Professional Perceptions

Generally speaking, the BCMG had very little pre-conception about the potential audience. What was known was that Shropshire was not well-served by artistic provision and should have the capacity to absorb arts of good quality. Apart from this, however, the Group knew virtually nothing about the kind of potential audiences in terms of their occupation, age and the attitude and behaviour in arts consumption, whether people would come and whether audiences would

stay on till the end of the performance. The Group might have had an idyllic image of tightly-knit, rural communities in which people knew each other very well and where there was little crime and disorder. Or it might have thought of traditional communities largely of elderly people with conservative values who had been born there and lived there for a long time.

According to the interviewees from the Group, some of the things they found out about the audiences were as follows: First, people were diverse in terms of age. There were school parties, young children with parents as well as elderly people. The Group was impressed by this in particular as this was a sharp contrast with audiences to its regular concerts, the majority of whom were between fifteen and fifty-four years old. Second, the number of people who turned up fluctuated depending on the time and the day of the concerts, but overall it was found to be satisfactory and surprisingly large. Third, there were quite a few who had traveled distances that were long by urban standards. For example, one of the administrators was surprised to find that one person who rang for tickets had to drive one and a half hours from his home to the concert venue. This was not an exceptional case: the Group became aware of the relatively longer travel-time involved for many attenders, and supposed that the people in the remote areas were prepared to drive relatively long distances. Finally, the majority of the audiences were apparently middle-class, well-educated and already music enthusiasts. This contrasts with the Urban Tour concerts in Birmingham some of which, depending on the location, had had people from economically-deprived areas. Thus the Rural concerts were unconventional largely in terms of the physical context, but music was played to people who were familiar with orchestral and classical music works, on whose tradition the BCMG repertoire is based.

The Group also generally felt that there was enormous warmth and intimacy. Many audiences remained for tea, and were keen to have chats with the musicians. The school where the Group has performed three times showed their hospitality by voluntarily offering special cream tea or sandwich lunches to the Group. At the Edgton village hall, there was a mini exhibition of posters related to new music. It turned out that the posters were the work of the venue organiser who had previously worked as a graphic designer for some orchestras. He prepared the exhibition especially to welcome the BCMG and to provide something interesting for the audience to look at. So there were some special, welcoming, unexpected additionalities attached to the concert organisation by the receiving venues.

Naturally the Group was delighted and felt rewarded. Over tea, audiences often commented on how much they enjoyed the concerts and asked when the Group would come back. Quite a

few said, as a pleasant surprise for the Group, how grateful they were to the Group for taking the trouble of coming to Shropshire. Occasionally there were people who commented that they did not particularly like the music they heard but that they found the events interesting. The Group did not mind the negative response to the music itself at all, and rather appreciated the frankness. The only disappointment and unexpected response had been that most audiences, with the exception of a few individuals who took up the promotional offers, made it clear that they did not want to come to Birmingham for concerts as they found the driving too tedious. But, they said, they would like to come again even if they had to pay attendance fees if the Group came to Shropshire. This has led the Group to think that ‘proper’ fee-charging concerts might be feasible in some major towns in Shropshire in the future.

The reason why the BCMG has not undertaken any intensive audience survey for these concerts, although the idea of market research occurred to the administrators a couple of times, is that they did not want to bother attenders with questionnaires but wanted to keep the concert simple. Because of its longer experience of the Urban concerts, the BCMG has more to say about this project and could be more specific about the attenders. However, all I could get from any of the interviewees from the BCMG as to the rural concerts under examination here is the above, which is only general.

It is however quite possible that a quantitative survey into audiences, asking standard questions about their motives of attendance, experiences of the events and future intentions whether to attend BCMG concerts in Birmingham or in Shropshire, would confirm the above findings of the Group. Indeed, if I summarise my interview results in a quantitative way, ie simplifying the comments and coding them into manageable categories, I would probably come up with an interpretation that the majority came because they liked music anyway and the concerts were close to their homes, and that they were satisfied overall. They would be reluctant to come to Birmingham for more concerts, but would love to come to more of these events, even if paying nominal fees, if held within their neighbourhood.

Anything more interesting and insightful can only be obtained through an examination of in-depth interviews with the audiences from a different perspective. There are a number of more complicated motives of attendance as well as responses. They do not necessarily contradict the simple answers mentioned already, but are important to note, as they do not fit in with the categories a quantitative analysis would employ. They form the topics for the discussion below.