1
Audience
Development
Strategy
Irish
Architecture
Foundation
ArchitectureFoundation.ie
Irish Architecture Foundation
Audience Development Strategy
.......
Published 2022
The writing of this strategy document is
not the work.
The work manifests in how we, the Irish
Architecture Foundation, implement
the following recommendations,
engage with communities, and evaluate
the impact of those actions.
This Audience Development Strategy
considers three audience types – our
established audiences, those not
persuaded to date and, perhaps most
crucially, those excluded.
Proviso
.......
Foreword 6
Introduction 7
Who we are 8
National and international contexts of inclusion 9
What we mean by inclusivity and accessibility 10
Barriers to inclusion 11
Other relevant glossary terms 12
Our ambitions for this work 13
Our principles 14
Action plan 15
1. Set realistic (SMART) goals 16
2. Decide the leadership of the key team who will implement 17
3. Identify specialist expertise required 17
4. Assess our current audience –
moving from assumptions and guesswork to knowledge 18
Survey 18
Community workshop 19
Implement access accommodations with a specific invitation to participate 19
Recruit a focus group with lived experience to test and give feedback 20
5. Consider what we didn’t know 21
6. Involve the people we want to have in our audience 24
7. Identify strategies 25
Programming strategies 25
Marketing and communications strategies 27
Outreach strategies 29
Accessibility strategies 29
8. Consider and engage potential collaborators 30
9. Implement audience development activities 30
10. Manage campaigns alongside day-to-day marketing 31
11. Establish monitoring procedures and progress meetings 32
12. Revisit the plan, and continue 33
Acknowledgements 34
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
Contents
6
Foreword
All of the people
When the Irish Architecture Foundation
(IAF) was convened seventeen years
ago, the intention was that this
new cultural organisation would be
independent, formative and above all
else, ensure that architecture served all
of the people.
For nearly two decades, the IAF has
established a network and track record
of delivering major projects, primarily
aimed at developing audiences for
architecture in Ireland, while also raising
the profile of Irish architecture abroad.
We have an audience that is
engaged and growing, a network that is
national and international, a sector that
is active and responsive, a following
that is in need of innovative solutions
and creative responses to urgent issues
in the contemporary built world.
Of course, we are jubilant that
we are surpassing audience targets
with high profile projects, but our
audience was not diversifying as fast
as it was growing. The demographic
landscape of our cities, towns and
villages is changing as fast as our
populations grow. As cultural and
creative practitioners we must respond
to this demographic challenge and
provide equal access to opportunities
and resources for people who might
otherwise be excluded or marginalised.
Mentored by Tilting the Lens and
Blue Line Consulting we focused our
attention on the people that we have
not been engaging with and opened a
much-needed discussion with them
about the IAF and architecture in
general. Through their generosity they
helped us begin a process of critical
self-reflection and acknowledgment of
the gaps in our experience and practice.
The intended outcome goes beyond
audience development and will result in
institutional transformation as well as
informing our programme choices.
We hope this document and the
critical path to create it is used as
a template, guide and resource for
other organisations in their journey to
more equitably deliver their work and
programmes.
This document has become essential
to everything we do.
Nathalie Weadick, FRIBA
Director
Irish Architecture Foundation
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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Introduction
Audience development work is that
which deepens engagement, grows our
audience numbers, and/or broadens its
diversity to people unlike our current
audience.
The Irish Architecture Foundation
Audience Development Strategy
describes and supports our
organisation-wide commitment to
engaging with people, be they members
of our audience or not, understanding
their interests, identifying barriers
that exist to them participating in
our programming, and seeking to
develop a long-term relationship
with them. This understanding brings
mutual respect and benefit, through
providing reasonable accommodations
to facilitate access, alongside
programmes and activities that are
relevant.
Early in the process of writing this
strategy, we realised and acknowledged
that everyone in IAF has a role in
ensuring our events, experiences, and
programmes meet the needs of our
audience; and that our audience should
be a part of conversations within the
organisation about these things.
And so, we approach our audience
development work with this philosophy
and commitment: nothing about us,
without us.
We do not (and will not) make
assumptions on behalf of communities
in terms of what they need or want.
Instead, where possible, we involve
them in the discussion and planning.
Our audience development
work spans and feeds our
programming, events, marketing and
communications, commissioning,
outreach and education programmes,
advocacy, customer care, fundraising,
and recruitment and HR processes.
Ours is an audience-centred or
audience-first approach across our
curated events, learning, Open House
Dublin and placemaking strands.
Our audience comprises attendees,
visitors, social media followers,
programme participants, architect
network members, Friends, Patrons,
donors, advocates, funders, etc. It also
includes those we are ambitious to
have within these groups.
This plan describes a more
purposeful and objective-driven
engagement with them. While we’ve
always had strong engagement, added
nuance and purpose will deliver results
we can, and will, measure and evaluate.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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Who we are
The Irish Architecture Foundation’s
purpose is to inspire people to build a
better world.
Our mission is to champion the
power of architecture to transform lives
and improve the places where we live,
learn, work, and play. This mission is
manifest in our programming.
Since 2005, IAF has promoted
public awareness of the aesthetic
and cultural value of architecture in
Ireland. Our programme comprises four
distinct activities - curation, learning,
placemaking, and the annual Open
House Dublin festival - through which
we inspire people to understand and
confidently shape their world.
Within our values of openness,
excellence, and courage, is the promise
that:
...we are open to ideas, inclusive of
all people and generous in creating
opportunities for everyone to engage
with and be inspired by architecture.
We have to ensure that the work we do
is inclusive, that the opportunities we
create are available to everyone, and
that we advocate within the sector
for our partners to think about how
everyone can engage equally with
architecture.
We believe in an Ireland where
architecture is a civic right,
fundamental to the fabric of our life,
culture, and history. But access is not a
given for all our citizens. While we work
to champion access for all to Ireland’s
built environment, IAF cannot continue
to create and deliver programmes that
are not available to everyone, whatever
their access challenges.
Our Strategic Plan includes the
ambitions to
- commission a fit-for-purpose
Audience Development Strategy that
considers and supports a hybrid
programme of physical/virtual
events.
- prioritise access for diverse
audiences.
- create e-tools to ensure no one
is socially, digitally, educationally,
economically, physically, or
geographically excluded from IAF’s
work.
We begin this work here.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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National and international
contexts of inclusion
The objectives and ambitions laid out
in our Audience Development Strategy
are identified and will be delivered in
the context of the ambitions in the Arts
Council of Ireland’s national strategy
Making Great Art Work 2016-2025,
which focuses on the inter-dependent
priorities of the artist and public
engagement, alongside the belief that
the more people who engage in the arts
and the greater their social diversity, the
more significant the societal benefits
deriving from their investments.
