ARTSblog

Jennie Smith-Peers

This year marks the first year that Americans over the age of 65 will outnumber those under the age of 20. The “graying” of America is already conversations that many arts administrators are familiar with, who are busy discussing how to deal with aging administrators and aging audiences.  Yet, what this green paper seeks to address is how do we as service providers include access to our arts programming for everyone? Traditional ways of doling out arts programming are no longer sufficient. Older adults need and desire quality arts programs that give them the opportunity to grow and be creative. What is holding us back from including elders? At the end of the day, I believe that it is ageism.

We are living in the 21^st Century and though many strides have been made in the last 30 years to view aging in a more positive light our society continues to marginalize them, make many feel unwelcome, and forces them to be invisible. Read the rest of this entry »

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 7:07 — 4.9MB)

Nina Ozlu Tunceli

It’s hard to believe that the 2010 elections were 20 days ago today.  For those of us who work in politics the day is akin to a holiday but just because the elections our over it doesn’t mean our work is finished – in fact we have a lot ahead of us.  Now is the time when we sit down and figure out what the results from the ballot box mean for the arts and arts education.

Political junkies aren’t the only ones who should care about the election results though.  What happened on November 2, 2010 will have a far reaching impact on arts and arts education organizations throughout the country.

Nina Ozlu Tunceli, Chief Counsel of Government and Public Affairs at Americans for the Arts and Executive Director of the Arts Action Fund, was kind enough to take a few moments to share her greatest insights from the 2010 election with me.  I encourage you to take a few moments to listen – you might find yourself caring about politics more than you think.

For members of Americans for the Arts, check out the Post-Election Impact Webinar from November 18.  You can also check out the 2010 Congressional Arts Report Card to find out how legislators voted for the arts this year.

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Recently I converged with 599 other arts marketers in San Jose during the National Arts Marketing Project Conference. We arrived eager to share with one another examples of how we are engaging our audiences, how we are communicating our messages, how we are raising money, and how we are using technology to do it.  With YouTube currently ranking as the #2 search engine in the world, this means many of us are using online video as a tool.

Option A. I complain like a sourpuss that most of the NAMP conference presenters referred to their campaigns that used video but few actually showed the videos.

OR

Option B. I take it upon myself, like the ‘put your shoulder to the wheel’ pioneer I was raised to be and spend some time looking up the participating arts organizations using video online.

I went for Option B. As you would guess, there is a wide variety of approaches to online video, from high production HD footage to flipcam footage and irreverent/provocative to sincere/humanizing.  My NAMPC ’10 video playlist is accessible via vodpod collection online.  Please share.

#1. BERKELEY REP: WHAT WILL YOU SEE? – Keynote speaker Susan Medak of Berkeley Repertory Theatre in CA, was a fantastic follow up to what our opening speaker Chip Heath had primed our creative marketing minds to be thinking about. Berkeley Rep’s promo video “What Will You See?” shows they really get how to communicate identity and mission using video. Read the rest of this entry »

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Mara Walker

Just back from the Creativity World Forum (#cwf2010) in Oklahoma City thanks to Creative Oklahoma. This means the U.S. is now one of 12 districts throughout the world celebrating creativity as a means for progressive advancement. Over 2,000 people from all over the world gathered to exchange ideas on how to inspire our workforce, students and leaders.

Best part: seeing the arts on equal footing with other industries like science, technology and education as a strategy to strengthen creativity in America. Worst parts: lack of diversity in presenters (are only white guys creative?) and an ironic lack of creative engagement of participants.

Next step is for us to distinguish the arts as a major contributor to building creativity in individuals and the nation. Oh yeah, and a complete revamping of our education system.

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Stephanie Evans

The other day I was standing in the check-out line at my local grocery store, when I glanced at the bright yellow cover of GOOD Magazine.  Coincidentally, the fall issue is subtitled The Work Issue, which you can read online as well.  Since Americans for the Arts and the Emerging Leaders Council just released our 2009 Emerging Leader Survey Results & Analysis report last week, I thought the magazine would be a good read, so I picked it up.

In the Emerging Leader Survey Analysis, our most surprising finding demonstrated that while the majority of survey participants expressed a strong desire to make arts administration their long term career, a much smaller percentage of them feels they have the opportunities for advancement within their current jobs.  This means the following needs to happen:  arts organizations need to make professional development for their employees a priority. (Some are already doing this really well)  Simultaneously, individual arts administrators need to begin creating their own opportunities to learn the skills they need to either move up in their current organization or move on to a higher position in another arts organization.  If neither of these happens, the arts sector stands to lose skilled leaders to take the field into the next generation. Read the rest of this entry »

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On November 4, arts and business leaders from all over the US commended twelve exceptional businesses for their commitment to the arts at the BCA 10 awards in New York City. Now that the awards are over, the black ties have come off and the awardees have returned to their respective home bases. But from Iowa to Oregon, the celebration of these exceptional businesses shows no signs of stopping.

