Archive for Membership
Please Take This Fiscal Health Survey…
Posted by: | CommentsAlliance for Audience, in partnership with Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and the Association of Performing Arts Service Organizations (APASO), is conducting a very short snapshot survey to get an up-to-the-minute sense of how non-profit arts & cultural organization are faring. The information gathered in this survey will contribute to a regional and national picture of the fiscal health of the arts & cultural sector, so I write to ask you to complete it!
Even if you don’t think all of the questions are relevant to your organization, please let me URGE you to participate as long as you are a not-for-profit arts or cultural organization.
The deadline to complete this survey, which should only take 5-10 minutes, is Friday, September 30.
THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT:
- This survey will not require you to crunch any numbers and should only take 5-10 minutes. You must begin and submit it during the same session; you cannot save your answers and submit them later.
- If you receive this survey from more than one service organization, PLEASE ONLY FILL IT OUT ONCE, but do select ALL service organizations with which you are affiliated on the preliminary information page.
- If your fiscal year 2011 is not yet over, please estimate where you will be.
- In order to provide an accurate analysis of the data, THIS SURVEY IS INTENDED ONLY FOR NOT-FOR-PROFIT ARTS & CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS. Those who should NOT fill this survey out include arts service organizations, individual artists or teachers, commercial producers or companies and for-profit theatre camps or studios.
- Because the survey was instituted by Theatre Communications Group (TCG), its default language speaks to theatre companies and performing arts organizations. If you’re some other type of arts or cultural organization, PLEASE PROCEED ANYWAY! (TCG will filter out non-theatre companies for their national analysis – but Alliance for Audience is very still interested in capturing a broad Arizona perspective on the whole of the arts & cultural community.)
- Please direct questions about the survey to Chris Shuff at cshuff@tcg.org.
The link to the survey is: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SJHPKP
THE SURVEY DEADLINE IS FRIDAY, September 30, 2011.
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What do you want? When do you want it?
Posted by: | CommentsNow that your new season is in focus, please take a moment to tell us what promotional help you MOST DESIRE from your Alliance for Audience membership.
Please complete this quick & confidential survey no later than August 31: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22CFFBYB6MN/
Among the questions: What are the 3 MOST IMPORTANT events in your new season that ShowUp.com should ESPECIALLY help you promote?
(Among other purposes, I’m using your answers to this question to help organize the schedule for my TV segments for the year. I strongly urge you to answer candidly & quickly!!!)
NOTE: If you have already completed this survey, THANK YOU, we have your responses and you need not submit this again.
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Please tell us… by June 15, 2011
Posted by: | CommentsAlliance for Audience isn’t JUST a service organization for the breadth of Arizona’s entire arts & cultural community… it’s a service organization to YOUR company.
Please help us APPRECIATE & ANTICIPATE your organization’s specific needs & priorities for the 2011-12 season by completing this confidential survey by June 15, 2011:
There’s no need to restrict responses to just one person per organization; we are grateful to receive multiple perspectives to your organization’s priorities.
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“StoryCorps” is Coming to Town!
Posted by: | Comments
Is there someone you know & love – supporter, performer, leader, artist, mentor, subscriber, benefactor or someone else – who has a GREAT personal story to tell and whose experience reveals something of the RICH HISTORY of Arizona’s arts & cultural community?
Then read on for your chance to conduct a StoryCorps interview…
Listeners to National Public Radio (NPR) are likely familiar with StoryCorps, a rich and massive oral history project from which excerpts are played weekly on Morning Edition. StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening. Complete information: www.storycorps.org.
KJZZ and KBAQ have just announced that StoryCorps is coming to Phoenix for the very first time – from January 6 to 29. (Beginning December 16 and January 7, StoryCorps will take reservations from the general public to record 40-minute conversations in the StoryCorps recording facility. Reservations will be accepted via: www.storycorps.org; www.kjzz.org or at 800-850-4406.)
Alliance for Audience is delighted to be a “Community Partner” in welcoming StoryCorps to the Valley and has been asked to help StoryCorps find:
- Voices that are underrepresented in mainstream media,
- People who are unfamiliar with StoryCorps,
- Stories that are particularly important to this region.
Specifically, Alliance for Audience has been granted the ability to guide up to 3 “slots” on the crowded StoryCorps schedule – and we are specifically looking for people & stories that align with our mission to raise the visibility of Arizona’s arts & cultural community.
Perhaps you know a long-time Arizona artist, philanthropist, advocate, audience member, leader or community member – someone whose story deserves to be heard and shared!
If you’d like to be considered, please send a message to Matt Lehrman at MLehrman@allianceforaudience.org by Wednesday, December 15 at NOON - and answer these questions:
- Name of interviewer
- Name & description of person to be interviewed
- How is this person’s story unique and important to the history of Arizona’s arts & cultural community. (300 word maximum)
A selection panel will work with me to determine the interviews to recommend to StoryCorps and we’ll let you know which interviews are selected no later than December 23.
NOTE: A StoryCorps interview is a 40-minute conversation, conducted in any language, between two people who know each other. A facilitator will be present during the recording to walk the participants through the process and also help with questions if needed. At the end of the interview, the participants receive a CD copy of the conversation and, with their permission, a copy is archived at the Library of Congress for future generations.
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.”
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.
Your Input Invited (and Needed) for Strategic Planning
Posted by: | CommentsLater this month, the Board of Directors of Alliance for Audience & ShowUp.com will engage in a facilitated “strategic planning” discussion which will address a variety of topics including the organization’s mission, its core business activities, and the needs/expectations of our member organizations.
This is an opportunity for BIG thinking – for the Board to consider and offer policy-level guidance about how best to advance the cause of audience development in Arizona – focusing on mission and vision and overall strategy.
And this discussion couldn’t come at a better time! So many things are in flux… technology, the economy, management practices, consumer attitudes, competition for leisure time, philanthropy, business models, demographic shifts and more.
As a service organization to Arizona’s arts and cultural community, it’s especially important to know that our thinking is firmly grounded in YOUR insights, expectations and priorities.
So, please, may I invite you to either write to me directly at MLehrman@allianceforaudience.org or post a reply to this message at http://notes.allianceforaudience.org/ and share your thoughts on any (or all) of these questions:
· What is it about the work of Alliance for Audience & ShowUp.com that is MOST IMPORTANT to you and your organization?
· What are we doing now that we should be doing MORE (or LESS) of going forward? (Or STOP completely?)
· If we could START doing something new that would be really valuable – what would it be?
· What are we doing now that you would consider SACRED – that is, it’s working really well for you and your organization so that we’d better be extremely careful before making any changes to it.
Please share your comments by Tuesday, April 20. I promise to use this space in coming weeks to keep you apprised of what new visions and strategies arise, to discuss them, and to continually welcome and invite your comments and guidance.