All IAF staff should read Making Great
Art Work 2016-2025.
This Audience Development Strategy
also continues IAF’s implementation
of the ambitions of the Arts Council’s
Equality, Human Rights and Diversity
Policy and Strategy, which strives to
respect, support, and ensure inclusion
of all voices and cultures that make
up Ireland today – from all sections
of society, both existing and new
communities, and from all social
backgrounds, ethnicities and traditions.
IAF staff should read the Equality,
Human Rights and Diversity Policy and
Strategy.
We will also include and be cognisant
of the ambitions of Ireland’s National
Policy on Architecture, when published.
On an international level, Article 27 of
the UN Declaration of Human Rights,
states:
Everyone has the right freely to
participate in the cultural life of the
community, to enjoy the arts and to
share in scientific advancement and
its benefits.
We support and are emboldened in our
work by these collective ambitions.
“Being excluded is an invisible form of
bullying that doesn’t leave bruises, and
therefore we often underestimate its
impact. When a person is ostracised,
the brain’s dorsal anterior cingulate
cortex, which registers physical pain,
also feels this social injury. The process
of ostracism includes three stages: the
initial acts of being ignored or excluded,
coping and resignation.”
Kipling D. Williams, a Purdue professor of
psychological sciences, Purdue University
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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Inclusivity is the practice or policy of
providing equal access to opportunities
and resources for people who might
otherwise be excluded or marginalised.
In Ireland, people can experience
marginalisation or exclusion in some
settings due to
— Race or ethnicity
— Disability
— Citizenship
— Religious or spiritual affiliation
— Sexual orientation
— Gender identity
— Age
— Geographic location (such as via
access to broadband, amenities,
etc.)
— Marital status
— Socio-economic class
— Educational attainment
— First language; lack of fluency in
English
— Systems impact (people who are
legally, economically, or familially
affected by incarceration or the
justice system more generally, who
are in the foster care or another care
setting, in Direct Provision, or other
state systems)
Accessibility is the quality of being able
to be reached or entered; or the quality
of being easy to obtain or use; or the
quality of being easily understood or
appreciated. So, when our physical or
digital working environments, resources,
and services are accessible, they can be
used by everyone, regardless of ability.
Tilting the Lens, the accessibility
consultancy that supported the work
towards this plan, believe accessibility
is achieved through a participatory
framework of working with disabled
people to create access and develop
solutions embedded with dignity,
agency, and creativity. This moves
beyond baseline standards to create
more equitable places, spaces, and
policies for all. Accessibility is a
continuous and evolving practice.
It varies with the audience and the
context, and as technology and
conversation progress.
As a team, we have come to believe
that when considering inclusivity in our
work, we are not designing one process
or thing for all people, but rather a
diversity of ways to participate so that
everyone has a sense of belonging.
We also believe that helpful
supports and accommodations can be
useful for everyone.
A quick example of this is that
for online events, we include live
captioning and Irish Sign Language (ISL)
interpreters alongside the audio stream.
Captions are useful not just for the d/
Deaf Community, but also for people
in a public space who don’t have
headphones, people who are learning
English, people for whom accents are
challenging, etc.
What we mean
by inclusivity
and accessibility
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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Barriers to inclusion exist everywhere. It is
important to take time to understand our own
privilege and biases, and do what we need to get
comfortable with discomfort. That discomfort
will manifest perhaps in difficult conversations,
listening and acknowledging where there are gaps
in our knowledge. We simply don’t know what we
don’t know.
At IAF, we endeavour to inform ourselves when
we discover those gaps. Once aware of the systems
of oppression, they cannot be ignored.
Bob Mullally, author and emeritus professor of
social work at University of Manitoba, describes
four systems of oppression, or barriers to inclusion
- personal, cultural, institutional, and structural.
Personal - Within ourselves we have in-built,
inherited, or learned attitudes, opinions, and
assumptions that inform how we think about,
respond to, and engage with the world and
the people in it. It is human nature to respond
differently, even in subtle ways, in interactions
with people or situations. Those responses can be
conscious or unconscious, and could manifest in
subtle notions of the superiority or inferiority of
different kinds of people, based on assumptions of
class, education, and so forth.
Cultural - Describing societal understanding of
different kinds of people, this is often learned
through what we see on TV shows, in books, and in
the news. Myths are perpetrated in the stories we
tell or are told. This societal understanding can be
problematic and difficult to change. For instance,
consider how often we see or are presented with a
Disabled person described or presented as having
‘overcome’ something, or ‘suffering’ an illness, etc.
Institutional - Organisations can have policies
and processes that create unintentional barriers
for people. Small and purposeful changes to
things like the timing of events, the breadth
of information we provide (rather than the
assumption that people know it), the level of
written documentation we request in forms
or job applications, the complexity of the
language we use in our communications, can be
powerful, because these things can be barriers
to people for different reasons. For instance, an
all-day event scheduled during Ramadan, with
food served in the same room, would present
significant challenges to a member of the Muslim
Community who is fasting and cannot eat until
after the sun sets.
Structural - Our buildings and our built
environment can create the most significant
barriers to access, many of which can have
reasonable solutions. The more types of people
involved in the planning and design of spaces,
the less need for changes or remedial fixes later
to things like entrances, toilet design, lighting,
signage, etc.
One of the most significant reasons organisations
are prone to unconscious bias in their cultural and
institutional systems, processes, and thinking, is
because of lack of diversity in the executive and/
or the Board. More diversity and representation of
different kinds of identities, will begin to challenge
group think by bringing new perspectives. That
diversity will not be achieved without thoughtful
and more purposeful approaches to the wording
of job advertisements and the processes of
interviewee selection, interview type, and
recruitment.
Barriers
to inclusion
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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Ableism - Ableism is discrimination or social
prejudice against people with disabilities, or
people who are perceived to be disabled. It
characterises people who are defined by their
disabilities as inferior to the non-disabled. Ableism
in the arts is seen where disabled people are
paid less than non-disabled people, or not hired
at all; where reasonable accommodations for
access are not made or provided; where video
pieces are created without audio descriptions or
subtitles; where images are uploaded to websites
and social media without Alt tagging or image
descriptions; or where a talk, screening, or event
is held in an inaccessible venue, thereby excluding
some participants. We can also be unintentionally
ableist in our choice of words, such as with
phrases like ‘tone deaf’, ‘blind drunk’, or referring
to people as ‘a lunatic’, ‘crazy’, or ‘a bit OCD’. With
some thought we can replace these words with
others that aren’t upsetting or reductive.
