KeepON Live: support for Il Concerto Che Vorrei

In 2022, KeepOn LIVE launched the participatory process “Il Concerto Che Vorrei” (The Concert I’d Like), with the aim of mapping and analysing the needs of audiences, artists and live music venues in Italy.

The project is centred around three main themes: gender balance, disability, social inclusion and diversity.

Italy’s live music sector has experienced strong growth over recent years. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on concert attendance, creating problems for both organisers and concert-goers.
The concepts of accessibility and inclusion for a wider audience underpin the project, which aims to create an ideal and truly accessible concert through Audience Development.

After observing data from the first surveys conducted by KeepOn LIVE in the autumn of 2022 – both online and at live music festivals and clubs – BAM! held three focus groups with industry operators and associations involved in the issues covered by the project so as to explore the objectives of “Il Concerto Che Vorrei”.

In 2023, BAM! then conducted a workshop with KeepOn LIVE to identify targets and objectives for the new surveys and to optimise the analysis tools. Based on these findings, the team adapted and developed a questionnaire dedicated to audiences, one dedicated to live music venues and one dedicated to artists. The questionnaires, administered between summer and autumn 2023, will be analysed by BAM!

At the same time, the team will conduct two in-person co-design meetings with the public and industry insiders during Milano Music Week 2023, with the aim of finding solutions shared by all those involved in the organisation and enjoyment of a concert.

Lastly, the results of the co-design process and the data from the questionnaires administered will be collated in a final meeting with the project partners so as to begin pinpointing the pilot actions to be implemented in 2024 and to be tested in the field with the associated venues and festivals.

In the third and final year of the project, BAM! produced for “Il Concerto Che Vorrei”:

• a communication kit, designing and developing content for ten online and onsite communication products aimed at enhancing the communication of the venues throughout the year
• a best practices guide, mapping and collecting case studies on accessibility and diversity from the cultural sector
• 3 training sessions conducted by BAM! with guest professionals from the cultural sector on some key topics: audience development and public engagement, cultural welfare and accessibility, and accessible communication.