In Cincinnati, Strata-G continues to celebrate by renewing their commitment to supporting the arts. The company is launching a campaign to offer two Cincinnati area arts organizations their marketing services, pro-bono, for a full year. “Being nominated for and winning the BCA 10 award further reinforced in us the role that business can play in supporting area non-profits,” Strata-G managing partner Jeff Eberlein said. “We wanted to step up once again and show our gratitude to and support worthy arts organizations.” Strata-G earned a BCA 10 award for providing over $75,000 in pro-bono services to arts organizations in 2009 alone. And in Oregon, Portland General Electric is being honored at Business and Culture for the Arts’ Breakfast of Champions, where Portland Mayor Sam Adams will re-present the BCA 10 award to PGE CEO Jim Piro. “PGE believes the arts have the power to educate, heal and create a vibrant economy and has long demonstrated a dedication to incorporating the arts in its corporate culture while also encouraging other businesses to follow suit,” said Virginia Willard, Business for Culture & the Art’s executive director. Read the rest of this entry »

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After attending my first NAMP conference, I realize the landscape of arts marketing has changed immeasurably over the last five years, primarily due to the economy and technological advances.  It’s been rough for many of us.  However, over the course of the conference, I’ve learned about the many ways arts organizations have cleverly responded, while becoming more nimble, thoughtful, and artistically richer as a result.  These strategies revolve around: new technology, collaboration, and more hard work.

New Technology

Although this fact is quite obvious to anyone in the arts marketing world, it’s still worth noting that new technology has changed the way we engage, learn, and reach out to our audiences.  Customer relationship management technology, social media and other web based forms of communication are examples of this.   As arts marketers, if we did not initially embrace these advances, we have since been nudged to adopt them for our own survival.

Collaboration

Collaborations are not uncommon among artists.  For arts organizations, they have become more important than ever.  One of the lessons I heard repeatedly over the course of the last few days is that companies must involve all departments within their organization to adeptly incorporate and benefit from new technologies.  During lean times, when everyone is doing more, it’s especially crucial to involve all parties.  In the end, working outside one’s comfort zone and boundaries together makes the organization stronger as a team.  Collaboration has always been a part of our culture, but new technology and leaner budgets encourage us to seek new joint ventures and ways to work with each other.

Hard Work

We all know that working in the arts has never been a cakewalk.  We are accustomed to struggle.  We know that this will never change.  It takes time to learn new technology, and can get frustrating just when you had the last thing figured out.  It’s not easy to work with new people.  Not to mention all the day-to-day fundraising it takes to keep our organizations afloat.  Who better to adapt to these rapid changes than us?

I believe that the art we promote and the value it brings to our communities is entirely worth it.

Bring it on!

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Whenever my mother or some other evolved being tells me “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” I have to stop myself from shaking them by the shoulders and saying,

“OK fine! You sit next to a screaming child on a plane.  And you’re right, my journey is going to begin with one big fat single step – noise canceling headphones!”

Goodbye San Jose

For all of you who will be leaving the National Arts Marketing Project  Conference in San Joseand flying home and might find yourself in the unfortunate position of being seated next to a very loud little person, spend the two bucks for a headset and pump up the volume.

Here are some other travel tips: Read the rest of this entry »

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Like many before me and many to come, I came to Silicon Valley for the Chips — specifically, Chip Heath, co-author of Made to Stick and Switch, and one of my heroes Chip Conley, owner of Joie de Vivre hotels (who I actually admitted to having a brain crush on via Twitter). Both Chips were keynotes at the 2010 National Arts Marketing Project Conference held in San Jose this weekend.

The first time I listened to Chip Conley (who tweeters at the conference have immortalized with the hash tag hotchip) and as I read Peak, I thought a lot about how Arts Alliance Illinois, primarily an arts advocacy organization, could “refresh the identity” of Illinois arts practitioners and leaders through advocacy.

But this time, maybe because I’m still thinking about Election Day, I was thinking about a Hierarchy of Needs for elected officials. Specifically, what is transformation for elected officials. If you were an elected official, what would it mean to be all you can be?

Before you begin the snarky comments, let me take a step back – for all of you wondering what the Hierarchy of Needs is, how this is connected to Chip Conley, and what it means to refresh an identity.

You may have heard the term “Hierarchy of Needs” in a psychology class or on your Lincoln-Douglas debate team if you’re a dork like me. Abraham Maslow, a professor of psychology, invented the term when he decided to shift the gaze of psychologists from the “worst case scenarios” in humanity to those living the happiest and most satisfying lives. He discovered a hierarchy of needs – from basic survival to transformation – that defines human existence. Here’s my rendition:

Photo credit: Flickr user Khalid Almasoud.

