How long is the survey?

Most respondents will complete the survey in 6 to 12 minutes.

Will the survey be sent to the same people in each wave?

Do I need to send you my email list?

No. You will be pulling the sample of audiences/visitors from your database and emailing them yourself.

Can I see the survey questions before I register my organization?

Unfortunately we can’t provide you with any part of the survey questionnaire before registering to participate. However, after you register to participate you will have an opportunity to view the questionnaire. While we can't tailor the survey to individual organizations, we're happy to discuss any concerns you may have, and you can choose to withdraw from the study if we're unable to address your concerns.

Can we apply our own branding to the survey invitation?

Yes, you're welcome to follow your usual approach to design and branding, so the email is recognizably from your organization. We just ask that you include all content from the survey invitation provided, including the link to the study partners and privacy policy, in a designated email (i.e., the survey recruitment email can't include other updates about your organization).

How many people should be in my sample?

The minimum number of contacts required to participate in this study is 1,200 (300 per wave). The maximum number of contacts you can send the survey to is 20,000 (5,000 per wave). If your audience database contains between 1,200 and 20,000 people, then across the four waves, you will send the survey to your whole database. Before the first wave, you need to randomly divide your list into four equally-sized lists. You can name the lists Wave 1, Wave 2, Wave 3, and Wave 4, as you’ll be send the survey invitation to one list at each wave. For example, if you have a total of 2,400 people in your audience database, you will send the survey to 600 people in each wave. If your audience database contains 20,000 or more people, you will need to randomly select a sample with of 20,000 people from that list and then follow the same process: randomly divide the sample into 4 equally sized lists and send to one list at each wave.

How do I randomly select audiences for my list?

As most organisations use different software for managing their audience database, you are welcome to apply your own method to ensure a balanced list of single ticket buyers, donors, subscribers, members etc. However, a simple way that we recommend is to put your list of audience members into an Excel spreadsheet and follow these instructions.

What happens if we don’t have enough audience members/visitors in our database?

Unfortunately, if you have less than 1,200 audience members/visitors in your database, you aren’t eligible to participate in this study. This minimum is in place to ensure we have a stable cohort to track over time. However, if you are unable to participate, you will still be able to access the results. Results will be shared in aggregate via a public dashboard, and you will be able to filter the data to find results that are relevant to your audiences/visitors. There will also be a series of public webinars in which findings from the study are discussed.

My organization shares audience members/visitors with other organizations – will they receive more than one survey link?

It is possible that some of your audience members/visitors may receive an invitation to complete the survey from two or more organizations. This is one of the reasons why we are limiting the sample for each Wave to 5,000, so that large organizations are not sending the survey to their whole database. We will include clarifying instructions for respondents in the invitation emai to explain that they only need to complete the survey once.

Should we include overseas residents in our sample?

We are mainly interested in North American visitors for this study. Other jurisdictions may be captured by the study through other international partners. If you can isolate overseas residents from your sample, that would be great. If not, that's not a problem: they will be screened out at the start of the survey.

Who counts as a recent audience member/visitor?

A recent audience member/visitor is anyone who has actively attended or otherwise participated in your public programming since January 1st, 2018. This includes single ticket buyers, subscribers, members, visitors and event attendees.

How many email addresses do I need to have in my database to participate?

You need at least 1,200 email addresses in your database to participate. This ensures that you’ll be able to send each wave of the survey to at least 300 recipients, and that each person will only receive a survey link from your organization once over the course of the entire study. Organizations that have more extensive email lists will send up to 20,000 emails over the course of the study (up to 5,000 per wave).

Am I able to withdraw from registration at any point?

You can cancel your registration at anytime before Wave 1 of the survey is launched. Once you have deployed Wave 1, however, we ask that you follow through on your committment to complete the subsequent waves of the survey. Since we hope to track trends over time, it is important that the roster of participating organizations remains consistent over the course of the study.

Will I get to access data related specifically to my organization?

Results will only be reported in aggregate on the online dashboard tool, so you won’t be able to access data specific to your organization. However, participating organizations will be able to filter the data to access results that are relevant to their artform and region.

What personally identifiable information are you collecting from audiences?

We are not collecting any identifying information on participants. The survey software does record IP address, like many websites that use cookies, etc. You may view our full privacy statement here.

What are your privacy policies?

You can access our privacy statement here. This link is also shared with survey respondents on the first page of the survey.

Who is behind the Audience Outreach Monitor?

General information about the Audience Outreach Monitor, its funders, and partners is available here. In Ontario, the survey is being conducted in partnership with the Ontario Arts Council.

Is the information you collect from our audience members/visitors secure?

For information on how the survey data is secured, please review our privacy statement.

Will we be seeing the results for our own organization in the dashboard?

This study has been designed to support the whole sector. Due to the number of organizations participating, the results will be aggregated. You will be able to filter the results to understand insights relevant to you. E.g. breakdowns and filtering by artforms, venue type, demographics, regions. We are grateful to those organizations participating, as this data will be helpful to all, including independent artists and small to medium organizations. Please contact us if further information is required.