From Experience to Impact

This article was written for Uncover magazine – From Global to Ground (10th edition). You can read the full magazine here. 

Author: Pieter de Rooij is senior lecturer and researcher in experience marketing & impact at the Academy for Leisure and Events, BUas.Comparing experiences and impact across three genres
The first study examined visitor experiences and impact across three performing arts genres (theatre drama, musical, and cabaret) using a quantitative survey filled in by 635 visitors within a few days after their visit (De Rooij et al., 2022). The study assessed visitor experiences across five dimensions: aesthetics, cultural enjoyment, social connectedness, intellectual stimulation, and captivation. Impact was measured across three levels in line with Duerden et al. (2018): memorable (whether visitors are touched), meaningful (leading to new personal, relevant insights), and transformative (leading or expected to lead to changes in attitudes and/or behaviour). 

All genres scored highly on aesthetics. A musical is therefore experienced just as aesthetically pleasing by a musical visitor as a drama play is by a drama play visitor. Drama play visitors reported significantly higher intellectual stimulation, while musical audiences scored higher on captivation, cultural enjoyment, and social connectedness. Cabaret scores were roughly in line with musicals. In terms of impact, drama play showed stronger results than musical and cabaret, although these two genres also created visitor impact. Over 46% of drama visitors reported meaningful impact, and 24% described the experience as transformative. Musical performances also generated considerable impact, with 30% of the visitors reporting meaningful impact and 16% reporting a transformative experience. Cabaret was most often described as memorable, with 56% of respondents feeling emotionally moved. Finally, a key finding across all genres was that intellectual stimulation showed a significant positive relationship with impact. This suggests that when performances trigger cognitive processes, the impact increases. A limitation of the study is that short-term impact was measured, while actually impact should be addressed in the  medium or long term.

Visitor experiences and short-term impact in musicals
The second study also had a quantitative approach and investigated two musicals: Come From Away and Diana & Zonen (De Rooij, Van Liempt and Mertens, 2025). In this study, the relationships between specific visitor experience dimensions and levels of impact were investigated (539 participants). This study distinguished between two types of visitor experience: perceptions of production elements (such as quality of the cast, topic of the play) and outcome-based subjective experiences (such as emotional connection, cognitive stimulation, artistic experience and social connection). Impact was measured in line with the first study. The results show that two visitor experience dimensions are the primary drivers of meaningful and transformative impact: emotional connection with the characters and story, and intellectual stimulation. 

Memorable and meaningful experiences told in visitors' own words
The third study took a qualitative approach (De Rooij, Bargeman and Martin, 2025). Using the Critical Incident Technique (CIT), visitors to Chassé Theater were invited to write freely about a memorable theatre experience: what happened during the performance they attended a (long) while ago (the experience), and what it brought them afterwards (the impact). This enabled us to make a clear distinction between the experience and the impact. Of 6,400 visitors who received the short questionnaire with open questions, 80 usable responses were collected and analysed thematically in line with a theoretical framework. About half of the respondents clearly described how they perceived production elements such as the quality of singing or acting, stage design and stage direction. Almost all respondents wrote about their emotions (e.g. being touched), which suggests that emotions are a precondition for a memorable experience. Cognitive stimulation was rarely mentioned as part of the description of the experience, but rather as part of the impact: gaining new insights about life, relationships, or society was reported by nearly half of the respondents. It seems that reflection after attending the performance plays a major role here. Hedonic well-being, such as feelings of happiness or comfort was mentioned by around a third. Several respondents also clearly referred to strengthening social ties with family and friends. Transformational impact (changes in attitudes, self-perceptions, or behaviour) was rarely described. Overall, these results show that attending performing arts may lead to memorable and meaningful experiences, but (in contrast to the first study) that transformation is rare.

Finding the right questions to evaluate impact in a short survey
The fourth study was conducted in collaboration with Chassé Theater and Parkstad Limburg Theaters. The common practice within these theatres is to send short surveys immediately after the visit, in order to evaluate the visit. Although it is realised that impact should actually be measured a while after the visit, such a procedure would be a bit strange for visitors. Therefore, the theatres want to use their timing of evaluation (shortly after the visit) to get an indication of the impact. The goal of this study was to find a few questions which give an indication of the impact. The study followed 563 respondents at three time points (before the performance, the day after, and two months later). No significant relationships were found between the independent variables (attention, affection, cognition) and dependent variables (well-being, life satisfaction) over the longer period (t0 to t2). However, meaningful associations did emerge in the short term (t0 to t1). Based on correlation analyses, the following two statements appear to be most suitable for inclusion in questionnaires to be sent shortly after attending a theatre performance: (1) ‘The performance made me forget everything around me’, and (2) ‘The performance gave me new insights’.

Conclusion
Performing arts organisations create an escapist environment for visitors where they can enjoy an evening out. Especially the quality of singing or acting and building strong characters in stories supports enhancing visitor emotions. When visitors are touched, the visit becomes memorable and contributes to visitor well-being. Besides creating emotions, the visit also contributes to cognitive development. Reflection processes play an important role here and impact seems to be emergent after the performance. The results show that not only subsidised forms of arts can create lasting impact, but also non-subsidised art forms clearly contribute to visitor impact. The quantitative findings gathered directly after the performance suggest that many visitors indicate feelings of transformation. However, the qualitative study clearly points out that transformation after one performance is rare. Therefore, a performing arts visit may certainly be memorable and meaningful, but it is not expected to be transformative. 

In practice, theatres should consider how to enhance cognitive development throughout the visitor journey. Theatres and performers could jointly create online content to be used in the pre- and post-performance phase, where visitors can leave feedback afterwards and find additional information about the performance. Finally, theatres can easily adopt the two items suggested in the fourth study to incorporate in their existing communication processes.

Sources
De Rooij, P., Keulen, N., Mertens, M., Mitas, O., Tummers, B. and Zwartbol, S. (2022). Hoe je beleving en impact in theater kunt meten. Een verkennend onderzoek bij toneel, musical en cabaret. https://cultuurmarketing.nl/beleving-en-impact-in-theater

De Rooij, P., Van Liempt, A., Mertens, M. (2025). Exploring the relationship between visitor experiences and short-term impact in performing arts, Academy of Marketing Conference, Cork, Ireland, 9 July 2025

De Rooij, P., Bargeman, B., Martin, S. (2025). Understanding memorable visitor experiences and impact in a performing arts context, Academy of Marketing Conference, Cork, Ireland, 9 July 2025

Duerden, M., Lundberg, N., Ward, P., Taniguchi, S., Hill, B., Widmer, M., & Zabriskie, R. (2018). From ordinary to extraordinary: A framework of experience types. Journal of Leisure Research, 49(3-5), 196-216.

Mitas, O., and De Rooij, P. (2025). Het applaus voorbij: Een nieuwe manier voor theaters om de impact van een bezoek aan podiumkunsten te meten. https://pure.buas.nl/

Photography
Michel Kievits
Wannes Cré