Our first wave national report on ‘After the Interval’, a UK-wide survey of 86,000 attenders of live cultural events has found that fewer than 20% of audiences would return to venues simply because they re-open their doors, and 40% said they would not consider booking for any events scheduled before the start of November.
Over ¾ of audiences surveyed, who are among the most frequent attenders for most of the organisations involved, said they would feel safer returning to venues if they could avoid long queues, attend events with limited capacity and ensure that seats were spaced at least 2m apart. Despite their reticence to return without safety measures in place, 93% of respondents said they were missing attending LIVE events, and over half were looking forward to attending again in order to ‘support their local venue’. Almost 80% welcomed the idea of cultural charities asking for voluntary donations towards a ‘recovery fund’ when tickets are back on sale.
"What is clear from the survey data is that audiences have great affinity for the cultural organisations they usually attend and are itching to get back to experiencing the buzz of live performances again. But they will need reassurance that they and the artists and performers will be safe before they do so – simply seeing venues re-open, and even seeing others attend, will not be enough on its own" Katy Raines, report author
- Katy Raines
- Founder & CEO