IDEA - Some companies use the acronym IDEA for
their diversity and inclusion (D&I) work, to stand
for Inclusion, Diversity, Equality, and Accessibility.
At IAF, we have swapped out ‘equality’ for ‘equity’,
as we know that if we provide our services on an
equal basis, this does not lead to accessibility.
Some people will always require more supports or
accommodations to experience things equitably,
as this image represents:
From the Interaction Institute for Social Change |
Artist: Angus Maguire
Intersectional - When we refer to intersectionality
in this plan, we are acknowledging the complex
and cumulative way in which the effects of
multiple forms of discrimination (such as
racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap,
or intersect, especially in the experiences of
marginalised individuals or groups. The theory
of intersectionality, which was introduced by
Kimberlé Crenshaw, a professor at UCLA and
Columbia specialising in race and gender issues,
states that when it comes to thinking about how
inequalities persist, categories like gender, race,
and class are best understood as overlapping
and mutually constitutive rather than isolated
and distinct. To give an example from feminist
conversations – gender inequality is not fixed
when there are more women visible, if those
women are all white and cisgender – but if there
are also women of colour, disabled women, trans
women, etc.
Privilege - Privilege refers to the social
advantages, benefits, or levels of prestige
and respect that an individual has by virtue
of belonging to certain social identity groups.
Depending on the situation, that privilege could,
for instance, be due to gender, class, education,
race, ability, etc.
Social identity - Social identity is a person’s
sense of who they are based on their group
memberships. In 1979, Henri Tajfel, a Polish social
psychologist known for his pioneering work on
the cognitive aspects of prejudice and social
identity theory, proposed that the groups that
people belong to are an important sense of
pride and self-esteem. Groups give us a sense of
social identity, a sense of belonging to the social
world. These groups can include citizenship,
gender, socio-economic class, religious affiliation,
ethnicity, etc.
Unconscious bias - Unconscious bias refers to
a bias that we are unaware of and which happens
outside of our control. It is a bias that happens
automatically and is triggered by our brain making
quick judgements and assessments of people and
situations, influenced by our background, cultural
environment, and personal experiences.
Other relevant glossary terms
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
13
Our ambitions
for this work
We are ambitious to grow an intersectional,
vibrant, and dynamic community of people who
are motivated to join a conversation about where
they live, work, play, and do business. We will do
this through social identity analysis to understand
different types of audiences to ensure everyone
can feel they belong in the discussion. But, we also
want to understand how we relate to our audience
as individuals, rather than representatives of a
demographic, minority, or target market.
While we create work of artistic and cultural
excellence, we also ensure this work engages with
audiences and leaves a lasting impression. But,
who are we not reaching? And, why?
This plan aims to create a best-in-class
strategy for audience development that tackles
inaccessibility in cultural activity in Ireland by
involving experts with lived experience through
a series of expert panels who feed in at every
stage. We are clear in our purpose to create a
plan and strategies that address the need for an
intersectional approach to audience development.
We are ambitious for this Audience Development
Strategy to activate and lead to:
— identifiable changes in our programming.
— more purpose and intention in our engagement
with our audience.
— a significant growth in both our audience
numbers, and the range of communities and
identities who engage in IAF’s work.
This document will help us engage with audiences
in a more purposeful way, with set objectives
and with a knowledge of who they are and what
supports or accommodations they need to
participate. It will help us make the best use of our
limited time and financial resources.
Traditionally, we have been more instinct-
led rather than evidence-based in much of our
audience development. In the process of writing
this document, however, we have set in motion
new engagement activities to find out more about
existing and potential audiences.
Through the course of moving much of our
activity online during the global pandemic that
began in early 2020, we have increased our direct
engagement with audiences, broadened the
geographical location of attendees at our events,
and grown the numbers of people following us on
social media and joining our database.
This has given us the impetus and drive to
ask questions allowing us to get to know our
audiences more fully, beyond the standard
demographic questions we’ve asked in the past
after events such as Open House Dublin.
Barriers to inclusion can be personal or
attitudinal, societal or cultural, institutional (such
as via our formal or informal policies) or structural
through access to our built environment. The
IAF team began the journey to developing this
strategy with an ambition and commitment to
inform ourselves. We simply didn’t know what we
didn’t know. When we began to be aware of the
types and systems of oppression, we knew that
our audience development work needed to be
about much more than tackling accessibility and
inclusion issues. We now also know that we can no
longer make assumptions that our programming is
relevant to all the communities we would love to
count within our audience.
This work aims to be an exemplar in the
engagement and understanding of an
intersectional, vibrant, and dynamic community
of the broadest level of ability and challenge,
creating a model for accessibility, equity, inclusion,
diversity, and belonging.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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We approach our audience development work with the following principles:
Purposeful engagement and conversation,
‘nothing about us, without us’
Evidence not assumptions
Long-term thinking, ongoing processes,
rather than short-term activities
Organisation-wide commitment
Holistic focus on existing and potential audiences
Constant vigilance on who isn’t in the room
Ongoing practice of constructive questioning of assumptions
Planning, implementing, evaluating, reviewing
Most importantly, this
is a live document,
a live plan, and a
live policy that will
evolve and grow as we
evaluate and review
the implementation.
IMPLEMENT
TEST IDEAS
PLAN
REVIEW
EVALUATE
Our principles
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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Action plan
1. Set realistic (SMART) goals
2. Decide the leadership of the key team who will implement
3. Identify specialist expertise required
4. Assess our current audience
5. Consider what we didn’t know
6. Involve the people we want to have in our audience
7. Identify strategies
8. Consider and engage potential collaborators
9. Implement audience development activities
10. Manage campaigns alongside day-to-day marketing
11. Establish monitoring procedures and progress meetings
12. Revisit the plan, and continue
To follow is our strategy to implement
those actions across our events,
learning, placemaking and Open
House Dublin strands. The processes
were modelled at the event, which is
discussed here in detail.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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1. Set realistic (SMART) goals
Our drive to build the audience for architecture in Ireland has underscored all our
projects and work to date. Our goals in audience development are to
grow our audience numbers — a quantitative increase
be more engaged and connected with them — qualitative improvement
grow the diversity of our audience — quantitatively broaden networks
This document approaches that work from marketing, communications, pro-
gramming, and accessibility perspectives. We will more effectively engage with
audiences across age, gender, race, class, ability, culture, etc.
