Art Fund

"We were delighted with their work and are now delighted with the outcome: a fast-growing scheme helping more and more students discover culture, save money and engage with the arts" - Art Fund

Background

For several years, Art Fund have offered a Student Art Pass as part of a pilot programme, available to students studying art-related subjects, but at a limited number of universities.

They wanted to expand the reach of the pass on a national scale, making art more accessible to everyone.

This research was originally conducted by YouthSight, now part of Savanta.

The Challenge

Art Fund understood that for national expansion to be a success it would need to be rooted in robust evidence and insight.

Our client wanted to know:
– What shape the Student Art Pass should take
– How they should launch it
– How to make a compelling business case to new sponsors

Our approach

We devised and ran an online survey with a large and nationally representative sample of students. We made sure to include a substantial ‘boost’ of arts students to enable a sound comparison between them and the wider student population, allowing us to demonstrate how art students were (or maybe weren’t) unique.

The survey looked at a variety of student attitudes and behaviours, from social media use to free time activities, favourite brands to existing visits to cultural institutions

The outcome

Our research revealed that there was an appetite for the pass not just from art students, but students more generally. This resulted in Art Fund opening up the Pass to all.

The research helped shape the scheme’s price and promotion models, as well as providing valuable evidence to get new sponsors on-board.

Within just over a year, the scheme grew to over 24,000 members. Half of members now visit galleries and museums regularly as a result of the Pass; an amazing impact on the number of young people enjoying and engaging with culture.

This research was originally conducted by YouthSight, now part of Savanta.

We were delighted with their work and are now delighted with the outcome: a fast-growing scheme helping more and more students discover culture, save money and engage with the arts

Art Fund