The Bay Area Cultural Asset Map

Visualizing the Big List

BACAM (Bay Area Cultural Asset Map)

Commissioned by the Hewlett Foundation

Created by Fractured Atlas

Incorporates 2010 Bay Area Big List data 151 arts organizations 1.4 million attendance records, 642,000 unique names

Objectives Research Actionable visualizations Effectiveness measurement

Understanding Audience Saturation

African-American

Relative density of Af-Am arts attendees(all organizations)

Density of African-American total population

Asian-American

Relative density of As-Am arts attendees(all organizations)

Density of Asian-American total population

Caucasian

Relative density of Caucasian arts attendees(all organizations)

Density of Caucasian total population

Types of conclusions we might draw Generally, uniformly saturated at a high level among

Caucasians (duh)

Relatively good saturation among Af-Am audiences in Bayview/Hunters Point and the Western Addition, but less so in outlying areas like the Sunset and the Richmond

Ditto with As-Am audiences in Chinatown, but less well-saturated in Outer Sunset/Richmond and towards South San Francisco

Organization-Specific Visualizations

City Lights Theater Company $500,000-$1,000,000 annual budget (midsize)

Located on South 2nd St, San Jose, relatively unappealing neighborhood

Relatively homogenous audiences

Relatively risky work (new work, adult themes, nudity, etc)

Zooming in on Audiences

1. Understand the demographics of the region’s artsgoers

2. See your demographic layout next to the entire artsgoing population

3. Zoom in on your immediate area

City Lights Theater Company attendeesArtsgoing population, entire Bay Area (all orgs)

Artsgoing population, entire Bay Area (City Lights only)

Age: All Arts Attendees age 65+

Education: Arts attendees with graduate degrees

Race/Ethnicity: Arts attendees of Hispanic origin

Comparing Hispanic arts attendee populations

Relative density of Hispanic arts attendees(all organizations)

Relative density of Hispanic arts attendees(City Lights Theater Company)

Zooming in: CLTC Hispanic attendees, density by census bloc

Conclusions As administrators, we need to make the Big List accessible Visualization reveals trends that might otherwise go

unnoticed Maps make advocacy (and micro-advocacy) easier, more

targeted Data has to be re-incorporated every year (arduous

process) Implications for judging organization effectiveness

Future implications Outplanting organizations? Targeted funding? Targeted ASO outreach?