Susannah Greenwood

The impact of our less-than-stellar economy has reared its ugly head this past year in several ways. Most disheartening perhaps are the many examples of arts organizations becoming more and more isolated (and shooting themselves in the foot as a result) as the fear of losing their audiences to other “competing” arts groups takes precedence over “how can we pool our resources for the benefit of all?” Although a tough concept to drive home on any given day, collaboration is at the heart of the “Partnership” part of the Artsopolis Marketing Partnership, and now more than ever we felt we needed to make it our priority to seek out ways to help engage different groups of artists and provide more creative collaborative marketing opportunities in a “safe” environment.

Interestingly enough, in the process of deciding to refocus on collaboration, we discovered this isolation was something Artsopolis was in the midst of dealing with internally as we were in the midst of trying to brand the local website for the first time in a long while. But, once we recommitted to actively encourage others to collaborate, we made a significant shift that allowed us to essentially practice what we preached. What started out as a brainstorm to get some viral video “commercials” made about why Artsopolis.com is so awesome, quickly transformed into an experiment less about us and more about our arts community.

Amelia Northrup

The world of arts management is changing, as all industries are changing, with the proliferation of technology. Especially with the increasing popularity of online media, we as arts managers have had to reconsider the way we see our performances. Is online video footage merely a vessel for our product? Or is it, in fact, our product? Or, can it also be a means to an end?

Many see social media and its democratization of internet content as the tool that will restore relevance to the arts, which critics claim is no longer present.

In recent weeks, we’ve seen changes in the social media landscape that make the issues surrounding performance footage all the more relevant. Twitter is adding video embedding capability. YouTube will soon be able to handle streaming video for content partners. These are signals of a trend that is already in progress—a movement of online video footage becoming not only accepted, but commonplace. Like it or not, online video is here to stay.

Mary Trudel

I’ll be moderating a NAMP session on Saturday, November 13, 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm featuring up to the minute presentations by colleagues Rory MacPherson, Ron Evans and Ayokunle Omojola on how arts organizations can harness their creativity to develop apps and use existing mobile platforms to build connections with audiences. We’ll also engage with representatives from Bay Area organizations: the Center for Asian American Media about creating custom applications for the iPhone and  Yerba Buena Center for the Arts which has forged a community of supporters using mobile-accessible Twitter and Facebook feeds.

One concern I’ve heard is that technological ways of connecting with arts organizations might limit or compete with live participation.  But to quote Clay Shirky’s new book Cognitive Surplus:  “The old idea that media is a domain relatively separate from ‘the real world’ no longer applies…to any of the myriad ways people are using social media to arrange real-world action.”  And the latest NEA research report, Audience 2.0, contains surprising, reassuring news: More is Better!  People who engage with art through media technologies attend live performances or arts exhibits at TWO to THREE times the rate of non-media arts participants.

Brian Reich

The latest book from Brian Solis, Engage, is written for champions and executives alike in business, marketing, branding, interactive, service, and communications with a mission to help all aspects of business to the table. But Brian Solis understands how arts organizations work, and how the lessons from his book, and his work with brands all around the world, can be applied to arts organizations.

More from my conversation with Brian Solis:

Reich: Arts organizations are ultimately competing for an audience’s attention just like every other brand out there – and in most cases, the competition has more resources to support their efforts to reach and engage customers. When an organization is small, its focus somewhat narrow, and its resources more limited – how can an arts organization compete?  Are there enough people who are interested in the arts, or who are looking to support a small organization, to justify the time and energy required to truly engage?

Solis: It comes down to the idea of a switch. Imagine that you are hosting an event, a conference. The challenge that arts organizations face will actually be very similar, and thus they will need to approach social media and audience engagement in much the same way a non-profit arts organization would. First, a conference, like an arts organization, is looking for people who are contextually bound – an audience focused on specific topic or theme. Well, one of the most underestimated powers of social networking and that is that you can identify clusters of individuals connected around topics and themes. But, to identify those clusters requires a little layer of intelligence. You need to you to connect the dots without necessarily saying: “I want to find everyone whose interested in, say, arts in Chicago” for example. You have to dig one or two layers deeper and develop a more complete understanding of the individuals you are trying to reach. There are so many different capacities on which you can connect with individuals. So if you’re working for an arts organizations and your job is to increase subscribers or donations, that’s one thing. If your role within that organization is filling seats in that particular house, maybe that’s something that complimentary but more likely the challenge is a little different. And then who you connect with and where are all going to be dictated by the results that come out of that initial searching. So if someone you are trying to reach is active on LinkedIn versus Twitter versus Facebook, that intelligence is there, and how you connect with them will be based on how people are interacting in those communities right now. I used conferences as an example because it is one of the more difficult things that you have to do – filling the seats in a particular house for a series of events in a local area for a very specific event. And then when you book a conference, for example, and you now have people who are connected from all over the world and you interact with them, and everyone is fighting for their attention, the challenge becomes even greater. The similarities to arts organizations are pretty clear.

Brian Reich

1. Publish the production notes from your show as a presentation online and let your audience, as well as others who are staging a similar show, to access the details or add their own ideas.  Provide personal notes about your interpretation of the script.  Share a picture or diagram of the stage layout.  Include the back-of-the-napkin drawings that were first shared with the costume department.  You can create a basic Powerpoint or Keynote file and load it up to SlideShare (www.slideshare.net) or Scribd (www.scribd.com).  Integrate the links into all your marketing activities, promote the 'process story' to media and bloggers, even consider hosting pre-show discussions or events to discuss the notes that you have provided.  The more information you can provide to help a member of your audience gain greater understanding of the production, and the more accessible you can make those details, the more opportunities you create as an organization to engage people in a meaningful, measurable way.

Brian Reich

Information moves faster. People are more closely connected. The expectations we all have for what we want to see and hear have changed. The kinds of relationships and the levels of support we want from organizations have been redefined. Our connection to the issues and events that define our world has been transformed.

The ubiquity of technology and the reach of the Internet make it possible to spread a message farther and have it be embraced by more people than ever before. The rise of social platforms leaves no doubt that we are one global, interconnected community and capable of taking action on issues we passionately share. The available tools make it possible for everyone to have a platform from which to speak, and anyone to spark a bottom-up, grassroots-fueled revolution that has power no individual or entity could generate. However, the tools alone will not ensure that an arts organization, or any organization, is successful in communicating with, and engaging, audiences.