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audiences Study Tells AH about Arts Consumers 1 behaviours and attitudes. The data in the C A C P will be available to both the public and private sectors. This should influence funders in the corporate world when arts organizations approach them for support. The C A C P is unique in other ways. It ts not merely a demographic study of the converted and "near"' audiences. It is the first study to survey the "far" audience and find the obstacles to their attendance and participation. It also measures attitudes about the arts and arts development: the data shows that the general public values the arts and most respondents would welcome the opportunity to attend performances or purchase works of visual art more often. The C A C P ' s results are positive and should been seen as encouraging to presenters, producing companies, and arts educators. Two-thirds of those surveyed would like to go out more often; the same number attended at least one performance in the past six months. Seventy-one percent of respondents agree that "artists make an important contribution to society"; 72 percent agree that "it is important to expose children to the arts"; and 76 percent agree that Canadian performers are as good as those anywhere in the world. The clearest--and most important for marketers--statement in the study is that both attenders (91 percent) and the general public (82 percent) consider the work being performed to be the most influential factor in their purchasing behaviour. The work of the artist remains the ultimate I for the arts consumer; there The Department of Commu finally tabled the report on its longawaited Canadian Arts Consumer Profile (CACP).The C A C P was initiated by the Department of Communications when Marcel Masse held the communications portfolio. It was funded jointly by the federal government, the governments of all ten provinces and the municipal governments of Toronto. Montreal and Vancouver. The total cost of the study was $955,000. When one considers the number of arts organizations that participated in the survey, the cost of the study averages out to approximately $200 per organization, which is a bargain for market research of any sort. The C A C P is the first pan-Canadian survey of current and potential consumers of the professional performing and visual arts. It is intended to serve as a foundation for new arts marketing initiatives. The response to the initiative surpassed the researchers' expectations. Over 52,000 Canadians completed and returned a total of 65,000 questionnaires. There were six different questionnaires distributed over the last two-and-a-half years. The report should prove to be a sophisticated marketing root, the likes of which have hitherto been seen only in the private sector. The arts have never been subjected to such an exhaustive study of c are. therefore, opportunities for arts marketers to remove constraints to purchase and to generate motivation. It is paramount to generate and convey the excellence of the artistic work to what appears to be a willing and waiting audience. Constraints on purchasing could prove difficult to remove in these troubled economic times. Fully 73 percent of respondents said that the main impediment to going out more often was that it was too expensive. Price was cited more than twice as often as being too busy at home (35 percent) or at work (28 percent), or that the type of performances they want to see are not available in their area (25 percent). That having been said, 73 percent of respondents said they were willing to incur an increase in ticket prices, compared to 27 percent w ho were not or had no opinion. There were two ideas that met with approval and that might enhance ticket purchases: the ability of the consumer to earn "frequent attender points" toward free tickets, and the capacity to purchase tickets through automatic teller-type machines which show seating plans. The 600-page report is not a light read, by any means. But it appears to be an informative one. The important thing now is to use the data to the artistic community's best advantage; there's work ahead. Organismes Artistiques) Newsletter. May/June 1992 The Vancouver Cultural Alliance is presenting a number of information sessions on the CACP throughout the month of October. On October 7th. from 2-4 prn, there will be a general presentation of the study's results. Following that will be discipline-specific workshops that will examine the results in greater depth. These take place October 19th. 20th and 21 st. from 10 am till noon, at the Cultural Alliance's offices. 938 Howe St. For more information, call Deborah Handley at 681-3535. dance New Dance Form Featured at Centennial b\- Treasa O'Dn oil r to the North Shore but feel completely at home here in the burgeoning artistic climate, despite being far from my original homeland in Ireland. A pattern of destiny distinguishes every human life, and movement from one location to another is often sparked by a significant personal encounter. A meeting with somebody who dares to embody and live according to the vision he or she espouses has often signalled a change in course for me. Thus my move to Vancouver was seeded when a friend introduced me to Mtha Pogacnik. the Yugoslav virtuoso violinist and founder of I D R I A R T (Institute for the Development of Intercultural Relations through the Arts). He had just come from Vancouver, where he'd met renow ned harpist Rita Costan/i and her husband, violinist Victor Coslanzi. at a concert at Nonh Vancou\cr's Waldorf School. Dunng his stay there, he inspired the Costanzis to found a Canadian chapter of IDRIART. As part of their IDRIART endeavours, and Ji Pogacnik's suggestion, they sponsored a performance of my Magic of the Celts. flying me out from Toronto. In the course of staying with this remarkable couple. I began to wish I could work more closely with them, leading to my decision to forsake Toronto for the North Shore. We all became dedicated I D R I A R T coworkers. I performed at festivals in Europe and organized events in Ireland and Toronto. The Costan/is presented I D R I A R T evenings in their own and other North Shore homes, as well as concerts and lectures in venues around the city. As performers, we resonated with Miha Pogacnik's central purpose--to educate audiences so that their experience in listening might match more closely his own in playing. W.B. Yeats has said that "of all the arts, the art of listening is closest to eternity." A s audiences strive for more active involvement in any given medium, performing artists look for ways to share the inspired moments their artistry affords them. From my own experience, I know that in the act of true listening, we experience a stale of inner stillness, of harmony in the moment. I D R I A R T has sometimes been termed "the Red Cross of art." Now established in some 35 countries, it demonstrates the potential intercultural understanding within and between nations. A north-south and eastwest movement is characteristic of the flow of information at its festivals, where an acutely intelligent practice of listening, viewing and doing is fostered through concerts, workshops, lectures and expeditions. More than anything, I D R I A R T festivals are designed to bring people together. In Pogacnik's thinking, the artistic process stands apart from all religious or political affiliations, providing a centre wherein all epistemologies meet. On Friday. November 6th at 8 pm, at the Centennial Theatre, I D R I A R T Canada eurhythmist Gail Langstroth and celebrated Spanish guitarist Miguel Trapaga. Drawing on a classical and Spanish repertoire, they will constitute a rare synergy of "music made visible." The word "eurhythmy' derives from a It refers to a relatively new artform that expresses words and musical tones through movements. Langstroth herself has extended the range of eurhythmy, gaining a follow ing in Europe and elsewhere. She attempts to "use the body as an instrument, to try to bring the printed word, which is frozen on the page, back into movement" and "to he music Itself." Michael MacLiammoir, the late great Irish actor, once spoke of his experience in seeing Nijinsky dance as having left him "breathless in a pan of the spirit where I had never been touched before." This was my experience on first seeing eurhythmy performed and from all the accounts of Die i 1 ha , I kn >w that a rare privilege ( l November 6th. Treasa O'Driscoll is a co-worker and member of the board of IDRIART Canada.