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relevance
connections
support
friends
fans
participation
moments
insight
transformation
vitality
action
loyalty
experiences
impacts
success
engagement
innovation
equity
power
places
social change
revelation
inclusion
passion
meaning
progress
community.
We’re a social research firm for the cultural sector.
We use rigorous research & evaluation methods to shine new light on how people connect to the arts, museums, media, science, stories, ideas, creativity, and community. And how they could connect.
Explore the links below, or scroll down to see what we’re up to lately.
The research has the capacity to be transformational for the O’Keeffe Museum. Slover Linett took the time to listen, understand our needs, and integrate their work with another consultant team… As a result, the staff is eager to develop and implement experimental programs to attract and retain new audiences. Peter and his team are not only experts in audience research; they are experienced, thoughtful, and sophisticated partners who are willing to think with my team.”
Featured Projects
New, free toolkit for DIY audience surveys, with OF/BY/FOR ALL
We're right there with community innovator Nina Simon when she says, "Collecting good demographic data can help you smash stereotypes. It can help you make smarter strategic decisions and better programs." Well, we would believe that — we’re researchers....
READ MOREWhere is Folk Music Heading? A New Survey for Folk Alliance International
Slover Linett has done considerable research on classical music audiences and innovations over the years. But other kinds of music are also vital, evolving art-forms, with their own communities of creators and consumers. So we’ve been delighted...
READ MOREContinuing Our Inquiry with Two Wallace Foundation Arts Grantees About Audiences’ Connection to New, Unfamiliar Works
In 2019, we’ve been working again with Ballet Austin and the Goodman Theatre on related research questions: How do audiences decide to take the leap of attending dance or theater performances that they don’t know much about? Both organizations are...
READ MOREHow Can Science Connect to More Millennials? A Survey for the National Academy of Sciences
In 2018, the National Academy of Sciences closed its science museum in Washington, DC and announced a new program aimed at millennials, LabX. The LabX team engaged Slover Linett to conduct a groundbreaking national study of how science is perceived by...
READ MOREMapping the Future of the Arts at Cornell University
Slover Linett has long worked with museums and arts presenters based on college and university campuses. But until recently we hadn’t helped a major educational institution look at the big picture: What roles can the arts and creativity play in...
READ MORESupporting and studying a learning community of arts organizations in California
We’re excited to be entering the homestretch of one of our most rewarding and complex engagements: an ongoing evaluation and capacity-building project with the James Irvine Foundation and its fifteen grantee-partners in the New California Arts Fund (NCAF)...
READ MORENews & Notes
I was honored to recently participate as a guest speaker, on behalf of Slover Linett Audience Research, during Meena Selvakumar’s Community Engagement course—where students develop an understanding of the theory and practice of community engagement to help museums become agents of change in their communities—as part of the University of Washington’s Museology program.
READ MORE
It’s political polling season, which means lots of media stories about methodological social-science questions that are usually way too wonky for public consumption. (I know, I lost you at “polling.”) But if you work in audience research, those stories can grab your attention…and not in a good way.
READ MORE
At Slover Linett, we focus most of our (formidable!) research chops on helping organizations connect more deeply with their audiences and communities. But sometimes we turn these skills inward to inform our own organizational learning and growth. For instance, staff surveys.
READ MORE
I recently had the pleasure of joining hundreds of arts marketing professionals in New York City at Capacity Interactive’s annual Digital Marketing Bootcamp for the Arts. It was great catching up with clients and friends and working together to learn which digital strategies are best serving their organizations..
READ MORE
How do millenials connect to science? How does it fit into their lives and priorities? Check out the summary of our study for the National Academy of Sciences.
READ MORE
Since 1937, the United States has recognized the second Monday in October as Columbus Day, honoring the man who, in 1492, sailed the ocean blue and “discovered” America. Pop quiz! Can you name his ships? If you answered yes, you were likely taught about the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria in grade school like most who came up through the American school system. But what was probably omitted in this selective education…
READ MORELatest Tweets
Hear, hear! We couldn't agree more with @eabolander and the team at @ClevelandArt about the importance of "audience-centered" front-end research.
"While I have a fondness for visitor research at any stage, there is a special place in my heart for front-end research."
@EABolander—of @ClevelandArt—explains how visitor studies can guide an initial idea toward something that is truly audience-centered.
https://t.co/58zM0Z8wGX
We're thrilled to share the executive summary of the inaugural stakeholder research conducted with our friends at @folkalliance. The report is available below:
cc: @aengusfinnan @ProfConceison @PLinett @michell86113013 @tanyatreptow @chloechitpatton
https://t.co/8SpTR6a4tw
"A huge sample size doesn’t mean much if that sample isn’t really representative — and you’ll never know that from the margin of error."
@PLinett discusses polling methods in our latest post:
#audienceresearch
Stop worrying about “margin of error” – Worry about response rate | Slover Linett
sloverlinett.com
The public will come in and they will not only be able to see the cultures of the ancient world, but also see how they fit into it. - Julian Siggers, @pennmuseum Congratulations! @SloverLinett #nametesting
Penn Museum’s transformation revealed | Penn Today
The main level reopens after a historic renovation featuring the relocated sphinx and completely reimagined Africa and Mexico/Central America gallerie...
penntoday.upenn.edu
"Anonymous staff surveys can help deepen your understanding of professional satisfaction, culture, & organizational values & the progress you’re making, or need to be making, in certain areas."
@jenbenoitbryan offers 7 tips for developing staff #surveys:
Seven Tips for Developing a Staff Survey | Slover Linett
At Slover Linett, we focus most of our (formidable!) research chops on helping organizations connect more deeply with their audiences and communities....
sloverlinett.com
@artlust @SloverLinett @AnandWrites Great points. It's striking when the challenges of the field - how museums are perceived or what they stand for - are so baked into the language like this, in that they become a metaphor for fixed states (or arbiters of "truth," as you say)
While not the author's point here, it's telling that the metaphor he uses about putting things "in the museum" in the last sentence is a stand in for basically committing it to a static, historical, dead space @SloverLinett
Anand Giridharadas on Twitter
“The Second Gilded Age has to end. And there‘s a secret to making that happen: joining. https://t.co/6symhlRvnc”
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