Live Projects’ research tools help local students gather audience insights for Kensington and Chelsea Art Week and Trail (KCAW)

Kensington and Chelsea Art Week (KCAW) is an annual festival celebrating the rich artistic heritage and contemporary creativity of West London. ART WEEK and the summer-long temporary ART TRAIL celebrate the rich heritage of the borough by opening doors to local creative spaces along with leading organisations in the area to facilitate public engagement in the local culture. In 2024 we were pleased to work with the KCAW team to develop research and consultation tools to help local students engage with local audiences and explore who interacts with KCAW and its public art installations and events, how and why. Drawing on our experience of creative and ethnographic audience research and evaluation, we developed tools bespoke for the team, including: KCAW visitor survey Vox pop discussion guides for street conversations and events Observation and conversation guides at public artworks Team observation journal QR codes and publicity material templates Students conducted the fieldwork during KCAW 2024, analysed the data and produced a feedback report with summative and formative findings for the team. The research produced insights on the audience profile for KCAW, observations on interactions with public art, and learning and improvements for the team.