BAFA is delighted to launch Festivals Mean Business, a UK-wide research project that aims to gather robust data to help us understand the current arts festivals landscape, exploring the challenges and opportunities for the sector. The results of the survey will be published in autumn 2024 and will enable us to support arts festivals as they navigate future changes to the sector.
This is the fourth iteration of Festivals Mean Business, and we believe that the data gathered will provide a long-term impact on the arts festival industry. We want to understand not only how many people engage with arts festivals across the UK, but the role these festivals play in creating more connected, sustainable and resilient communities.
The research will be conducted by BOP Consulting, the UK’s leading cultural research consultancy, and is supported by Arts Council England, Arts Council of Wales and Creative Scotland.
The survey is open to all UK-based arts festivals, including those who are not currently BAFA members. The deadline for survey completion is Monday 22 April 2024.
Before you begin to answer the research questions, please ensure you have the necessary data to hand. The questions will focus on your 2023 events, so you will need appropriate information on your 2023 festival’s finances, audiences and programming, as well as responding to questions about your organisation’s staffing and approach to EDI and environmental sustainability. Further information on this is available in our FAQs. These can also be downloaded as a PDF here.
It should take around 25 minutes to complete the survey.
Complete the Festivals Mean Business survey
If you have any questions or problems filling out the survey, please email bafa@artsfestivals.co.uk.
Please join us by completing the survey and helping to spread the word – each festival’s participation will help us create a more robust picture of our sector, and every voice that joins us in speaking for the sector will help amplify our message. You can share a BAFA tweet about the survey here.
