Derby Museums is looking for a Market Researcher and Data Analyst to help us to better understand our audiences and non-audiences, helping us increase our relevance and financial sustainability. 

Background  

Derby Museums is an independent charitable trust operating three museums: the Museum and Art Gallery, Museum of Making and Pickfords’ House. It cares for the collections of cultural heritage on behalf of Derby City Council for the people of Derby. It also houses the Royal Lancers Museum. 

Derby Museums has unique cultural assets. Derby Silk Mill is widely regarded as the site of the world’s first modern factory and is in the Derwent Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage site; it is now home to the UK’s first Museum of Making. Derby Museums has the finest collection of work by Joseph Wright of Derby, the 18th-century artist of the Enlightenment; the collection is ‘Designated’ by Arts Council England as being of national significance. Derby’s identity was 300 years in the making, and the Enlightenment spirit of creativity and invention resonates today. 

Derby Museums’ vision 

Derby Museums is for the thinker and maker in all of us 

Together we make museums for the head, heart and hands. We do this by: 

• Being independent 

• Fostering a spirit of experimentation 

• Pursuing mutual relationships 

• Creating the conditions for well-being (helping people connect with others, keep learning, take notice of the world and give back to the community) 

• Proving that we are doing it 

Established as a charity in 2012, Derby Museums assumed responsibility for delivering the city’s museum service and caring for collections owned by Derby City Council. Over the past decade, we’ve transitioned from a council-run service to an independent social enterprise. In that time, we’ve opened the Museum of Making, reimagined Pickfords’ House, and delivered a nationally recognised exhibition programme at the Museum and Art Gallery. 

Over the last decade, Derby Museums has chalked up significant successes, however in that time the external economic, social and political environment have also changed dramatically. Ten years of austerity have made the organisation vulnerable to large reductions in public funding, and high levels of inflation and an energy crisis have increased costs at a time when income has reduced. 

Despite visitor numbers currently being at an all-time high, there are still communities and areas around the city that we have been unable to engage. Following the recent opening of several large-scale residential developments and an increasing number of visitors coming to the city to enjoy events at newly opened venues such as Vaillant Live, the demographics of our city are changing. We want to better understand our changing city and the needs of our local audiences so we can better meet their needs. 

We want this tender to influence our marketing and programming, increasing our relevance to, and attendance from, the communities of our city and region.  

We want to know how the city’s residents think and feel about Derby Museums, what excites them, their habits and motivations. In tandem, we want to create approaches informed by data that support our future financial sustainability. We want to know how our region can be best served within a strong business case for how we use our limited resources. 

We want to better understand how people choose to use their leisure time and what their motivations are in parallel to the real and perceived barriers to visiting our sites. This exciting consultancy is a unique opportunity to create a transformational change in approach to Derby Museums’s marketing and programming for years to come. 

This work is made possible by funding secured from Arts Council England. 

The opportunity 

Derby Museums is looking to commission two pieces of work with the aim of better understanding our attendees, non-attendees and our local area/region. We are looking to do this to increase relevance and drive footfall to our three sites. We want to use the learnings to help shape our future exhibitions and public programme and our communications and marketing strategies. We want to shape a programme that resonates with our audiences to draw in more visitors, whilst also supporting our financial resilience. 

• Market research to better understand our local audiences (City of Derby) including non-visitors, those who, despite being within easy geographical reach of our sites, seldom or never visit, and those who do engage with our programmes.  

What we want to know includes: How are people in our city and region hearing about activities, exhibitions and events? Where are they looking for information about what’s on in the area? How far in advance do they plan their leisure activities? How do people decide to visit or to go somewhere else? What exhibitions would people like to see and what motivates spending decisions on leisure and cultural activity? Did they know about recent exhibitions? If so, did they visit and if not, why not? 

