QUALITY OF EXPERIENCECopyright © Annabel Jackson Associates Ltd

2013ajataja@aol.com

WORK SO FAR

Paper one: Conceptualisation Paper two: Introduction to the methodology Paper three: Review of good practice in

visitor panels Paper four: Plans for each organisation/onsite

meetings Paper five: Draft manual Paper six: New Brewery Arts case study Paper seven: Transcripts Paper eight: Analysis of the transcripts

CONCEPTUALISATION: REQUIREMENTS FOR A GOOD DEFINITION

Flexible

•Relevant to different art forms•Relevance to different contexts•Relevance to different familiarity to the arts•Relevant to debates

Meaningful

•Beyond entertainment•Play to our strengths•Link to outcomes like innovation or wellbeing•Consistent with arts values•Imply trade-offs

Inclusiv

e

•Include subconscious•Include uncomfortable feelings•Include subjective and objective•Include social

AJA MODEL OF EXPERIENCE

BEFOREExpectationsMotivationsKnowledgeInterests

AwarenessNeeds

DURINGAttending

Sensing (reading, looking, listening)

ThinkingFeeling

Interacting sociallyMapping onto needs

AFTERRecal

ConversationInspiration

UseFurther contact

AFFECTED BY:Environment

PeopleInformation

Content Artistic quality

Context

E NCOU N T E R

AFFECTED BY:Vision

ResourcesValues

Power relationsExternal events

Different for

different people

WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT THE VISUAL ARTS?

It happens in different contextsIt is generally free

Visitors are generally standing rather than sitting Visitors walk through the space or past the art work at

their own speedVisitors can form their own groupings and change their

groupings during the experienceDoors, if present, are open rather than closed, as in a

theatreTiming is flexible rather than limited to specific viewings

in the afternoon or eveningLighting varies, but is not dark in the way it is in the

theatreIt is multifocal

It is open ended

OTHER ART

FORMS

QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE PROGRAMME

Grants for the Arts: pilot in the SW with intention of national role out

Four partners:Spike IslandArnofiniB-sideNew Brewery Arts) Final report February 2014

PURPOSE

Sectoral learning Organisational learning Organisational development Advocacy

THE METHODOLOGY

Visitor panel Observational measure Written

ARNSTEIN’S LADDER OF CITIZEN PARTICIPATION

DENVER ART MUSEUM

“When you hear it in the visitor's own words, it's not translated by a marketer or even another staff member. It just feels so much more real than any kind of report written on a piece of paper, so there's a far greater impact in terms of changing attitudes."

ICA: DO YOU ENJOY BEING ON THE STUDENT PANEL?

Yes, definitely

Yes, probably

Don’t know/mixed

No, probably not

No, definitely not

0 2 4 6 8 10

9

2

0

0

0

SOPHIE HOPE: CRITICAL FRIENDS

“The group operated somewhere between a fan club, ombudsman, detective agency and productive parasite.”

“I suppose the weakness from my point of view is that I don’t know what’s going to happen with the information we’ve produced.”

CREATING A VISITOR PANEL

What is your strategic purpose? Who will be recruited to the visitor panel? What will be the criteria for recruitment? What will be the recruitment process? How will the panel be explained? How many people will be recruited? How will members be motivated? How often will the panel meet? When will the group meet? What preparation will be carried out for sessions? Where will the group meet? Who will moderate the panel? How will the sessions be recorded? How will the sessions be reported?

RUNNING A VISITOR PANEL

What will be the format of the meetings?

What are the key questions? How do you focus different panel

meetings? What is the style for moderation? How we support advocacy? How do we evaluate members’ views

of the visitor panel?

THE WRITTEN QUESTIONNAIRE

The building The people The information The exhibition Emotional imprint Quality of experience Background

THE OBSERVATIONAL QUESTIONNAIRE

Aspects of comfortable Aspects of engaging Aspects of coherent Aspects of meaningful

EARLY CONCLUSIONS: PROCESS

“It is difficult to ring people up and ask them to support us. The visitor panel is a good way of starting that discussion.”

“The visitor panel makes you feel good. You might have had a busy, stressful day and then you come to the panel and hear all these people saying lovely things about us.”

“As a venue you become quite critical, the voices you hear are the critical ones. The visitor panel gives a more rounded view. Our current exhibition is quite challenging. At first panel members said they didn’t like this and that, and then they said it is good to be challenged.”

“We have found that the work that is the most challenging is the work that visitors like the most; the one they experience as the most powerful.”

“Visitor panel members meet just for the joy of it; they have no responsibility. That is hugely freeing in terms of debate. There are no personality clashes or ‘sides’, which you can get in a board meeting.”

EARLY CONCLUSIONS: QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE

The transcripts demonstrate the deep interest visitors have in the visual arts and their desire to engage with material. Features that are often seen as off-putting for the public – the complexity and ambiguity of the material, are a major attraction for the visitors – who are often seeking different and impactful experiences. At most all they want is a way in, as well as changes to the buildings, especially the entrances, to make them more welcoming.

The system introduces the organisation to a different way of thinking: seeing the building through the eyes of a visitor, who experiences the spaces one at a time, as a whole sense experience, often affected by their social grouping.

The system generates ideas about practical changes that can make the buildings and exhibitions more engaging to visitors.

The system provides a route for organisational change either through reading transcripts, using the observational questionnaire or observing the visitor panel sessions.

QUOTES: SPIKE ISLAND

“One of your questions was does it make you feel more connected to others and actually it did because I’m pretty sure that not everyone knows what’s going on all the time.”

“I think I feel more comfortable with it (video art) because you can go in and sit down in the dark and no one is looking at how you’re looking at it.”

QUOTES: ARNOLFINI

“It’s not immediately obvious that it’s not something that they’re allowed to touch, I didn’t know either and by that point it’s too late. It would be great to have something experiential that they could interact with if they can’t touch.”

“It seems like it’s an important point to say that we should acknowledge that kids are the creative ones in this. This is adults playing, as in many ways that’s what art is- so let’s play together.”

QUOTES: NEW BREWERY ARTS

“I think the idea of making the visitors experience a voyage of discovery is great, because that’s how it has to be and encouraging people to go onto the next thing.”

“I found it very absorbing and very moving too really. I don’t really like the heads personally, but that’s totally a personal thing, but it didn’t affect how I felt about the exhibition, I still found it fascinating and absorbing I thought the project was amazing.”

QUOTES: B-SIDE

“Cos they are places we know, all the time and then something happens and it does make me look at it in a different way and then when I walk past there again I always recall the b-side event that was there.”

“There was a piece that didn’t engage me, that wasn’t rich enough to draw me in. but I kind of thought that’s one thing and there’s others I will enjoy so it wasn’t an issue. But I didn’t bother to go back and try and find out more or talk to anybody. There are other things that I thought were fantastic and I made an effort to go to other things.”