The “Understanding August” project as an example of the implementation of the audience development concept
Cultural institutions, including museums, have been transforming the way of performance of their statutory activities during last several years. The essence of the change is transformation audience participation from passive observation by ‘viewers’ to active and creative participation The process requires appliance of appropriate communication strategies by cultural institutions. In this context the institutions currently more frequently apply strategies compliant with audience development concept understood as dynamic and integrated communication process between cultural institutions and their environment. The idea of audience development concept is focusing on audience that is transformed form ‘viewer’ into (co-)creator and participant of cultural activities. This strategy aims in satisfying various, often seemingly contradictory, economic social objectives set of institution. This phenomenon is a part of modern city culture described, inter alia, in ‘broadening the field of culture’ concept. According to the authors, good practices may be found in European Solidarity Centre in Gdansk (ECS) activities. The aim of the paper is to present the idea of audience development on example of ‘Understanding August’ project realised by ECS. The paper shows that analysis of cultural institution communication strategy should focus especially on its core activities, nowadays performed mainly according to spirit of development audience concept.
