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Audiences and Participation
Open-top sightseeing bus, with view of York Minster
Engaging with audiences has to be a vital part of the practice of any heritage institution that is directed towards the public. People who work with history and the past always need to reach out to their visitors, in order to find out what parts of their experience were positive and affecting (and which were not). Even more challenging is the necessity of engaging with those who may find history alienating, opaque, or just plain unappealing. IPUP has experience in audience work in York and beyond, and these pages deal with some of the overall methodological issues underlying audience work and policy issues for diversifying audiences, whilst also giving an insight into IPUP projects currently underway. IPUP is committed to working at a national level on policy issues and participation practices.
Projects
Diversifying Heritage Audience Participation
A project aiming to better understand what ‘public participation’ means, how audiences for history and archaeology can continue to be diversified, and how this can be undertaken in the current social and economic climate.
The Public History of Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine
IPUP partners with the Science Museum London and the University of Leeds for this project to understand precisely how to increase and improve public engagement with the history of science.
Heritage Audiences in York
A pilot project gauging public engagement with York's past and York’s heritage spaces and historic cityscape, in partnership with several of York's cultural and heritage institutions.
Audience Research Methodologies
A research project and report by IPUP for our cultural heritage partners which describes and analyses the range of methodologies for audience research work.
1807 Commemorated
An AHRC funded project with partners at seven national museums who marked 200 years since the abolition of the slave trade. The website reports cover the experiences of audiences to these new exhibitions, and also records the experiences of the museum practitioners and community groups involved.
Heritage Diversity Task Force
A report for the London Mayor’s Commission on ‘Diversifying Audiences’ for the Heritage Diversity Task Force, written in partnership with 14 practitioners representing London’s museums, galleries, heritage organisations, libraries and archives.