SMART goals are those that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and
timely, or time-bound.
At the start of each year, when planning our Strategic Plan implementation, we
will set targets for ourselves, such as in
— growing audience numbers (attendance, increased capacity at events,
increase in mailing list signups, increase in Friend memberships, increase in social
media followers)
— increasing the level of engagement (growth of engagement on social media,
applications, and participation in our longer-participative programmes)
— improving engagements from target communities in specific programmes,
increasing awareness among multiply marginalised communities to the accessi-
bility of events like Open House Dublin, increasing use of accommodation provi-
sions at events
We will measure outcomes through our audience surveys on the diversity of our
audience.
Success will be manifest in how we have added value to, and through, our audi-
ence. For instance, at Open House Dublin, do they stay longer, visit more sites,
watch more videos, ultimately join as a member of IAF, or go on to be an advo-
cate or champion for architecture? Do more diverse communities apply to partic-
ipate in Placemaking programmes?
These outcomes all help to drive forward IAF’s mission.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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2. Decide the leadership of the key team
who will implement
We have already agreed that audience development is an organisation-wide ac-
tivity and in that way everyone in IAF will be involved in the work. The implemen-
tation of this plan will be overseen by the Board and the Chair, and will be man-
aged day-to-day by the Director. Access, inclusion, and diversity will be a regular
agenda item for the Board to discuss and report on.
Individual activities, campaigns, and programmes will be led variously by the
Marketing team, the Programming team, the Outreach team, and so forth.
3. Identify specialist expertise required
This Audience Development Strategy is written in partnership with Blue Line Con-
sulting, with the support of specialist accessibility consultancy Tilting the Lens.
With their partnership and support we have had and will continue to seek contri-
butions from representatives of communities who have lived experience of the
barriers to inclusion in the arts and cultural experiences in Ireland.
We will continue to engage with multiply marginalised communities who will help
inform our thinking and support our learning, supporting us to develop ideas for
programming that is relevant to their communities.
Alongside this, and to support our work towards a more accessible programme,
we will work with technology experts in the field of inclusion, and suppliers who
have a shared understanding of the barriers to participation and a drive to ad-
dress them. In 2021, for instance, we began a partnership with Aira Tech Corp, a
US-based app using the latest technology and highly trained teams to provide
real-time information to people who are Blind or have low vision.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
“To not have the conversations because they make
you uncomfortable, is the definition of privilege.
Your comfort is not at the centre of this discussion.”
Brené Brown, Researcher and Writer
– Netflix Special ‘The Call to Courage’
18
4. Assess our current audience –
moving from assumptions and
guesswork to knowledge
We began to develop our Audience Development Strategy by seeking to under-
stand who our audience was and set a benchmark for its diversity, so that we
could measure any positive or negative change over the course of our implemen-
tation work.
That understanding crucially included the accessibility needs of both existing
and potential audience members. By moving to meet those needs, we can and
should deepen our relationship with our current audience and their interest in us.
We will also grow our audience by being accessible to more people, and broaden
the diversity of our audience by removing as many barriers to access as possible.
Survey
Working with our consultants, we prepared a broader and more in-depth version
of our Audience Survey, which sought to understand what identities they hold,
and what, if any, supports or accommodations they need to attend our events,
either online or in person.
The questions in this survey had to be more personal and identity-led than au-
dience members had been asked before, so we were careful to be clear why we
were asking and to ensure GDPR compliance:
1. The survey audience was invited to respond, rather than any indication that
the survey was mandatory. Each question included the option to respond ‘I
prefer not to say’.
2. It was an anonymous survey.
3. We did not ask respondents for any identifying details that would come under
GDPR legislation, such as name, email, bank details, street address, etc.
4. Potentially identifying details were collected only via a multiple. For example,
age was asked within a group range; address/location was only by county;
employment was via their industry or type of work.
5. We were clear in the invitation to respond why we were asking, and how we
were going to use the information (i.e., to understand the diversity of our audi-
ence, their needs, and to design accessible and inclusive programming).
6. The data was not published in any sort of granular way and was processed
and seen by a very limited group of approved people on the team.
We were encouraged that 420 people responded, giving us wide-ranging quanti-
tative and qualitative data that will inform our planning for activities and events,
and providing a base-line for future surveys to measure the development of our
audience’s diversity.
Irish Architecture a Audience Development Strategy
19
The survey asked respondents to give details of the accommodations they need
for accessibility for both in-person and online events, and invited them to select
the identities they have to allow us to benchmark our audience.
Community workshop
Alongside and as a follow up to the Audience Survey, we programmed a work-
shop with representatives of communities we would value as part of our audi-
ence, but who were not identifying themselves as part of our current audience
via our survey data.
Crucially, the individuals have lived experience of barriers to inclusion. The discus-
sion allowed space to mine that experience and consider alignments that came
to light in terms of shared needs. Our participants’ contributions, expertise, and
time was honoured and valued, as would the contribution of any expert, via an
honorarium.
Our participants represented
— the Muslim Community
— the Traveller Community
— the Neurodiverse and Autistic Community
— the Disabled Community
— the d/Deaf Community
— the Transgender Community
— the Black Irish/POC Community
The workshop was thoughtfully facilitated by Sinéad Burke of Tilting the Lens. We
gained valuable experience in programming and managing accessible events by
including a live captioner and two ISL interpreters within the range of accommo-
dations that were provided for the workshop.
We learned an enormous amount from both the workshop outputs and the
survey data. We recognised that it wasn’t just our physical and online spaces
that we needed to consider in terms of accessibility, but also our programmes, in
terms of their relevance to multiply marginalised communities. We are guilty of
programming what we know, and what we believe our audience would be in-
terested in knowing. Our workshop participants challenged our thinking in this, al-
lowing us to see that we had unconscious biases and were making assumptions
as to what they would be interested in. This ensured we were even more ambi-
tious to engage in more conversations around programming and consider whose
voices we hadn’t invited into the room.
Implement access accommodations with a specific invitation to participate
Using the data from the survey and the crowdsourced qualitative data from
our Community Workshop, we worked with our access consultants to develop a
model inclusive festival in Open House Dublin 2021, with a view to applying the
learning to the curated events, learning and placemaking strands of IAF’s work.
Initially thinking we would develop elements of the Festival that were targeted
for an accessible approach, we knew that this would not be appropriate, and
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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accessibility would have to be our ambition for the entire event because 14.4% of
respondents to the survey identified as having a disability or requiring additional
support.
