Invitation to Tender: Audience Research

arts.wales; Cardiff; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Part time

Job summary

A prominent dance organization is seeking a partner for audience research to support their digital transformation project. The role includes conducting in-depth analysis and providing actionable recommendations to enhance audience engagement and understanding. The successful partner will be responsible for delivering a comprehensive report, addressing key questions about audience motivations and preferences, with a budget of £10,000. All communications must be bilingual in English and Welsh.

Qualifications

• Strong analytical skills to interpret audience data.
• Experience with CRM systems and audience development.
• Ability to communicate findings effectively.

Responsibilities

• Conduct audience research to gather actionable insights.
• Provide recommendations for audience engagement.
• Deliver a comprehensive report on audience behaviours.

Skills

Research analysis

Audience segmentation

CRM system knowledge

Communication skills

Job description

National Dance Company Wales are looking for a partner to deliver audience research that will provide insights and recommendations to support our Bloomberg Philanthropies funded digital transformation project. This work will help us develop a deeper, more actionable understanding of our audiences. It will also form the foundation for strategic audience development and give us the insight we need to focus our digital presence and new CRM processes.
About National Dance Company Wales

National Dance Company Wales (NDCWales) creates and presents ambitious, engaging dance work across the UK and internationally.

As a repertory company, we create work by a range of choreographers to reflect different perspectives. Our artistic programme is driven by a commitment to create new work, discover and develop new artists and to inspire audiences and communities through high quality and enriching dance experiences.

The company performs at our home base, The Dance House in Cardiff Bay and at other venues in Wales, the wider UK and internationally.

Equally important is the work we deliver to engage people in dance themselves, to tap into the wellbeing benefits of dance and experience its many benefits. Our talent development programmes support those with aspirations for a career in dance, on and off stage. By enabling artistic innovation at all stages of career development, we seek to make a significant contribution towards a diverse dance ecology in Wales.
Why this project now?

We're embarking on a new journey to connect audiences to our work. We're implementing a new integrated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and ticketing platform, plus a new website - with a key strategic objective to enable effective audience insight and analysis.

This project is funded through Bloomberg Philanthropies' Digital Accelerator Programme which helps cultural organisations strengthen their technology and management capabilities to improve operations, drive revenue, increase fundraising efforts, and engage wider audiences.

This research will help us make informed decisions about our new CRM system and digital presence. By understanding how we show up in the world, what our audiences are looking for, and how we can best meet their needs, we'll see how much of this is currently reflected in our activity. It will also help us spot any important gaps we need to address, ensuring the project delivers real value and impact for everyone.
Scope of work

We want this research to guide decision-making by helping us answer some key questions about who our current audiences are, how they prefer to engage with us, and what motivates them. We want to identify gaps in perception and opportunities for growth, understanding the wider appetite for dance across Wales and beyond. We also want to develop actionable audience segments that can be integrated into our new CRM.

Key questions we want to answer through this research:

• Who are our current audiences? What is the demographic, geographic, and behavioural characteristics of people engaging with our performances, classes, events, and channels?
• How do audiences prefer to engage with us? What are their interactions, content engagement types, and communication preferences across different touchpoints?
• What motivates our audiences and what do they want from us? What drives their engagement, what needs are we meeting (or not meeting), and how can we better shape our programme, activities, content, and communications around these needs?
• Where are the gaps and growth opportunities? Who could our audiences be, where is representation lacking, and what does external data from touring venues reveal about the wider appetite for dance?
• How can we use audience segmentation in our new CRM system? Looking at our activity at Dance House and on tour, what segmentation models and methods will allow our CRM to group people based on their behaviour and interactions? What might work within its capabilities, and how can we best manage this over time?

As part of this project, our website partner will also be carrying out research focused on digital users. This will provide one lens for understanding audience behaviour and will integrate with this broader research.

Deliverables

Evidence-based insight and actionable recommendations for our team, including:

• A robust report outlining our current audience make-up, engagement and behaviours
• A clear strategic direction for audience development based on our audience’s needs, drivers, barriers, and behaviours
• Recommendations for how we might shape an audience development action plan, with any implications for implementation and suggested timeframes
• Recommendations for this audience insight can inform our CRM

Considerations

As a national company based in Wales, all public-facing communications must be in both English and Welsh, and people must be given the opportunity to respond in their preferred language. We can provide translation and facilitation support, though time will need to be built into workflows and timelines.

Budget & timeline

The fee for this work is £10,000.

If working remotely you must be willing to travel to Cardiff as needed – travel and/or accommodation can be covered by additional expenses outside of the fee within reason.

We can support costs for translation, access requirements and incentives for participation in surveys and focus groups as needed, but this must be agreed in advance.

Indicative timeline:

Deadline for proposals: Wednesday 7 January 2026, 9am

Panel Scoring: 8 - 9 January 2026

Notifications: 13 January 2026

Interviews: Tuesday 20 January 2026

Appointment: end of January 2026

Kick-off: start of February 2026

Final deliverables: end of March 2026

Proposal requirements

Responses should include the following:

• A proposal outlining your understanding of this brief, your approach, relevant experience, and an outline of how you propose to allocate the fee in relation to your day rate, the timeline and deliverables. If applicable, please also include your understanding of, or connection to the arts sector in Wales.
  
• A case study outlining a recent relevant initiative that you have delivered of comparable size and scale. You should outline the scope of work, your approach, and outcomes.

If you would like to apply with audio, video, or a form accessible to you, you are welcome to do so, simply send us the link.