OperaScotland, the listings and archive website: an exploration of impact in relation to the opera-loving community in Scotland

In this paper the authors present some themes from an unusual social enterprise case study, written from the perspective of the owner managers. Three brothers – twins Peter and Iain Fraser with their younger sibling Stephen... [ view full abstract ]

In this paper the authors present some themes from an unusual social enterprise case study, written from the perspective of the owner managers. Three brothers – twins Peter and Iain Fraser with their younger sibling Stephen - embarked some years ago on the creation and development of OperaScotland (‘OpScot’), a website intended to list and promote opera and
opera-related activity in Scotland. The website itself is one of performance record. It offers no opera in the form of performance, video, audio or ticket sales, but provides a ‘free’ listing or promotional resource to those who do.
From an academic perspective we are aware that many issues are potentially relevant: those related to social enterprise and social marketing (Shaw 2004); to trial, error, effectuation and ‘muddling through’ (Ries 2011, Sarasvathy 2012); entrepreneurial and small business marketing (Gilmore 2011); branding and positioning for arts and non-profit organisations; and audience development are all likely to contribute insight. In this particular paper the focus is on the critical issue of impact. In addition to financial measures of performance, traffic and time on site can be measured. But how else might we evaluate and increase impact and what might others learn from our experience?