We worked with our designers to redesign the website for accessibility. We need
to work on this further to include more information and intuitive search func-
tions. We have learned that access to relevant and accurate information is the
most cost effective and useful way to give people agency to know if they can
access events. It also communicates implicitly that we’ve thought of different
kinds of audiences, which infers a welcome for all. We need to go farther into the
future than just indicating wheelchair accessibility - to identify if there is step-
free access and lifts, to note the distance from transport and parking, and how
long walking tours are.
A brief was to architects to commission the creation of online tours of buildings,
to ensure what was created was as accessible as possible. We also launched
an open call for ISL interpreters for the Open House Dublin event. We sought
to allocate interpreters to events we knew members of the d/Deaf Community
were attending. This will be a challenge in future years as this audience grows.
We were keen to make Open House Dublin accessible also to volunteers from
diverse backgrounds and created a broader registration form that would allow us
to understand if any accommodations were required. It also allowed for disabled
people to volunteer alongside a support worker or friend, and identified where
would be convenient for them to travel to.
Aira is the world’s fastest growing service provider amongst the blind and low-vi-
sion (BLV) community. Appendix 6 on page 34 gives details of the Aira app. Aira
has agreed to partner on the 2022 festival also to provide access to those who
need it.
Recruit a focus group with lived experience to test and give feedback
Ahead of the Open House Dublin Festival, we recruited a focus group of seven
disabled people who could road-test the festival experience, from searching the
website, booking tickets online, attending an in-person or online event, or testing
the Aira app.
The focus group included representatives from the d/Deaf Community, the Blind
Community, the Autistic and Neurodiverse Community, wheelchair users and
users of other mobility aids, and people who suffer chronic pain and so have lim-
ited energy levels. Participants also represented intersectional identities ranging
across age, the Trans and Non-Binary Community, the Traveller Community, and
others.
The group met online in the weeks after the Festival to give feedback on their
experiences and collectively identify ways to improve access in the future across
all IAF strands.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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5. Consider what we didn’t know
We learned so many unexpected things through the generosity and candour of
the participants in both our workshop and focus group, and our survey respond-
ents. For instance, we understood for the first time how problematic seemingly
simple things like access to toilets can be for multiple communities, and what fa-
cilities they need within them. We learned that access to quiet spaces are impor-
tant for many communities including the Autistic and Neurodiverse Community
if they become over-stimulated, the Muslim Community to have private space
for prayer, parents of young children for time-out, and people who are nursing
babies for privacy, etc.
We also learned and understood that to engage and encourage participation in
our work or attendance by multiply marginalised communities, such as the Trav-
eller Community or the Asylum Seeker Community, we need to develop, plan, and
make programmes and projects with them rather than for or about them. This is
likely a fundamental shift in how many organisations do parts of their work, and
even how many artists approach their creative process. The old adage that ‘if
we build it, they will come’ is simply not borne out by what we have learned and
experienced in our explorations. Both of these communities also identified occa-
sional challenges in gaining access to some cultural events, citing door policies,
staffing, and proof of identity or address requirements as significantly problem-
atic in their communities. This knowledge was very impactful to the team.
The disabled participants in our workshop events also helped us understand that
we need to work harder when programming events such as Open House Dublin
to ensure our communications materials support us as we strive to be accessible.
We need to make it clear at every point in our marketing plan implementation,
which spaces and buildings included in the programme are accessible, and in
what way. That clarity in our communications goes an enormous distance to
show intent and to communicate ambition for inclusion to many communities
and people with a lived experience of exclusion, in whatever form.
If disabled people see from our website that we are intentional in how we pres-
ent our information, and the details we give, we have already signalled our wish to
include them. Including an open invitation to contact us to let us know their ac-
commodation needs, is an implicit indication that we have thought about them
and are ready to include them in what we do.
Although the Open House Dublin 2021 website included information about ac-
cessibility of buildings, feedback from participants indicated that more specific
information is vital, such as how far a tour progresses in terms of walking ; if it
involves hills/steps, etc. This allows people with limited mobility to understand
how independent they can be on our tour experience.
Some of the top-line quantitative data that came from our audience survey,
which we found useful to understand, includes the following needs for people
attending events in person:
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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— 32.5% requested advanced receipt of the agenda
— 10% need information in advance on access to the event space
— 14.4% need information on transport and disabled parking
— 11% need access to an accessible bathroom
— 16% need somewhere to sit down or a space to rest quite regularly
— 2% use screen readers – and so need Alt Text or clear descriptions of images
— 5% need large or magnified text in handouts
— 2% need captions on videos
— 1.4% need audio descriptions for in-person events
We were concerned that making our events and programmes more accessible
would be a costly and unachievable endeavour. However, the accommodations
sought are all things that can be easily provided at no or very little cost, depend-
ing on where we choose to hold our events.
For online events, we found that
— 42% of our audience need the agenda in advance
— 14.5% need regular breaks to assimilate information
— 5% would like audio descriptions for speakers, slides, or images
These, too, have little or no cost, and with planning can be easily provided.
However, some accommodations for online events do add an extra cost, such
as provision of live captioning (though, there are developing artificial intelligence
technology solutions available that are growing in quality and cost-effectiveness)
and ISL translation.
— 0.6% need ISL interpretation
— 8% need captioning or transcription
These numbers are indicative of the audience now. If we don’t provide ISL inter-
pretation or live transcription, we won’t ever have the Deaf Community in the
room. We need to create a space where practices around accessibility become
the norm, so that our communications centre a widespread invitation through
the relevant representative groups or channels, rather than a request of a disa-
bled person to fit in, or ask ‘can I attend?
Open House Dublin 2021 employed ‘ISL Interpreters At Large’ who were
available to attend in-person tours where we were aware an ISL user would be in
attendance. The feedback from participants who used this service was invalua-
ble to ensure the experience is even more beneficial in future years. This includes
ensuring the tour guides were aware in advance that ISL interpretation may be
provided, and to ensure their delivery was paced appropriately to allow for simul-
taneous translation.
In terms of the diversity of the current IAF audience, based on survey responses
— 60% are female
— 2.2% identify as non-binary or prefer not to respond
— 10% are LGBTQ+
— 14.7% identified as having a disability
— 4.4% are black or POC
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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The qualitative feedback in the survey included individuals identifying that they
— need bathroom access for our outdoor events
(the largest number of requests).
— have limited mobility, and can only walk short distances.
— need access to seating at outdoor walking events.
— require larger text in the design of notice boards and explanatory texts.
