Overview
Executive summary
The Usher Gallery team wanted to gather feedback from the public about what they thought of the Usher Gallery. The feedback will influence the refresh of the art and objects displayed at the gallery. Through the engagement we:
- sought views on why people visited the Usher Gallery, and what they wanted to see
- wanted to find out what people enjoyed the most about their visit and what they did not
- gathered feedback on how long-ago people visited and if it was over three years ago why had they not returned
- aimed to find out why people had not visited the gallery and what they would like to see if they did visit
There were 441 responses to the survey and 997 page visits, several of the questions were multiple choice, with each question offering an open text box for further explanation and detail. The main findings of the survey were:
- of those that had visited the gallery, the highest number had visited within the last 6 months, and just over half of respondents had visited within the last 12 months
- those who had visited over three years ago, said they did not return because they felt they had seen everything or they thought it was permanently closed
- when asked why they had decided to visit the gallery, ‘enjoy visiting art galleries’ and ‘it was free’ were the most picked responses
- when asked what they enjoyed the most, the displays, artworks, and objects along with a particular exhibition were the highest answers
- when asked why they had never visited the gallery, ‘I had not heard of it’, ‘I did not know where it was’ and ‘I did not know it was free’ were the most common responses
- several themes emerged from the open text box questions of what they would like to see and any further comments. These themes are detailed in the findings section of this report
Methodology
The survey was on our Let’s talk Lincolnshire platform from 12 February to 15 April 2024. We also used the story and news feed tool which accompanied the survey.
The story tool allowed registered users to share their memories of the gallery, this covered visits to the gallery, exhibitions, events, and school trips. There were two stories posted. They can be found in the findings section of the report.
The news feed tool allowed the Usher Gallery team to post gallery and rehang information.
Online channels included:
- a social media campaign which detailed the engagement and rehang. This included
- Nextdoor
- Lincolnshire Facebook groups
- X
- news releases inviting the public to complete the survey and visit the gallery
- newsletters including:
- newsletters including:
- town and parish council newsletter
- County Catch Up
- Let’s talk newsletter
- University of Lincoln and schools news
- Lincoln Museum and Usher Gallery e-newsletter
- internal comms
The offline methods used were:
- a paper copy of the survey, handed out at events and the gallery
- Usher Gallery team face to face events over the course of the engagement
- two further events, one at the Lincoln Waterside Centre and one at the Usher Gallery, to speak to the public about the rehang and how they could get involved
- encouraging partners to share the survey
- in libraries
- at Lincoln Castle
- Lincs Archives
- Museum of Lincolnshire Life
- Arts Council England