Archive for August, 2010
How can the Arts & Cultural Community Partner with METRO?
Posted by: | CommentsLast May, the US Airways Center and METRO light rail entered into a creative partnership which allows consumers who possess a ticket to any event at US Airways Center to ride METRO light rail at no additional cost, on the day of the event. CLICK HERE TO SEE METRO’S PRESS RELEASE.
Recently, I met with METRO executives to ask if such a partnership might be created with the arts & cultural community. They are open to the concept, but there are some concrete limitations:
- METRO has absolutely ZERO ability to enter in to such arrangements for ”goodwill” or even ”philanthropic” purposes. Their rate system is strickly regulated and such a relationship must be “revenue neutral” – meaning that they can’t sacrifice revenue.
- METRO’s agreement with US Airways Center is a PAID relationship – that is, METRO calculated the value of the number of riders who routinely use the system to attend events at the Center; and US Airways Center agreed to pay a certain % of EVERY admission to the Center to METRO to directly cover that expense.
- Even if we can figure out the monetary aspects of such a relationship, we would also need to figure out how to make such a process operational. Consider the fact that METRO needs to be able to easily enforce this policy – which means that its staff needs to be able to quickly determine if a rider has an authorized ticket. I imagine that US Airways Center tickets exist in 3-5 different formats (i.e. hard tickets, print @ home) – but imagine asking METRO to recognize all the different kinds of admission tickets that come from 10 (or 100+) different arts and cultural organizations all over the Valley. It seems obvious that a larger coalition of organizations would need to find a way to “standardize” this process as well.
What do you think? Is this a desirable objective? If so, how could we fund it and make it work? Please “Leave a Reply” with your comments/suggestions here: http://notes.allianceforaudience.org/2010/08/22/metro/
And if you’d like to be part of a task force to explore/advance this opportunity further, please write to me directly at MLehrman@allianceforaudience.org.
Define: “Audience Development”
Posted by: | CommentsWhat is your organization’s best one-sentence definition of the term “audience development”?
Chances are good that the phrase ”audience development” appears somewhere in your organization’s strategic plan – or in a recent grant application – or in the minutes of a Board meeting – or in a marketing analysis – or possibly in all of the above.
But how do you concisely DEFINE the term “audience development”?
Does the phrase mean substantially different things depending on the size or type of organization you are – or by the type of art you produce or present?
Let’s compare notes! What is YOUR ORGANIZATION’S best one-sentence definition of “audience development”? Please post it here: http://notes.allianceforaudience.org/2010/08/26/define-audience-development/ (Scroll down to “Leave a Reply.”)
For Alliance for Audience & ShowUp.com, here’s our best definition (so far):
“Audience development” is the on-going process of diversifying and cultivating audience participation in which all arts and cultural organizations must engage in order to ensure long-term viability.”
Cézanne – A Brilliant Example of Arts & Cultural Advertising
Posted by: | CommentsConsider the Phoenix Art Museum’s 1-minute Cézanne video REQUIRED VIEWING for everyone whose responsibilities includes the marketing of arts & cultural activities: http://www.phxart.org/cezanne/
It is profoundly simple – and stunningly effective. For 3 reasons, I hold this up as a BRILLIANT example of arts & cultural marketing:
- It speaks to prospective audiences regardless of whether or not they’ve ever heard the artist’s name.
- It doesn’t merely announce the exhibit – it advances an INDEPENDENT and COMPELLING reason to experience it.
- It pursues just ONE objective – that the viewer should know Cézanne as a “Great Innovator” in art – akin to the great innovators in society, music, literature, science.
Think that’s easy? With all due respect, take a look at how another museum presented their recent Cézanne exhibit: http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/312.html. Typical. BORING.
Think that’s expensive? That they must have had a big ad agency produce this for them? Think again. Mark Patel, Phoenix Art Museum’s Director of Marketing & Public Relations tells me that this was written and produced internally – using on-line templates and royalty free images - on an incredibly modest budget. (How would you like it if we scheduled a “study session” with Mark to talk about WHERE TO FIND and HOW TO ACCESS such cool resources? “Leave a Reply” to this post and let us know if that’s something you’d value!)
Remember this exchange between Curly (Jack Palance) and Mitch (Billy Crystal) in City Slickers? It’s not just the ”secret of life” – it’s also the secret of truly effective advertising – which the Phoenix Art Museum has clearly grasped and from which we ALL can learn a lesson:
Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is?
[holds up one finger]
Curly: This.
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean sh**.
Mitch: But, what is the “one thing?”
Curly: [smiles] That’s what *you* have to find out.
Prescott Museums Offer “3-for-1″
Posted by: | CommentsNEW THIS WEEK on the Prescott homepage of ShowUp.com look for the ”Prescott 3-for-1 Pass” that invites guests to visit the Phippen Museum, Sharlot Hall Museum, and Smoki Museum all for just $12.
Creating such a collaborative pass had been the subject of discussions among these museums in the past, but became actionable with the arrival of Alliance for Audience’s in Prescott last Spring.
Let’s applaud Cindy Gresser, Executive Director of the Smoki Museum, Kim Villalpando, Executive Director of the Phippen Museum and John Langellier, Director of the Sharlot Hall Museum for their creative leadership and collaborative spirit.
Finally, let me acknowledge Margaret Fallon, Alliance for Audience’s Director of Services, who worked with the museums to put Alliance for Audience resources in service to their objectives - and who would be delighted to hear from other organizations with requests to support YOUR collaborative endeavors.