— need either louder speakers or access to headphones to ensure they can hear
— require clear communication one-on-one due to neurodiversity
The qualitative feedback also included wide-ranging needs such as quiet spaces
| rest spaces | soft lighting | low noise | higher chairs | bigger pavement spaces |
something safe and comfortable to hold for walking or standing. Information on
expected walking distances is of great benefit, as well as accurate information on
the distances from parking and transport for all future activities and clear notifi-
cation of when breaks will happen in presented programmes.
“This festival is something I’ve been aware of for a while. But I never felt like I
could attend it before. So, getting an email from Sinéad saying, ‘we’re doing this
thing’, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, absolutely count me in and no questions asked!’…So,
one of the positive things was just knowing that accessibility was something
that was being considered. That was huge to me, knowing that, you know, I
could go along… I never did anything about it (my interest in Open House Dublin)
because there are so many other battles. And it was…it felt like, you know, there
were so many other battles accessing employment or education or health care
or, you know, things that were actually necessary in life. This was more for my
own personal interest rather than a necessity, and therefore, it wasn’t a battle I
felt I had the energy or the spoons, for want of a better term, to take it on. I just
assumed there would be a battle.”
Participant in the Open House Dublin focus group
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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6. Involve the people we want
to have in our audience
Instead of focusing on compliance and minimum standards, and buoyed by
our new knowledge of our audience and the communities we are not currently
reaching, we have chosen to approach inclusion and access creatively and with
generosity and openness, through invitation, dialogue, and solutions. We have set
our ambitions higher, and will strive to do better.
It is our work now to consider how we can programme across our four strands in
a way that feels welcoming and is relevant; produce communications and mar-
keting messages that speak to audiences in a way that connects; and identify
spaces for our events that previously marginalised people can access, but also,
crucially, want to access.
This will mark and make the change in our audiences – by increasing engagement
and participation, growing numbers, and broadening diversity. We received in-
credibly valuable feedback from our focus group of disabled audience members
who participated in the Open House Dublin Festival 2021 in different ways to test
the accessibility accommodations that we had provided. Each gave generous
and constructive feedback on their experiences, identifying ways to improve, and
offering ideas for engaging their community for future events.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
“As disabled people, often we enter into spaces, or sometimes
we choose not to, but most likely we enter into spaces with low
expectations and assuming that the burden for access lives with us as
individuals. And I love that idea that you shared of how surprised you
were that there was an ISL interpreter. I wish I was there to witness
that moment and only wish that that moment is part of your cultural
experience in the city every day.”
Sinéad Burke, Tilting the Lens,
facilitating Open House Dublin focus group of disabled visitors 2021
25
7. Identify strategies
This Audience Development Strategy structures processes to help us think about
and engage with the desired audience before we programme, and before we de-
sign our marketing and communications to connect who they are, what they are
interested in, and what they need to experience it equitably.
We will consider the venues, the platforms, and the accommodations need-
ed to ensure (as close as possible to) universal access, and a friendly welcome for
each event. We will carefully plan the marketing to ensure our language, tone, and
message are clear, welcoming, and inclusive. We will ask our audience afterwards
what they thought, and listen to what we can make better.
Alongside the programming strategies discussed, we will also continue
to crowdsource relevant and innovative audience development activities and
strategies through ongoing public engagement. Our Outreach team and Commu-
nications team already have a dialogue with current and potential audiences and
so, with more purposeful engagement, can ask people to identify how best to
communicate with them, so as to understand their needs.
Our Outreach team will also develop a dialogue with organisations that
support or work with some of the new audiences we hope to engage with and
encourage to participate. Our invitations will be explicit.
Our key learning to date has been that in engaging audience members as
individuals, we cannot apply a policy of one-size-fits-all. We are designing a diver-
sity of ways to engage and be involved, in the hope of reaching almost everyone.
Programming strategies
Open House Dublin: In 2021, the Open House Dublin Festival comprised Building
Tours, as usual, but with lower capacity; many were walking tours of the grounds,
rather than inside the buildings. The building selection didn’t include residential
properties for COVID safety. For 2022, the buildings selected will have some lev-
els of accessibility, as they will be public spaces. However, all buildings that are in
the programme will be subject to very specific and rigorous information provid-
ed on our website and in Open House Dublin Debate programme materials that
makes it clear how accessible the space is, how far it is from public transport and
accessible parking, and what toilet accessibility, entrance ways, etc., are like. We
have worked with Tilting the Lens to create a taxonomy for how we should de-
scribe and communicate accessibility, which will carry forward into subsequent
events.
Residential Tours currently manifest as self-made videos by the architects. Al-
though we cannot control the quality of what is made, we have provided acces-
sibility guidance (a rider) for the architects, to ensure they make films that are as
user-friendly and accessible as possible. This includes giving image descriptions
for themselves and each new space they enter on the tour, avoiding jerky camera
movements, adding captioning, checking lighting, etc., and including information
in the video piece of any accessibility accommodations built into the house
design. Any films provided that have not been captioned, will be captioned by IAF
before uploading on our site.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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The focus group has suggested that best practice in the future would provide for
options for the user to select closed captions/no captions/visual descriptions as
a voice over/on-screen ISL interpretation.
The Open House Debate is a cornerstone event that took place as a hybrid in-per-
son and online event in 2021. Given the growth in the online audience for this
from other geographies, this delivery model may continue in 2022. Either way, it
will include the useful accommodations and supports that were requested in
our survey, such as captioning, ISL interpretation, visual descriptions for speakers
and slides, information in advance of the schedule, and timing of breaks, etc. We
will seek additional resources and begin a dialogue with the Irish Deaf Society
to employ deaf interpreters for our pillar events, such as the Open House Dublin
Debate and New Now Next talks. Using deaf interpreters is best practice when
presenting content to the Deaf Community, where possible. This year’s debate is
on the subject of Housing, and our Outreach team will work with relevant organ-
isations in advance to build interest and establish points of view on how this
impacts particular communities, such as the Disabled Community, the Traveller
Community, and so forth.
Our Site Specific programme comprises six films commissioned from Dyehouse,
which were premiered online and run in the cinema. The films were captioned,
but the focus group suggested that image descriptions be an option to switch
on for the audio track. Closed loop was activated for the cinema screenings. The
subject matter of these films and the themes of the Open House Debate are pro-
gramming opportunities that can be broached with new communities over the
coming years as we develop new relationships.
Future Open House Dublin programmes will be developed with a focus on inclu-
sion via the triple target of relevant content, accessible spaces, and comprehen-
sive information to ensure we address as many barriers to inclusion as possible.
