Sixty-seven Dance organisations participated in the Digital Culture Survey 2017 of how arts and cultural organisations in England use digital technology. They include organisations of different sizes from across England, giving us a detailed picture of how the Dance sector is using technology to support its work.

Importance of digital technology

In line with the sector as a whole, more Dance organisations say that digital technology is important for marketing, compared to other types of activity, with 95 per cent now recognising its importance (see Figure 1). The use of digital for preserving and archiving and for operations is also important to a large majority of Dance organisations. The gap between business models, distribution and exhibition and creation has closed over time, with equal numbers of Dance organisations now finding digital important across these three areas.

Most areas have seen a small decline in importance, with only preserving and archiving having declined significantly (83 per cent vs 95 per cent in 2013).¹ The only area that has grown in importance, and done so very significantly over time, is business models² (54 per cent vs. 19 per cent in 2013), a development that can be observed across all artforms.³

Digital activities

Dance organisations are slightly less digitally diverse than other artforms, engaging in 7 types of digital activity on average vs. 7.8 types of activity for the sector as a whole.⁴ They are also significantly less likely than the sector as a whole to do ten of the 23 activities that were asked about (see Figure 2), specifically: selling event tickets online, posting video/audio content for download or streaming, making standalone digital exhibits, and search engine optimisation. However, they are more likely than the whole sector to simulcast/livestream and to use third party platforms to generate revenue.

In comparison to 2013, more Dance organisations are engaging with simulcasting/ livestreaming and paid search. Whereas, posting audio/video content for download or streaming has seen a very significant drop. Search engine optimisation has also declined significantly.

Dance organisations are broadly in line with the sector as a whole when it comes to mobile and social media. Seventy per cent of Dance organisations have a mobile-optimised web presence (compared to the sector average of 69 per cent).⁵ The proportion of Dance organisations with a mobile presence has significantly increased over time (70 per cent in 2017 vs. 28 per cent in 2013). As over 60 per cent of UK online time (for consumers generally) is now spent on mobile, Dance organisations who are not yet optimised for mobile should recognise this as a priority.⁶

Looking at social media platforms, Facebook remains the most popular and is being used almost ubiquitously by Dance organisations (99 per cent). Dance organisations are more likely to use video platforms, such as YouTube (70 per cent vs. 50 per cent sector average) and Vimeo (55 per cent vs. 27 per cent sector average).

In comparison to the wider sector, Dance organisations are using slightly more social media platforms (4.7 vs. 4.2 sector average) and they are significantly more likely to use Instagram (62 per cent vs. 48 per cent sector average), which is the one social media platform that significantly more Dance organisations (and sector organisations as a whole) are using now than in 2013 (62 per cent vs. 9 per cent in 2013).⁷

In terms data use, Dance organisations are in line with the wider sector across all the data-driven activities asked about (i.e. there are no statistically significant differences). As with the wider sector, the activity that most Dance organisations do is use audience/visitor contact details to send out newsletters, which 84 per cent of Dance organisations do (vs 76 per cent of the whole sector). This is followed by using data to develop our online strategy, (e.g. investment and social media presence), which 55 per cent of Dance organisations do (vs 43 per cent).

Since 2013, the number of Dance organisations undertaking data-driven activities has remained broadly stable. The only data-driven activity that has significantly increased over time is using data to inform the process of developing new commercial products or services (24 per cent vs. 6 per cent in 2013).⁸

The impact of digital

Overall, 64 per cent of Dance organisations report a positive impact from digital on their ability to carry out their mission, slightly lower than the sector average of 70 per cent, although not significantly so.⁹

Dance organisations have seen only two significant increases since 2013: more Dance organisations report an impact from digital on donations and fundraising and on selling tickets online. There has been one significant decline, with fewer Dance organisations reporting a positive impact from digital on collaboration with other organisations.¹⁰

Impact levels across different activity areas tend to mirror the wider arts and cultural sector (see Figure 3), with significant differences in only four impact areas. Significantly fewer Dance organisations experience an impact from digital on their organisation's overall profitability, collaborating with other organisations, creating formal or informal educational resources, and how they distribute our work and related products.¹¹

Management factors

In line with the wider arts and cultural sector, Dance organisations see lack of time and funding as the most prevalent barriers to their digital development. Dance organisations tend to report experiencing barriers more than the sector as a whole, although only two are significantly above the sector average: lack of in-house staff time (79 per cent vs 68 per cent for whole sector) and lack of understanding of how to budget for and commission digital projects with existing resources (42 per cent vs 27 per cent for whole sector).

Dance is the only artform in which there have been significant increases in the numbers reporting barriers since 2013 (three out of 14 have significantly increased over time). More of them now say, for example, that having no senior manager with a digital remit and having slow/limited IT systems or networks are barriers (see Figure 4), as is lack of control over our IT systems/infrastructure (from 13 per cent in 2013 to 32 per cent).

Significantly fewer Dance organisations report having above average skills in comparison to their peers, across all areas of activity (see Figure 5). This is especially true for distribution and exhibition and business models where fewer Dance organisations report having above average skills compared to the wider sector. Marketing is the business area where advanced skills are reported most.

There are two specific areas where fewer Dance organisations report being significantly well-served compared to the whole sector. These are user interface design and user testing (9 per cent vs 23 per cent among whole sector) and software development (including website and app development) (20 per cent vs 32 per cent among whole sector). Since 2013, there is one area in which significantly fewer Dance organisations are reporting to be well-served - Multimedia/website design (including audio, graphics, text, animation, video) (43 per cent vs 62 per cent in 2013).¹²

Endnotes

Learn more about the 2017 Digital Culture survey findings

For a better understanding of how Dance and other organisations are using digital, you can access the Digital Culture data portal and explore the full set of data yourself.

Supported using public funding by ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND

Arts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people's lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries - from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections.

Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2015 and 2018, we plan to invest £1.1 billion of public money from government and an estimated £700 million from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.

www.artscouncil.org.uk

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