• Data-led audience analysis to understand our current visitors to grow repeat visits and inform commercial and programming decisions. Interrogation of our sales data as part of this work will help us to understand the purchasing decisions of our visitors, and tailor our café and retail offer, pricing, and promotions to boost sales, enhance visitor experience, and improve operational efficiency. This will ultimately support our long-term financial sustainability.  The Director of Commercial and Operations will lead this work, with the Retail Manager and Catering Manager contributing to the research design and interpretation. 

We welcome applications for one or both strands of this research. 

Approach 

We want to take a collaborative approach to ensure insights are embedded across the organisation and support inclusive, evidence-based decision-making.  If the applicant decides to make use of focus groups, then we expect the payment of participants to feature in the successful consultant’s budget. 

We are open to responses to this tender from a range of individuals/organisations who understand market/audience research. Previous evidence of working within the arts/culture/heritage or leisure sector is an advantage, regardless of whether that work has taken place within the commercial or not-for-profit sphere. We expect the successful consultant to be confident and comfortable communicating with a wide range of people. We can make introductions to key communities and local contacts as needed. 

We anticipate the draft reports to be presented workshop style to support organisational learning and active feedback into the final reports. 

Data 

It is expected that the consultant will utilise a standardised demographic segmentation tool to produce data-informed pen portraits of our audiences and Derby’s audiences. Please inform us of the segmentation tool you propose to use in your tender. 

You will draw upon Derby Museums datasets for this work. As a set of three free public museums, Derby Museums does not operate a pay barrier and therefore visitor data is limited to certain datasets. In your tender response, please identify the kinds of datasets you would like us to provide, and we can then consider at interview stage our ability to provide them, and whether the provision of these datasets can be achieved in a GDPR-compliant way. 

Using the datasets we already have and possibly augmented by further datasets generated or purchased by the successful consultant as part of this project, you will prepare a report which defines the audiences of Derby Museums and identifies the gaps in attendance. 

Existing Information 

• Derby Museums Bluegrass Report into non-visitors (2017) 

• Barker Langham Business Review (2024) includes some demographic information 

• Historic Culture Counts surveys 

• Analysis of 2024-25 visitor surveys collected through Illuminate – our audience reporting platform 

• Derby Museums yearly comparison of data 

• Project evaluations 

• Derby Museums Business Plan 2023-26 

• Derby Museums Inclusivity and Relevance Plan 2023-26 

Deliverables  

We anticipate that the project will start with desk-top research to analyse Derby Museums’ data, comparing this with local/national datasets. This would be completed by early October, to help inform the next stage of the project.  

It is anticipated that to kick off the market research phase, the consultant will lead a workshop/s with the project team to determine relevant and appropriate methodologies. 

The consultant will provide Derby Museums with a clear set of insights and recommendations drawn from the mapping of Derby’s audiences and Derby Museums’ audiences to inform future audience development and programme activity. 

It would be preferable if these are presented workshop style by early January, before submission of the final written report by the 31 January 2026. 

Timescale 

The work and final report will be concluded no later than 31 January 2026. 

Budget 

The maximum value of the contract is £30,000 for both aspects of this tender. This excludes VAT, but includes all expenses, consultancy fees, dataset purchases and payment to any participants to participate in focus groups. 

Submission of Quotation 

Please submit a CV (no more than 4 pages) and a summary of relevant experience (max 4 pages). In addition, you may provide examples of no more than 2 previous and relevant projects.  

In your tender response, please provide a budget breakdown and timeline explaining all spends you propose to incur, and when you propose to incur them. All spends must complete by the end of this calendar year. 

Quotations and any queries, should be emailed to: Dr Alex Rock, Director of Commercial and Operations – Alex@derbymuseums.org – and the subject field should be labelled Derby Museums Market Researcher 

Quotations should be received no later than 5pm 4th September 2025 

The commission will be co-managed by Dr Alex Rock, Director of Commercial and Operations, and Laura Phillips, Head of Curatorship, who will provide the appointed consultant with relevant additional information at the start of the contract.  

Download this information as a pdf here.

Image courtesy of Visit Derby