Appendix A Organ Festival 2017 Evaluation Report Authors Cathy Burns Visitor Services Officer Orla Rafferty Marketing Officer
Appendix A
Organ Festival 2017
Evaluation Report
Authors
Cathy Burns Visitor Services Officer
Orla Rafferty Marketing Officer
2
Contents
Introduction Page 3
Programme Page 4
Outputs Page 5
Marketing Page 10
Budget Page 25
Recommendations & 2018 Programme Page 26
3
Introduction
The Guildhall Organ Festival was successfully delivered for the first time from 19th – 21st
October. Building on the success of the Gloria Event in June 2016 which saw
performances by Catherine Ennis and Codetta choir a working group was established in
October 2016 to develop an organ festival. The working group is comprised of the Derry
City & Strabane District Council’s Museum & Visitor Services Team, The Honourable The
Irish Society, Catherine Ennis, and the Royal College of Organists.
It was agreed that the aims of the Festival were to include raising awareness of and
engagement of new audiences with the Guildhall Organ. To that end a schools
programme was developed to include a series of workshops with the addition of a
competition to win an organ and tuition fees from Viscount Organs. Further master class
sessions were added and a program of evening concerts scheduled. To further develop
involvement across the city lunch time performances were added in St Columb’s
Cathedral.
A series of meetings and conference calls were held to develop the Festival with the
DCSDC Visitor Services Officer leading the action planning, administration, marketing &
PR, sales, interpretation and budget management supported by Catherine Ennis as
Artistic Director, Royal College of Organists and the Museum Service Education Team.
Associated action, set up, staffing and budget plans were produced and circulated among
the working group.
4
Programme
A three day festival was arranged from Thursday 19th October to Saturday 21st October to
include:
Thursday 19 October
Primary School Workshop – Main Hall Guildhall
Lunch time recital - St Columb’s Cathedral - Donal McCann
Evening Recital Guildhall; Catherine Ennis & Stewart Smith. Tickets £12 / £6 concession
(Child/student/OAP)
Friday 20 October
Secondary School Workshops - Main Hall Guildhall
Lunch Time Recital – St Columb’s Cathedral - Matthew Breen & Thomas Maxwell
Battle of the Organs Evening Concert; Catherine Ennis, Daniel Moult & Sir Roger Gifford.
Tickets £12 / £6 concession (Child/student/OAP)
Saturday 21 October
Organ Master Class - Guildhall - Booking via Royal College of Organists
Master Class Concert & Presentation of Certificates Guildhall 3pm - 4pm.
Master Class participants performed a series of pieces of music followed by presentation
of certificates by Dr Gerard Gillen, Professor Emeritus in Music at the National University
of Ireland, Maynooth.
Gala Evening Concert Guildhall; Catherine Ennis, Neil Martin & Paddy Glackin. Tickets
£15 / £7.50 concession (Child/student/OAP)
Festival Pass Admission to all 3 evening concerts £33 / £16.50 concession
5
Outputs
Education & Learning
Attendance at the primary school workshops totalled 120 with pupils from Nazareth
House, Eadaín Mor and Steelstown. Over 30 pupils from Nazareth House also benefitted
from a further hands on workshop during which smaller groups had the opportunity to play
organs in different locations throughout the building.
Pupils from Foyle College attended a hands on workshop including the opportunity to play
the Guildhall Organ.
Pupils also received a pack which included information sheets and quiz exploring the
Guildhall Organ.
Foyle College were successful in the competition from Viscount Organs winning an organ
and 50% tuition fees for 1 year.
In addition students from Ulster University supported the event providing audio visual and
filming services during the primary school workshop and Battle of the Organs Concert.
6
Education Pack Information and Quiz Sheets
7
Organ Master Class
Five participants attended the organ master class on Saturday 21st October.
This culminated in presentation of certificates by Professor Gerard Gillen, an afternoon
concert free to the public and Mayoral reception.
Brand & Programme
A bespoke brand was designed by the Derry City & Strabane District Council’s design team. This included a Festival Logo, print designs
and brand / marketing toolkit which was shared across the partners to help promote the Festival.
A printed programme was designed and produced to accompany the Festival. This outlined the programme, biographies of the performers
and upcoming events in 2018. Copies were sold to attendees for £1.
Awareness
As well as the general awareness of the organ generated as a result of the marketing and PR activity for the Festival, an interpretation
panel was developed to highlight the heritage of the Organ.
This panel was on display throughout the Festival and continues to be used in the Guildhall to interpret the organ to general visitors.
10
Marketing & PR
A programme of marketing was undertaken to support the Organ Festival.
Press and comms was also undertaken including coverage in local newspapers, TV – BBC Newsline report and radio – Radio Ulster reports.
Target Audiences
Local Regional Republic of Ireland
Target Breakdown 50% 30% 20 %
Target Areas Derry & Strabane Regional Donegal
11
Marketing Activity
Marketing Plan Overview
Digital
Website Social media Ezine
Flyer
Poster
Tickets
Visual
Video Photography
Outdoor
Vinyls
Marketing Timelines
Item Timeline
Sept Oct 11 18 25 2 9 16 4
A5 Flyer (4pp)
Posters
Tickets
Distribution
DIGITAL
Social Media
Website
Ezine
OUTDOOR
Vinyl banners
13
Print Materials
Distribution:
Hotels, regional tourist information points, restaurants, shops,
receptions, libraries, religious institutions, and all other public
venues.
