Non-Visitor Studies and New Audiences

Audience and visitor studies are well established fields. Numerous journals and books address the audiences of museums, concerts, theaters, or film festivals. Research on non-visitors, however, hardly exists, although a large part of the population belongs to this group. This issue addresses this gap: How are “non-visitors” defined? What are their motivations not to visit an arts or cultural institution? How could these institutions reach out to attract non-visitors in order to make them frequent visitors? Why should they do so? How could non-visitor research be carried out? What is the motivation behind such research?

This issue calls for in depth analyses of motivations, preferences, and socio-economic characteristics of visitors and non-visitors. It also invites case studies and essays to discuss best practices and their motivations for outreach and participation.

Key-words

• Non-visitor studies and audience studies
• Discussion of socio-demographic aspects, lifestyle types of (non-)visitors
• Motivations and premises of research and projects in this field
• Critical contributions to audience development and arts marketing