NPO 2028–33: why cultural organisations need to start thinking about audiences now

Arts Council England’s new National Portfolio guidance points towards a lighter-touch application process. But fewer boxes to tick could make the quality of an organisation’s audience evidence more important.

The next Arts Council England National Portfolio will cover 2028–33 and the emerging application process looks very different from previous rounds.

The new approach is deliberately lighter touch. The familiar Investment Principles and detailed activity-plan requirements appear to have been stripped back, while applicants are being asked to make a much more concise case for what National Portfolio investment will enable them to deliver over the five-year period.

Most strikingly, ACE states that organisations will only be invited into the portfolio where they demonstrate a “commitment to excellence”.

So fewer prescribed processes but a clearer requirement to articulate impact, creates an interesting challenge for cultural organisations.

It also makes understanding audiences increasingly important, which is why media agencies are an important piece of the puzzle.

Less paperwork does not mean less evidence

When organisations have less space to explain what they will achieve, every claim has to work harder.

It is easy to say that an organisation wants to attract younger audiences, improve accessibility or reach communities that currently engage less frequently with culture.

The more compelling question now is: what evidence shows that opportunity exists?

For example, an organisation might know that a substantial proportion of culturally engaged people within its catchment recognise its name but have never visited. Audience research might then identify barriers around relevance, price perception, awareness or simply not knowing what is on.

That begins to turn an ambition into a strategy.

It turns the question from: Who are our audiences? To Who those audiences are, why they are currently underrepresented, what would encourage them to engage and how progress will be measured.

Audience development is bigger than selling tickets

There is also an important broader point here for arts marketers.

Audience development should not simply mean generating more transactions.

Cultural organisations have traditionally thought about accessibility through areas such as ticket pricing, programming, physical accessibility, education and outreach.

But there is another form of access that deserves more attention: discoverability.

Someone might have a strong propensity to enjoy a production, exhibition or cultural experience. But if they never encounter it, they cannot participate.

That also means thinking seriously about digital poverty. As cultural discovery, ticketing, information and communications become increasingly digital, there is a risk that organisations unintentionally exclude people with limited access to devices, data, reliable connectivity or digital confidence. Accessibility therefore cannot simply mean making digital journeys better; it also means recognising where digital-first approaches create new barriers and ensuring that audiences can still discover, understand and access cultural experiences through other routes.

Media therefore has a role beyond filling seats.

It can help organisations deliberately reach people outside their established audience base, build awareness over time and challenge the tendency of digital platforms to repeatedly target the people most likely to convert already.

That makes media an important part of audience development.

Start building the evidence now

The most useful question for organisations considering the 2028–33 portfolio may therefore be:

What will we need to know about our audiences in 2028 if we are going to demonstrate meaningful change by 2033?

There are several useful starting points:

• Who engages with us today?
• Who could realistically engage with us but currently does not?
• What prevents those audiences from participating?
• Are digital access, connectivity or confidence creating barriers for any of those audiences?
• How are perceptions of our organisation different between existing and potential audiences?
• Which audiences represent the greatest opportunity for long-term relationships?
• How will we distinguish genuine audience growth from simply selling more tickets to existing customers?

CRM and ticketing information, postcode analysis, audience surveys, media data and wider population data can create a baseline against which future change can be measured.

That baseline becomes valuable far beyond an NPO application, as it can inform programming, communications, membership, fundraising and commercial strategy.

A five-year audience strategy

Perhaps the biggest opportunity presented by the new portfolio period is to stop thinking in annual campaign cycles.

Five years provides the opportunity to ask a much more ambitious question:

What could our audience look like in 2033?

And then work backwards.

If cultural organisations can connect excellence with a clear understanding of whom they want to reach, why those people should care and how behaviour will change, the result should be more than a stronger funding application, as it becomes a genuine long-term audience strategy.

Arts Council England’s National Portfolio is its long-term funding programme for arts organisations, museums, libraries and other cultural organisations across England. Organisations apply to become National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs), receiving regular public funding in return for delivering cultural and public benefit. The new guidance sets out how organisations can apply for the next five-year funding period, 2028–33, and what Arts Council England will expect them to demonstrate.