Item Quantity
A5 4pp flier 10,000
Posters 52
Tickets 1000
14
Digital
Whats on Ezine
Whats on NI
PLATFORM ACTIVITY
Whats on Derry Strabane
Facebook event
What’s On
Editorial calendar
Boosted posts
Ads
Promotional video
What’s On NI Newsletter
Display ads
Website Promotion on DCSDC,
Visit Derry & Discover
NI websites
15
Social Media Editorial
September 2017
Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19
1 month to go !
20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29
Event page
30
16
Social Media Editorial
October 2017
Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat
1 2 3 4
5
7
Post Ad Ad
8
Post
9
Ad
10
11
Post
12
1 week to go
13
Event boost
14
15
Post
16
Ad
17
Post
18
Post
19
Multiple posts
20
Multiple posts 21
Multiple posts
22
23
Post
24 25 26 27 28
6
17
Facebook Ads
13,984 reached 9,468 reached 14 ,554 reached
790 click throughs 553 click throughs 36 event responses
18
Photography
19
Marketing Spend
COST %
Flier £635 20 %
Posters £131 4 %
Tickets £360 11 %
Distribution £225 7 %
Photography £400 12 %
Filming £1000 31 %
Digital £500 15 %
Total £3,251
Marketing Spend
Flier Posters Tickets Distribution Photography Filming Digital
20
Key Performance Indicators
Event page
Google url
21
Organ Festival Ad
Campaign
22
Website
Traffic Source
Direct
Ireland.com
Bing
Other
23
Results
ITEM 2017 RESULTS
Unique Page Views 1,566
Facebook Ad Reach 69,648
Facebook Total Reach ( organic and paid ) 98,473
Marketing Recommendations
A greater marketing budget is required to increase awareness nationwide for this
niche market
More focus on digital marketing
Increased interaction with performers in the build up to the event on social media
channels
Print flier earlier for longer lead in time
The festival was held in October which is a very busy month for the city with
Halloween and the Choral Festival
The three day Festival may have been too long and could be reduced to 1 – 2 days
to ensure better turn out on those nights
The digital stats show that there was interest in the event, with 1,343 click throughs
alone from just the ad campaign.
As this was the first Organ Festival campaign, the digital figures and attendance
can be used as a benchmark for the 2019 Festival.
More specialised target marketing for niche markets e.g. musical websites and
supplements etc.
Budget
The total Organ Festival Expenditure stands at £18,159. This includes the main
expenditure headings of marketing & print materials, performance costs, tuition fee, travel
and accommodation, staffing and technical support.
Income totalled £7,252 and included the £5,000 from The Honourable the Irish Society
plus sales from tickets purchased, bar income, programme and donations.
In addition a total of £8,414 was designated from in kind contributions this included £2,000
from Viscount Organs (provision of 4 organs and associated transportation), £6,414 from
Derry & Strabane District Council including development of the brand, venue provision and
Mayoral reception.
26
Recommendations & 2018/19 Programme
Following discussions with the Museum & Visitor Services Team, Catherine Ennis &
Stewart Smith the following is recommended:
Build upon the excellent partnership which has developed through the Festival
between the RCO, Derry City & Strabane District Council, The Honourable the Irish
Society, Viscount Organs and Henderson Music.
Build upon schools programme and engagement - Further outreach with schools
required – to include invitations to music teachers for meetings beforehand to
explain the benefit of attending workshops. Promotional video may help as well as
prior visits to the schools to sell the idea. Education Sessions - morning sessions.
Funding Plan to be developed to include actions to identify and secure sponsorship
and funding from external sources.
Festival to be led and managed by Derry City & Strabane District Council –
Museum & Visitor Services Team.
Afternoons to be set aside for rehearsals and set up.
Provision of Organs for workshops – potential partnership with Henderson Music.
Master class workshop to be held in Guildhall with potential to hold breakout
sessions in venues across the city.
Proposed Date – February. Programme for events and bookings in October full in
the City and Guildhall. June was discussed but organ calendar too busy at that time
of year. Ticket price to be reviewed.
Master class participants – encourage more to attend and make more accessible to
range of skills.
2018 Recital programme to be used to promote the 2019 Festival.
Friday 18th May 2018 Desmond Hunter
Friday 20th July 2018 Stewart Smith
Friday 28th September Gerard Brooks
December Annual Christmas Concert (Date TBC)
27
Proposed Programme Feb 2019
Thursday
Morning – Primary School Workshop
10am-11am & 11.30-12.30pm (show)
1 hands on session 45 minutes for max 40 pupils
Lunch time recital – Cathedral
Friday
Morning – Secondary School Workshop
10am-11am & 11.30-12.30pm (15-20 students max)
Lunch time recital – Cathedral
Evening Concert – Themes from the Movies performed on the Organ (include projections)
or Dance/Techno music (DJ) accompanied by Organ
Saturday
Morning – Masterclass
Saturday afternoon – Performance in Foyleside Shopping Centre
(To increase access and awareness of organ music)
Evening Concert Traditional Irish Music & Organ
Sunday
Morning – Keep free
Evening Concert – Ulster Orchestra / Choir / Organ