The bottom layer is all about physiological needs: food, drink, air, and sleep. Next up are your safety needs. Then there are needs related to love and belonging, followed by esteem needs. On top of the pyramid is self-actualizing, being all you can be. Read the rest of this entry »

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On Sunday afternoon, Managing Director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre Susan Medak joined the National Arts Marketing Project  Conference to share with us the responsibilities of non-profit arts organizations. For those of us in San Jose, Susan’s words will undoubtedly have a lasting impact. Here are some of the things that are sure to stick with us as we return home.

We have an obligation, under the tax code and under each of our own moral codes, to fulfill our missions, our long term goals, our service goals and our artistic goals.

We have an obligation to seek out income and audiences wherever we can find them.

We also have an obligation to be as adaptive and flexible as we can possibly be in a world in which things are constantly changing and in which the opportunities of tomorrow can not even be imagined today.

We have to step outside our comfort zones…. to resist the temptation NOT to take risks.

We have to be bold, be willing to try new things and new relationships.

We have to value discomfort rather than stability.

We have embrace ambiguity and flexibility.

Go forth and be strong.

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What’s CRM?  And why are we talking about this at an arts marketing conference?

These questions inspired me to attend today’s panel discussion: “The Brave New World of Customer Relationship Management Technology” to find out what CRM was all about, and hear how arts organizations are using it.

Illuminating the topic of customer relationship management in relation to the arts was Steven Roth, President of The Pricing Institute; Ruth Davidson, Director of External Affairs for ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage; and moderator Eugene Carr, Founder and President of Patron Technology who gave Brian Sayre, Director of Ticket Services for PlayhouseSquare’s presentation (Brian was not able to make it to the conference). Read the rest of this entry »

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Let me begin this post by saying: If you’re an arts marketer but aren’t on Twitter, get an account before next year’s conference in Louisville. I promise you that you will have a richer conference experience because of it. Seriously.

Why? Twitter brings people together. It’s such a powerful, real-time communication tool that naturally facilitates dialogue. One of my favorite experiences at this conference is actually meeting people in person that I follow on Twitter. In a way, I actually feel more of an affinity towards them because of the fact that I’ve read their tweets! We’re not just tweeting back and forth and never engaging in conversation in real life; if anything, Twitter is an online tool that actually facilitates face-to-face communication at events like conferences.

Twitter’s also a great way to experience other parts of the conference, like other sessions or roundtables that you’re not able to attend. It’s pretty easy to take a general snapshot of how attendees are feeling just by monitoring what’s going on with the event hashtag (which is #NAMPC10 for this conference). If there’s a strong reaction, positive or negative, to something that’s said in a session, you will know about it. You’ll know what funny quotes are said, valuable insights are shared and random observations are made. Thanks to Twitter, I know I’m not the only one who was confused by the cricket chirp ringtone in one of the sessions! Read the rest of this entry »

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I have always wanted to be a cowgirl.  Never mind that I was a very tall Chinese American kid in a Jewish Italian neighborhood in Queens.  I still longed to be a wild and free cowgirl with great looking boots of course.    OK, there were not a whole lot of role models out there for me so I had to reinvent myself and my reality to fit my dream.
I still do.

Why is this important?
A lot of what I am hearing at this conference has to do with exactly that.  Reimagining, reinventing or experiences that we want to share with our audiences on all levels – marketing, the creative process, technology.  There is one idea that has struck me as something extremely unexpected and surprisingly effective.

Try this, design for failure.
Accept that whatever you do successfully today will be a failure tomorrow.  So plan to fail at strategic intervals where you can learn quicker, reinvent yourself and get a newer product out in the marketplace fast.  Consistently.  That is how you build presence and consumer confidence.  It is counterintuitive on all fronts. Read the rest of this entry »

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I entered my undergrad as a double major in Broadcast Journalism and Public Relations, if only because I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do. During my sophomore year, I was called to film a number of intro segments for a small niche cable channel’s series. Excited, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I headed to the studio, sat down in front of the camera and and got ready to film my first intro.

All I have to do is read the teleprompter. That’s it. Shouldn’t be too difficult, right? Okay, here we go…ugh, messed up. Can we do this again?

My voice was raspy, I was fumbling my words, I was nervous and in all honesty, I just didn’t enjoy it. It didn’t energize me the way I thought it would. In the end, they had me film one (ONE!) closing segment for the series where I read their website and phone number. I had, for all intents and purposes, failed, at least at reaching the goals both I and others had created for myself.

Succeeding is awesome. Knowing that you met your goals and that other people are happy with your product is amazing. But what happens when you fail? What do you do with those mistakes? Read the rest of this entry »

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Chip Heath

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