“The Layout Helps” – Community Orchestra Performance Spaces and Relational Audience Engagement

Claire D. Nicholls

Claire D. Nichols lectures in curriculum and pedagogy at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Her background in teaching primary and secondary music and practices in curating didactic concerts with community orchestras continue to be key influences on her research. Claire’s interdisciplinary research focusses on pedagogy, the artistic potential of community music and innovating qualitative methodology and methods.

ABSTRACT
Performance spaces play a significant role in enhancing audience experience and perception of concerts. However, unlike their professional counterparts, community amateur orchestras frequently make use of more humble municipal venues for their performances. This distinction is foregrounded in the present research reporting the experiences of two groups of audience members who attended concerts given by Australian community orchestras: one located in a metropolitan area performing in local churches, school halls and service clubs; the other situated in a regional country town performing in town halls and outdoor settings. Themes of space, proximity and viewership emerged explaining how artistic-social relationships act as powerful catalysts to promote both musical and community connection. The findings highlight the important audience development work community orchestras do and encourage both professional and community arts audience developers to re-consider the ways that space and relationships are mediated as part of thoughtful concert curation.
KEYWORDS
Australian community orchestras; concert hall spaces; proximity; viewership; Australia; relational audience development; audience engagement