritage Survey 2014 16 of 16