Audience Engagement and Creative Organisation (5 cr)

Evaluation scale

0-5

Content scheduling

Content The core content of the course has 6 elements elaborated through 4 integrated sessions: 1) Theory and practice of audience development and audience engagement (an introduction); 2) The overview of the characteristics of multiple practice of audience-centred and creative process oriented organisations; 3) Cultures of participations and creative professionals' identities: Creative professionals’ identity in the context of increasing, deepening and diversifying audiences; Textures of practice – cultural management applications; 4) Audience research / the methods of cultural intelligence: the role of cultural/creative professionals, managers and entrepreneurs in collecting and interpreting data – to know their audiences; 5) The strategic and systemic approach to the audience engagement, cultural policies, democracy and audience engagement; 6) Audience engagement, sustainability values and digital transformation as new challenges and opportunities in our work with different audience’s types.

Objective

The aim of the course is to provide a multi-dimensional perspective on the theory and practice of audience engagement when applied to the organizations that are focused on creative processes. Its particular focus is on the role for audience directed activities as central to the work of Cultural and Creative Sectors organizations’ professionals: cultural producers, managers, curators, and entrepreneurs in the cultural and creative field. The course is an opportunity to gain an international and cross-sectoral perspective on audience engagement practice.

Content

- Theory and practice of audience development and audience engagement. The strategic and systemic approach to the audience engagement, cultural policies, democracy, and audience engagement. - Thresholds, liminal spaces, access, gates, and barriers. The spatial dimension of the work of cultural managers. - Audience-centred and creative process-oriented organisations; - The identities of CCS (Cultural and Creative Sectors) professionals in the context of increasing, deepening and diversifying audiences. - Audience research - the methods of cultural intelligence: the role of cultural/creative professionals, managers, and entrepreneurs in collecting and interpreting data – to know their audiences. - Audience engagement, sustainability values and digital transformation as new challenges and opportunities in our work with different types of audiences.

Location and time

19.03.2026 09.00 - 12.15 HEL B1.107 (32 henkilöä) and Online. You will find the link in the Hoodle. 26.03.2026 13.00 - 17.00 Ulkopuolinen tila : Online. You will find the link in the Hoodle. 16.04.2026 13.00 - 17.00 HEL B1.107 (32 henkilöä) and Online. You will find the link in the Hoodle. 07.05.2026 13.00 - 17.00 HEL B1.107 (32 henkilöä) and Online. You will find the link in the Hoodle.

Materials

The literature and sources - available as links and linked files in several sections of the AECO hoodle platform content. References' selection: Bollo, Alessandro, Da Milano, Cristina, Gariboldi, Alessandra, and Torch, Chris. 2017. Study on Audience Development – How to place audiences at the centre of cultural organisations. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union: https://moodle.humak.fi/pluginfile.php/468426/mod_resource/content/0/Final-Report-Study-on-Audience-Development.pdf // Case Studies: https://moodle.humak.fi/pluginfile.php/468427/mod_resource/content/0/Catalogue-%E2%80%93-Case-studies.pdf Bonet, Lluis, and Negrier, Emmanuel (eds.) 2018. Breaking the Fourth Wall: Proactive Audience in the Performing Arts, Kunnskapsverket, Elverum. Bonet, Lluis, and Negrier, Emmanuel. 2018. The participative turn in cultural policy: Paradigms, models, contexts, Poetics 66: 64-73. Cuenca-Amigo, Macarena, and Makua, Amaia. 2017. Audience development: a cross-national comparison, Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Administracion” 30/ 2: 156-172. Dubois, Vincent. 2016. Culture as a vocation: sociology of career choices in cultural management, Abingdon/New York: Routledge. Harlow, Bob. 2014. The Road to Results. Effective Practices for Building Arts Audiences, New York: The Wallace Foundation: https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/Documents/The-Road-to-Results-Effective-Practices-for-Building-Arts-Audiences.pdf Jackson, Annabel. 2015. Imagining Arts Organizations For New Audiences: Values And Valuing, Cleveland Foundation, Paul Hamlyn Foundation: https://www.phf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Imagining-Arts-Organizations-for-New-Audiences-2015.pdf Kagan, Sacha. 2015, Prefiguring Sustainability: Response-Ability & Spaces of Possibility. in: M. Le Sourd and H. Van den Bergh (eds.) Art for the Planet's Sake: Arts and Environment, Brussels: IETM Kawashima, Nabuko. 2000. Beyond the Division of Attenders vs. Non-attenders: a study into audience development in policy and practice, Coventry: Centre for Cultural Policy Studies, University of Warwick. Martin, Joanne. 2002. Organizational Culture. Mapping the Terrain, Thousand Oaks: Sage. Paquette, Jonathan. 2012. Theories of Professional Identity: Bringing Cultural Policy in Perspective. in: J. Paquette (ed), Cultural Policy, Work and Identity. The Creation, Renewal and Negotiation of Professional Subjectivities. London: Routledge: 1-23. Poprawski, Marcin. 2024. Audience Companions Leave No One Behind. Spotlight on Audience Development practice and values in Finland, p. 83-93) in Aspegren, A., S. M. Rasmussen and N. Righolt (Eds). Audiences. 15 Stories About Audience Development. Copenhagen: The Danish Centre for Arts and Interculture and RasmussenNordic, ISBN 978-87-993435-2-2. Robinson, Roxy. 2015. No Spectators! The art of participation, from Burning Man to boutique festivals in Britain. in: G. McKay (ed.) The Pop Festival: History, Music, Media, Culture. New York: Bloomsbury Academic: 165-181. Robinson, Roxy. 2016. Music Festivals and the Politics of Participation. London: Routledge. Strati, Antonio. 1998. Organizational Symbolism as a Social Construction: A Perspective from the Sociology of Knowledge, Human Relations 51/11: 1379-1402. Strati, Antonio. 2015. Music and the aesthetic study of organisational life. In: N. Beech, Ch. Gilmore (eds.) Organising Music. Theory, Practice, Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 28-38. The Audience Agency. 2017. Creating an Effective Audience Development Plan. An introductory guide to Audience Development Planning, London: The Audience Agency: https://www.theaudienceagency.org/insight/guide-to-audience-development-planning

Teaching methods

It comprises of (a) 4 sessions facilitated by the host lecturer of the course, (b) the access to the interactive Hoodle platform with the content to be studied by participants. The platform gives access to literature files, video materials, and digital sources. Webinars of AECO are organised as a zoom sessions. The first and the last meeting are planned as hybrid (= option for students who are in Helsinki to join the classroom in Humak headquarter - Ilkantie 4.). Methods: hybrid as online and onsite; mixed method: lecturing, group work, reading and discussions, studying hoodle located digital materials and cases; assignments: group presentations, final written assignment (the 2-pager), an optional individual semi-structured final conversations with the course host;

Employer connections

The student will be able to: • recognize the role of audience in organizing and managing arts projects and organizations • assess audience engagement in relation to marketing, fundraising, strategic management, and other key processes of arts management • recognize the co-creational aspects of audience engagement and explain its role in the processes of audience engagement • design a long-term audience engagement plan and assess the feasibility of digital tools as part of this plan • be able to collect, and work with data • be able to implement some participatory approaches to audience engagement • recognize the audience-oriented work challenges and opportunities related to sustainability values and digitalization