Currently, there is no unified system for capturing data on participation and engagement across culture organisations. As a result, it is challenging to identify sector-wide trends or understand engagement patterns at the local level.
Culture organisations gather data independently, often using different methods, which makes comparing their findings difficult.
Standardising data collection can enable meaningful comparisons and provide a clearer picture of culture participation. It can highlight:
- the types of programmes being offered
- who they are engaging with
- gaps or barriers to culture participation
These insights will:
- inform targeted interventions
- enable better decision making
- allow culture ecosystems to advocate for investment and support in their region
Existing open data infrastructure often fails to provide a comprehensive view of culture activity, particularly at the local level.
This pilot project aims to address this gap by introducing a straightforward approach to data collection, initially tested with 4 culture organisations in Newcastle.
A taxonomy for culture engagement
We developed a simple taxonomy to categorise both engagement activities and audience types.
Desk research has highlighted that a shared taxonomy for culture engagement is lacking across the sector. Our project seeks to address this by mapping the data held by our pilot organisations into a common taxonomy, which will be refined and validated through user research.
The taxonomy has two dimensions:
- Activity category What activity types are being offered by the organisation?
- Audience Who are the activities aimed at?
This approach will help provide consistent and comparable data, regardless of an organisation's size, resource, type of services and level of data maturity.
What are the types of activities being offered?
The first dimension to consider is the category of activity that is being offered by the organisation. This helps aggregating information about culture activities across the geographic area, and potentially underpinning future developments such as impact models.
-
Performance
- Exhibition
- Workshop
- Event
- Outreach
- Community Engagement
- School Engagement
- Other
Who are culture organisations engaging with?
- General admission
- Adults
- Children
- Families
- Seniors
-
Schools
- Pre-school
- Key Stage 1 - 3
- Key Stage 4
- Post-16
-
Communities
- Disadvantaged communities
- Young people who are NEET
Category mapping
We're mapping case study data into a shared cultural engagement taxonomy to enable sector-wide comparison and analysis. The current mapping is a pilot proof-of-concept, to be improved and validated over time.
| Organisation | Activity | Activity category | Audience |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centre for Life | Adult Event - Planetarium | Exhibition | Adults |
| Adult Event - Speakeasy | Event | Adults | |
| Home Educator Day | School Engagement | Children | |
| Ice Rink | Workshop | General admission | |
| Santa Experience | Event | Children | |
| Other | Children | ||
| Schools - KS4 and Post 16 Workshop | Workshop | Schools / Key Stage 4, Schools / Post-16 | |
| Schools - Outreach | Outreach | Children | |
| Schools - Science Centre Only (KS1 - KS3) | Other | Schools / Key Stage 1 - 3 | |
| Schools - Science Centre and Workshop (KS1 - KS3) | Other, Workshop | Schools / Key Stage 1 - 3 | |
| Schools - Workshop Only (KS1 - KS3) | Workshop | Schools / Key Stage 1 - 3 | |
| NEM | Community programmes | Community Engagement | Communities / Disadvantaged communities |
| Formal Learning | Exhibition | Children | |
| School Engagement | Schools | ||
| Informal Learning | School Engagement | Schools | |
| Performance | Performance | General admission | |
| Seven Stories | Afternoon Tea | Event | Children |
| Film Screening | Performance | General admission | |
| Learning & Community | Community Engagement | Children, Communities / Disadvantaged communities | |
| Learning & Community - School Workshops (TBC) | School Engagement | Schools | |
| Storytime | Event | Children | |
| Other | Children | ||
| Workshop/ Event | Event, Workshop | General admission |
Aggregated Engagement across Culture Organisations in Newcastle
We applied the shared taxonomy to pilot data, aggregating engagement figures to show sector-wide activity and audience reach.
This model, still in development, demonstrates the value of standardised data for analysis, policy-making and investment decisions.
Activity type
Audiences
Next steps and recommendations
Expand the Pilot Study
- Increase the number of participating organisations to test the taxonomy across a broader range of culture activities.
- Gather feedback from pilot participants to refine the data framework and ensure it captures the diversity of culture engagement.
Improve data collection and standardisation
- Develop guidelines for organisations to adopt the taxonomy in their own data collection processes.
Validate and refine the taxonomy
- Conduct further research to assess whether the activity and audience categories accurately represent sector-wide culture engagement.
Engage with organisations
- Provide training and support to culture organisations to help them implement consistent data collection practices.
Conclusion
This simple analysis demonstrates the principle of standardising data collection across multiple culture organisations to understand trends in engagement across the sector. By introducing a shared taxonomy, we have categorised activities and audiences in a way that allows for meaningful comparisons and sector-wide analysis.
This pilot study has mapped data from three organisations, showing that a standardised framework can be applied across organisations with diverse activities. However, further validation and refinement are needed to ensure the taxonomy accurately reflects the full range of culture activities and audiences. Expanding this initiative will help culture organisations better understand their reach, advocate for investment, and develop targeted strategies to enhance engagement.