The Idea of Audience: Artists and the Task of Audience Development in the Era of Creative Industries

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Simon Piening

The Idea of Audience

Artists and the Task of Audience Development in the Era of Creative Industries

Simon Piening

$284

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Routledge
25 February 2025

Performance art; Theatre Studies; Cultural studies

What sort of relationship do artists want with their audience? What kind of role do they imagine for the performing arts in their community?

Under the “creative industries”, the audience relationship has been increasingly defined and shaped by marketing and/or institutional interests. Wedged between the competing needs of the market, and their belief in the power of art to positively impact their communities, many artists and arts workers are caught in what Julian Meyrick describes as a “confused intellectual terrain”. While much audience scholarship has focused on understanding the motivations of audience members engaging with the arts, there has been considerably less research into the motivations of arts professionals with respect to their relationship with the audience. The Idea of Audience is a critical examination of the current fields of audience development and arts marketing, and explores the relationship between artists and audiences from the perspective of the artists themselves.

The book will be of most interest to students and academics of audience development/arts marketing, theatre/performance, and audience studies. It is hoped that the reader will gain greater insight into what artists actually mean when they talk about their audience.

By: Simon Piening
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781032788258
ISBN 10: 1032788259
Pages: 186
Publication Date: 25 February 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Prologue. Introduction. PART ONE: SETTING THE SCENE 1. Researching the Small-to-Medium Performing Arts Sector 2. Industry 3. History 4. Theory PART TWO: THE AUDIENCE PROJECT 5. The Present Audience 6. The Potential Audience 7. The Absent Audience. Conclusion. Epilogue: After Covid

Simon Piening has a background as an actor and director, and is founding editor of Australian Stage Online – one of the earliest online media outlets for the performing arts in Australia. He holds an MA in Communication and completed his PhD in 2022 at the School of Performing Arts, Federation University.