Architects in Schools: Our Architects in Schools programme, which has run for a
number of years, will have an inclusion focus brought to bear. We will research the
potential benefit to the preparation of materials in broader formats, such as large
format text, Braille, etc., allowing us to develop relationships with new communi-
ties, such as schools for the blind. Open conversations with potential new par-
ticipants might broaden our subject matter. Sensitivity training will be provided
for architects to allow them to engage new cultures. We will ensure artists and
facilitators are supported with appropriate training to ensure excellent levels of
duty of care are available for participants and the accommodations they require
and that those activities are tailored for everyone’s needs.
The dynamics of a programme can be affected positively by the diversity of
participants, leaders, and audience members. We understand, however, that
it cannot be a case of ‘We’ve programmed this, you should come.’ We need to
co-create and co-curate programmatic elements with the community.
Developing deeper engagement with minority communities already partic-
ipating in existing programmes, for instance older people or people with faiths
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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that are a minority in Ireland and so forth, would allow us to have really excit-
ing conversations about subject matter that is relevant to them and could be
interrogated through our New Now Next programme. We could also develop vital
intelligence from them on how we can best engage with their wider community.
Placemaking: The Reimagine Café and Placemaking projects will follow a sim-
ilar model to our more thoughtful and purposeful call for volunteers for Open
House Dublin, with a specific invitation from communities who have experienced
barriers to inclusion in the past, as well as more flexible application processes
to ensure interested communities are not disadvantaged by language barriers,
literacy, disability, etc. Resources will be set aside to ensure people in our chosen
communities who need supports and accommodations are provided with them.
Curated and Learning Events: With the data from our audience survey we will
ensure budget always exists for interpreters, closed captioners and other ac-
commodations for our events. More engagement with the Deaf Society and NCBI
will allow our events to be marketed to their communities, ensuring we can grow
audiences in their networks. We will conduct our survey again in 12 months to
measure the impact of our work.
Exhibitions in our building and in other venues will always include accommoda-
tions such as large format captions, footstools or ramps if any material is being
displayed in vitrines or at a height, and more considered lighting to ensure work
can be seen from a seated position in a wheelchair. We will also more carefully
describe the expected experience on our website and invitation to ensure people
have enough information to know if they can see or experience the exhibition
independently.
Marketing and communications strategies
We will audit our owned, earned, shared, and paid media use to identify ways to
be clear of our intention to be more inclusive to new audiences.
We also commit to engage with different people/audiences in the way that
best fits their experience, attitude, or need to allow them to feel included, rather
than simply removing accessibility barriers.
Owned: Our website and online platforms will be upgraded to improve accessibil-
ity with
better colour contrasting, alt-tagging, audio clips, and ease of use for adaptive
technologies. We will ensure our signage is accessible and readable.
Earned: We will be more intentional in the crafting of PR messaging to ensure
we are not ableist in our phrasing or attitudes. We will target media platforms
and outlets that connect with the communities we want to engage and ensure
we tell compelling stories that are relevant to those groups. For harder-to-reach
audiences we will also consider who should deliver the message. Could we use
different media and different people across it?
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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Shared: Our social media posts will be accessible to disabled people in the future
by ensuring we add image descriptions to the end of posts using images, use
CamelCase in hashtags, caption any film clips, and ensure graphic images with
text in them have appropriate colour contrast. We will move towards a plain Eng-
lish approach to writing posts to ensure we don’t alienate some audiences.
Owned: Our brochures, posters, information packs, and catalogues will meet
best practice guidelines in accessible design while maintaining the standards of
design aesthetic for IAF. We will commit to a minimum font size, colour contrasts,
etc. Our newsletters and e-shots, similarly will have accessibility features to
ensure they reach the desired audiences. We will work harder in planning, com-
missioning and using images to ensure representation of communities, bodies,
or cultures that aren’t always visible, to further communicate our welcome and
challenge the architectural community to consider everyone in what and how
they design.
Tips to ensure clear communications to all types of people:
— We will avoid using euphemistic and ableist phrases like differently abled,
special needs, impairments, etc. If we need to make reference to people need-
ing additional support, we will say ‘Please let us know if you have any access
or other requirements to participate successfully on the day.’ We will switch
phrasing like ‘see’ and ‘hear’ in our communications, to more open phrasing,
such as ‘this is an opportunity to learn about…’
— When referencing dates for events or other activities, we will always seek to
include the day of the week to support Neurodiverse people.
— When giving an email address for making contact, queries, or booking a place,
we will also provide a phone number as an added option.
— When linking to a url in a document, we will make the live link a series of words
that describe what the link is. For instance, instead of ‘click here’ the link will
say ‘Book a place for the GPO tour.’
— We will endeavour to structure sentences to support those with literacy or
technology difficulties. For instance, instead of ‘contact for more details’, we
will say ‘If you have any queries, or experience any difficulties in completing
this form, please contact James by phone at XYZ or email at ABC…’
— When using images in social media, on our website, or in digital communica-
tions, we will use descriptive alt-tags and image descriptions that describe
the composition of the image.
— As the diversity of our audience grows, we will consider adding preferred pro-
noun space on name badges if we are using them for events.
— When promoting events we will always include details of local transport links
and how far they are from the venue.
— We will endeavour to add audio/sound files to journal articles on our website
so that the option exists for blind, low vision, and people with literacy issues
to listen to longer-form pieces. Conversely, with sound pieces (and film pieces)
we will have a written version (and closed-captioned versions) for deaf audi-
ences.
— We will seek to have more intuitive search features on websites such as Open
House Dublin, so that tours are searchable based on wheelchair accessibility,
lift/stair-free access, etc.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
29
— Where possible, and when time and resources allow, we will endeavour to em-
ploy deaf interpreters to increase accessibility for the Deaf Community.
— We will endeavour to make no assumptions on gender to avoid accidental
misgendering of people, such as through the use of pronouns, directing people
to toilet facilities, etc.
— We will work with partner venues to make toilets accessible and safe for trans
and non-binary audience members.
Outreach strategies
Our community workshops have helped us to learn about particular needs,
accommodations, perceptions, and attitudes. We will continue to occasionally
convene workshops to engage on topics arounds programming, outreach, and
communications.
We will create a community of ambassadors or community representatives
to help to increase the credibility and validity of our messages and reach people
we haven’t previously engaged.
When we create a connection to people, we will keep up the conversation
– if we invite people to engage or attend, we will stay engaged, and keep up the
information flow.
Accessibility strategies
Much of our programme will continue online in the near future. This will help us
continue to engage the geographic spread of our audience over COVID times.
