Continued Audience Development Support in the South East After the Closure of Audiences South on August 31st. After over forty years of providing audience development and arts marketing advice Audiences South will close for business on Wednesday 31 August 2011 Audiences South has provided arts and cultural organisations in the South East and further afield with research, market intelligence, audience development, evaluation and strategic planning advice.
Over the last few months Audiences South has been looking to build a legacy for the agency and its work, ensuring that as best as possible clients can continue to access support for their audience development and research needs.
Audiences London are to take on a key role in providing this legacy, supporting an ongoing service to clients. With this in mind Adrienne Pye and Leo Sharrock have both been appointed as associates of Audiences London. Adrienne will be working on a regular basis for Audiences London liaising with client organisations in the South East and connecting them to Audiences London’s services. From the beginning of September Leo is transferring to Hampshire County Council’s Marketing Team to focus on developing customer intelligence for Hampshire County Council’s key services. Within this new role, and agreed in line with other County Council priorities, Leo will be able to provide some limited market intelligence consultancy to Audiences South’s clients.
Leo will be working in partnership with the research team at
Audiences London who will be providing TGI and Area Profile Reports for the region. Audiences London will also invite organisations in the South East to join and extend their collaborative audience intelligence-sharing programmes.
Suite 1, 35 The Hundred Romsey, Hampshire SO51 8GE 01794 510340 audiencessouth@hants.gov.uk www.audiencessouth.org
Audiences South have worked closely with Audiences London over the last five years and we are pleased that they are able to step in and provide support across the South East for Audiences South clients.
Audiences South was a business unit of Hampshire County Council operated as part of the former Culture Community and Rural Affairs department, and more recently as part of the merged department Culture, Communities and Business Services. Hampshire County Council has in recent years subsidised Audiences South above and beyond its annual service level agreement to support its work across Hampshire and the South East region. The County Council has had to make the difficult decision that in the current economic climate this subsidy is no longer viable and closed the organisation. Audiences South will cease to operate from August 31st 2011.
The Audiences South team are grateful to all our clients, old and new, who have expressed their disappointment at the closure of Audiences South, as well as their gratitude for past support for their business. We hope that this announcement helps point to where support can be found in the future.
ENDS
 audiencessouth@hants.gov.uk www.audiencessouth.org
Notes: The Audiences London team has expertise in research, audience development, marketing and community engagement. They bring experience of working in London and the UK, across artforms and sectors, supporting circa 300 organisations a year to develop public engagement and extend their reach. The team combines experience drawn from within the cultural sector with technical skills from beyond it to provide high quality services and practicable solutions. www.audienceslondon.org.
Audiences South had its origins in an Arts Council Great Britain (ACGB) Touring Department initiative in the mid nineteen-seventies, when Hampshire County Council partnered ACGB in joint funding a Regional Marketing Officer post to assist major national touring companies in presenting their work in the region and in attracting and growing local audiences. Serving the coastal towns and cities from Poole to Eastbourne, the service was called Solent Arts Marketing (SAM). In the 1980s, the geographical remit of SAM was changed to that of Hampshire. In 1992 SAM became a formal business unit of Hampshire County Council and was renamed Arts Marketing Hampshire. Early 2000 saw a further name change to amh. In 2008 the organisation moved its base from Winchester to Romsey, with 2009 bringing about the final branding of Audiences South.
Contacts: Anne Torreggiani (Chief Executive) or Sarah Boiling (Deputy Chief Executive) anne or sarah@audienceslondon.org
Adrienne Pye (Associate South East Region): Adrienne@audienceslondon.org 020 7407 4625 7G1, The Leathermarket, Weston St. London SE1 3ER
Leo Sharrock: leo.sharrock@hants.gov.uk
 audiencessouth@hants.gov.uk www.audiencessouth.org