Audience Travel
In 2008 JB conducted the most extensive research into audience travel to festivals ever undertaken. Jam Packed: Audience Travel to Festivals identified that audience travel accounts for circa 75% of emissions associated with festivals but that these are not in the control of the festival organisers. The findings were widely disseminated and literally hundreds of travel initiatiives have developed ever since. This approach – setting the agenda – is being extended to venues.
As of June 2011 we will be engaging venues all over the UK in a comprehensive review of audience travel practices in order to provide informed support and guidance for how to reduce the environmental impact of audiences travelling to events.
Audience travel is consistently, across all of our research reports, the single largest contributor to the emissions of the UK's arts and creative industries. While it's not within the direct control of venues and makers of creative work, it speaks a lot about the power of the arts and creative industries to engage people, and therefore the potential for these industries to influence audience attitudes to the environment, starting with the responsibility they can take for their travel emissions.
