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From Idea to Applause: Audience Building for Creatives

8-week Short Course

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Overview

Are you looking to strengthen your ability to market creative projects and grow your audience?

From Idea to Applause: Audience Building for Creatives is a practical CPD short course designed for creatives who want to elevate their marketing and audience development skills.

Led by an experienced senior leader with over a decade working within Scotland’s charitable and commercial theatre sector, the course offers a real-world lens into the strategies and tools needed to bring an idea to life and connect it with the right audiences.

Through hands-on scenarios and industry insights, you’ll explore how to shape, communicate, and promote creative work – covering everything from developing a compelling idea and identifying target audiences, to speculative budgeting, building collaborative teams, creating marketing campaigns, and evaluating audience engagement.

This course will help you not only build your promotional toolkit but also understand how these skills intersect with your broader professional practice.

By the end of the course, students will have learned:

  • Utilise and apply a range of key professional skills, techniques, and practices related to marketing and audience development within a creative context;
  • Synthesise the interrelation between these core marketing and audience development practices and your ongoing professional development as a creative practitioner

Courses you may be interested in
We run a variety of different courses throughout the year, and update our programme regularly – you can find all courses by clicking here.

Mailing List
Sign up to our mailing list to receive the latest updates of courses, offers and news from Short Courses. You can do this by completing this short online form found here.

Contact us
If you have any questions about this course before you book it, please get in touch with us at shortcourses@rcs.ac.uk.

The important details

Age:
18+

Cost:
£215

Date:
3 February - 24 March 2026

Time:
Tuesdays, 6:30pm - 8:30pm

Venue:
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 100 Renfrew Street, Glasgow, G2 3DB

Course Information

You must be 18 or older to attend this course.

  • Plan and prepare to attend all classes.
  • Dress comfortably in clothes which are suitable for the activity you are taking part in.
  • Bring a notepad and pen/pencil in case you wish to make notes.
  • Please bring a bottle of water to stay hydrated during your class.
  • There will be some interactive elements of the class, so if possible, bring a smartphone, tablet or laptop which can access the internet.

Any course specific preparation will be sent to successful applicants ahead of the course start date.

This course is ideal for:

  • Emerging artists who want to develop their marketing skills.
  • Freelancers looking to build audiences and pitch work more effectively.
  • New graduates preparing to enter the creative sector and promote their projects with confidence.

Suzanne McLellan

Suzanne trained as a musician before swapping the studio for the boards of Scottish Theatre. A senior arts leader with over a decade of experience in Scotland’s theatre sector, spanning both charitable and commercial venues. With a focus on inclusive audience growth, strategic marketing, and creative fundraising, she has led high-impact campaigns across organisations including; The Gaiety Theatre, Ayr; Ambassador Theatre Group’s Edinburgh Playhouse and Glasgow King’s and Theatre Royal and currently in her role at Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling.

Her work blends values-driven leadership with a deep understanding of community, data, and creativity. Passionate about the power of performance to transform lives, Suzanne is currently taking the next step in her leadership journey through the MA Arts Leadership and Fundraising programme at Royal Conservatoire Scotland.

Outside of work, Suzanne spends her weekends exploring Scotland with her son Dominic and their loyal dog Oscar – always seeking new stories to share, whether from the hills, the coast, or the theatre.

This course will run in-person on Tuesday evenings for 8 weeks from 3 February – 24 March 2026, 6:30pm – 8:30pm.

The course fee is £215 and can be paid in full or in instalments before the course end date.

Further Information

We want to ensure as many children, young people and adult learners as possible can access the performing and production arts education that is offered through Short Courses at RCS. Financial support options available for Short Courses include:

Agnes Allan Bursary

Agnes Allan was a teacher, passionate about inclusion, and this bursary scheme exists to offer support to students to participate in the performing or production arts.

The Agnes Allan Bursary provides some support to students who may require financial assistance to take part in a short course in dance, drama, music, production or screen.

Anyone who wishes to take part in our Short Courses and faces a financial barrier can apply for bursary support to help meet the cost of tuition fees.

James McAvoy Drama Scholarships

BAFTA-winning and Golden Globe nominated actor James McAvoy is committed to nurturing the creative potential of young Scots who experience barriers to access and participate in drama at RCS Short Courses.

James is a graduate of the BA Acting programme at RCS and Patron of the Junior Conservatoire of Drama. The Glasgow-born actor has funded the new James McAvoy Drama Scholarships to enable young people to experience the world-class drama training at RCS as he did.

The scholarship aims to support applicants who would otherwise find meeting the cost of tuition fees at RCS a barrier to accessing pre-Higher Education drama training at the Royal Conservatoire.

You can find more information about these funds on our Financial Support page.

We run various promotional offers for our Short Courses and Summer Schools. You can view our current offers on our Promotional Offers page.

You should contact us at shortcourses@rcs.ac.uk to request your discount code before booking a course.

Please note, only one promotional offer can be applied per course and should be used at the time of booking as we are unable to apply a discounts retrospectively.

Please see our Short Course FAQs for more information about all aspects of choosing, booking and attending your course.

Please see our Short Courses – Terms and Conditions for more information about your contract with Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and Cancellation and Refund policies.

Sign up to our mailing list to receive the latest updates of courses, offers and news from Short Courses. You can do this by completing this short online form found here.

Short Courses
shortcourses@rcs.ac.uk

Summer Schools
summerschools@rcs.ac.uk

Credit-Rated
credit-rated@rcs.ac.uk

Bursary and Scholarship
bursaryscholarship@rcs.ac.uk

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Short Courses students are reading scripts in a rehearsal room.
Short courses music students are performing in the Stevenson Hall. A string quartet and an accordion player sit in a semi-circle while a pianist performs behind them.
A group of short courses students are playing accordions. They are sitting in a semi-circle.
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A group of short courses students are playing string instruments.
Short courses students are reading scripts in a rehearsal room. They are smiling and laughing with each other.
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Short courses students are reading lines from printed scripts. They are in a rehearsal room.
A person is smiling off-camera. They are holding a pencil and a book. Another person looks on intently.
Three actors are performing on stage. They are standing next to two chairs that have been toppled over. They are gesturing off camera.
A group of actors are performing on stage. They are wearing brightly coloured clothes.
A tutor directs two short courses students. They are all smiling.