However, there are barriers to participating fully online. We will continue to work
to understand what they are, and identify ways to tackle them. That work starts
with our website, which needs work on colour contrast for web accessibility, etc.
We will also include accessibility statements on our website to ensure it is clear
that we are purposeful and intentional in this work.
For in-person events, we will seek to use venues that have accessible entrances,
accessible bathrooms, unisex bathrooms, or cubicles that have access to water
adjacent to the toilet facilities. We will provide more information in advance to
audiences, to create more comfort ahead of programmes that the events are
accessible to them as individuals, and their needs.
We will provide more training for our teachers, architects, and education pro-
gramme teams to support them in working with broader cultures and working
with people who may need additional supports or accommodations to partici-
pate equitably.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
30
8. Consider and engage
potential collaborators
Partnership can be key to achieving success in audience development by open-
ing up routes to target audience groups or to help plan large-scale projects to
bring communities into contact with events, services, and opportunities previ-
ously not accessible to them, or not experienced before.
However, shared ambitions, understanding, and aims are key. We cannot
tackle exclusion on our own; we need to ensure our partners have a shared un-
derstanding of the barriers to inclusion and a shared ambition to address them.
We can partner with DPOs (Disabled People’s Organisations), community
development organisations, government agencies, networks and resource organ-
isations, or other cultural partners.
What organisations can we partner with who already have strong engage-
ment with and the trust of the communities we would like to have in our audi-
ence?
We will work together to prepare a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) if
appropriate, to ensure we have ways to test progress and success. The MoU will
include guidance for partners on creating content and events with the accessibil-
ity accommodations we expect as a baseline standard, such as captions, alt-text,
image descriptions, etc.
Social inclusion activities and partnerships can attract investment from
non-arts funding sources, such as regeneration funds, social inclusion, commu-
nity development, etc., which may bring new resources to the audience develop-
ment work.
9. Implement audience
development activities
Setting out specific ambitions targets and objectives for each audience develop-
ment activity will help us proceed with more purpose in implementation and put
in place the measures and measurement processes we need.
There should be several team planning meetings to discuss risk assessment.
This will look at all potential inclusion, accessibility, cultural, or other challenges
that we can anticipate, and ways we could mitigate or terminate those risks.
However, we will proceed at all times with clear, comprehensive, concise informa-
tion, and an open invitation to audiences to engage and let us know what sup-
ports they need to experience all our programmes and events equitably, so we
can be prepared and ready to support them on the day.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
31
10. Manage campaigns alongside
day-to-day marketing
We won’t be able to develop the audience we want, if they don’t see themselves
represented. We know that ‘if you can’t see it, you can’t be it’, so we are reflecting
and will broaden the diversity of our Board, of our executive, of our volunteers,
and of our event programme speakers, artists, architects, and jury panels.
We commit to due diligence when we are hiring venues or booking spaces
for our events to ensure that there is no history of racist or anti-Traveller rhetoric
or admission policies, whether formal or informal. We will also ensure that venue
toilets and access to the toilets are, and live up to, the commitments we have
made to our audience for safe space, for transgender audience members, disa-
bled audiences, and so forth. We will also seek to have access to quiet spaces for
audiences.
We will continue to develop our marketing messages, practising our inclu-
sion mindset and approach.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
“If we don’t design public spaces in particular
with Disabled people in mind, where do we
give them permission to exist? At home? In
care centres? This is about giving people
access in the same way that everybody else
has had for years.”
Sinead Burke, Founder and CEO of Tilting the Lens
32
11. Establish monitoring procedures
and progress meetings
Ambitious outcomes may require significant resources and commitment. How-
ever, ongoing monitoring allows for quick reactions and adaptations as necessary
to ensure resources are not wasted. Also, regular measurement allows us to make
compelling cases for support to funders, as we show a need developing.
Where possible our measurements will continue to be quantitative and qualita-
tive. We have set baseline standards through our Audience Survey, and we can
carry that out annually to track progress of diversification.
A snapshot of our audience at present:
— 97.5% of our audience present as cisgender
— 21.5% are architects
— 3.5% are studying
— 19% are retired
— 43% are employed, self-employed, or other in the building services
— 78% are aged 25 to 64
— 1.44% are under 25
— 21% are over 64
— 95% live in Ireland
— 1.26% are disabled but 14.41% ticked a box focused around disability in terms
of identity
— 92.31% used person-first language
We will also work with our collaborators to develop a process of peer assessment,
sharing insights and intelligence that is helpful across projects and partnerships.
We won’t just measure our audience; we’ll be measuring ourselves, and how well
we are doing.
As well as things like measuring attendance and engagement, we will measure
how accessible our events and activities are, the requests we get for new accom-
modations, and how and how quickly we can meet them. We will measure our ef-
forts to reach out and connect with communities, representative organisations,
and new partnerships.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
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12. Revisit the plan, and continue
This Audience Development Strategy is a living document, and will evolve as we
meet and engage new audiences, as we implement and measure our new policies
and campaigns, and as we measure the success and receive feedback on the
efficacy of the processes we have developed. Audience development work is not
a one-time activity, but rather an ongoing, long-term process that IAF is commit-
ted to implementing, and a muscle we hope to develop. We will remind ourselves
of our principles at each juncture, namely:
The following appended documents can be used as templates for audience de-
velopment activities that model inclusive and accessible approaches.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
34
Acknowledgements
The work to develop and draft this
plan was completed over 2020 and
2021, involving every member of staff
at the Irish Architecture Foundation
and with the support of our Board. We
were further supported in that work
by a number of experts led by Rowena
Neville of Blue Line Consulting and by
Sinéad Burke of Tilting the Lens. Copy
editing was facilitated by Mary Murphy
of Írj Jól Kft and editorial by Livia Hurley.
We would like to thank the experts
who generously contributed their
time and lived experience in a
number of workshops, including Sam
Blanckensee, Brigid Carmody, Lei
Crowe, Brian Dalton, Róisín
Dermody, Fergus Dunne, Valerie
Mahon, Dr Rosaleen McDonagh, Nor
Nasib, and Eleanor Walsh.
We owe a debt of gratitude to Kevin
Phelan and the team at AIRA who
worked tirelessly to make the app
accessible to users Ireland during
the Open House Dublin Festival. We
also thank our ISL interpreters, closed
captioners, tour guides and building
owners who worked with us to create
new levels of access during the Festival,
which we hope are a launch pad to
new levels of access into the future for
everyone.
We are grateful to the Arts Council
who supported this work through the
Capacity Building Support Scheme
2021.
Irish Architecture Foundation Audience Development Strategy
Irish
Architecture
Foundation
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