The Hopkins Center will consider revising workshop and studio hours, reestablishing a Student Advisory Group and revamping the Center's web site in response to a student survey, the "Dartmouth Cultural Pulse," released earlier this term. The survey asked students to reflect on their experiences with the arts at the College.
The survey's objective was to "develop a nuanced understanding of the cultural preferences, attitudes and past exposure of Dartmouth students in order to inform programming, marketing and other activities," according to the poll's final report. The survey measured student feedback in a variety of areas, including preferred performance genres, past involvement in the arts, and activities students said they would like to try.
The "Cultural Pulse" is part of the Pearson Family Marketing Initiative, a larger research effort by the Hop that began in fall 2006.
Under the Pearson Initiative, the Hop has conducted extensive research of in-house audiences, surveyed community patrons by mail and conducted focus groups of community members and students.
"[The survey] represents a motive of really wanting to understand better what [students] are interested into the extent that we can deliver it or pass it on to other players," Hop director Jeffrey James said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
The survey's results "validated" the manner in which the Hop currently addresses student interest in the arts, including the programming choices the Hop makes, James said.
A significant change that could result from the survey is the "revitalization" of the Student Advisory Group, a student committee that serves as a liaison between the Hop administration and the student community. The Hop consulted with such a group as recently as two years ago, but the Arts Ambassadors, a program founded in 2007, seemed to be "a better model" for student involvement, James said.
Based on the survey's results, however, James said he believes the Hop would benefit from a group that represents the breadth of student opinion, rather than a self-selected group of students who are already strongly committed to the arts, as Arts Ambassadors tend to be.
The survey also reported high interest in pop, independent rock and hip-hop genres. Students reported only slightly lower interest levels in the next three top-ranked genres -- classical, jazz, and blues and cultural music.
James said that other arts-related campus organizations, such as Programming Board, cater to these higher-interest musical genres, and he regards the survey as an opportunity for collaboration and specialization, rather than competition.
The Hop tends to book artists that require scheduling well in advance of a performance, while Programming Board focuses on performers that are booked on a short-term basis, James said.
He said he sees the Hop as one player in a bigger arts environment on campus as well as part of an educational enterprise, exposing students to art forms they may not encounter otherwise.
The survey also indicated several opportunities for the Hop to expand its efforts to reach out to students. The Hop's web site was ranked the lowest among sources students use to learn about on-campus programming. James noted that the web site has not been redesigned in several years, and that the survey provides the Hop with a good reason to update it.
James questioned whether the Hop is currently "capitalizing as much as [it] can on what's already occurred in students' lives," referring to the finding that 59 and 61 percent of the Classes of 2011 and 2012, respectively, were involved in the arts in high school. Participation in Hop offerings is lower, James said. James proposed that the Hop increase its outreach efforts for incoming classes through non-print media in the months prior to matriculation and expand its orientation programming beyond its one event, "First-Year Night at the Hop."
Jennifer Lopez '08, adviser on student relations at the Hop, played a major role in informing students about the survey. Her position was created when the research initiative began two years ago to increase student involvement at the Hop. The Hop offered students who completed the survey their choice from three five-dollar incentives -- a Ben and Jerry's gift card, a Boloco gift card or a Dartmouth Film Society screening pass.
The survey received 1,369 valid responses, representing 36 percent of eligible respondents. Lopez said she thought that her efforts were partially effective thanks to her status as a former student.
"When you hear another student talking to you about it, that's when it really makes a difference," she said.
Lopez said the survey results show how varied student experiences are in the arts. Although some students do not consider themselves artistic, the majority of campus is involved in the arts, at least in peripheral ways, she said.
Last month, Lopez and her colleagues at the Hop had the opportunity to offer input on what the survey means for the Hop as a whole.
A Hop advisory board, consisting of alumni and donors, will be meeting next week to discuss the survey.
The Hop, however, has already begun to respond to the survey: after observing unfulfilled student interest in making and editing films, James said the Hop immediately began a dialogue with the film and media studies department.
James said he hopes to engage in this sort of dialogue with other campus organizations and departments as well.
Some other recommendations coming out of the survey, such as shifting workshop and studio hours, may be more difficult to address, James said.
The research was conducted by San Francisco-based WolfBrown, a research and consulting firm with a focus on non-profit arts organizations.
WolfBrown was not aware of any other campus art centers that have conducted student-oriented research and planning before being contacted by Dartmouth, James said.
James said he would like to conduct similar research at least once every three to four years.
The survey represents the first part of the Hop's long-standing commitment to have open lines of communication with students, Lopez said.
"Student feedback is so important to so many decisions that are made -- it's about getting that opinion," she said.
