Visiting with a “small” member organization of Alliance for Audience in Tucson last week, I asked their marketing person if she had ever contacted a particular “large” and prominent local organization that presents work in a similar genre to ask for the opportunity to insert a flyer into their theatre program.

Her expression was one of shock.  “No,” she said realizing she had missed an obvious and inexpensive marketing opportunity.  She recovered quickly, ”Do you think they would?”

Her comment was a vivid reminder that many arts & cultural marketers perform their jobs in “silos” - isolated structures designed specifically to keep in (and keep out) all kinds of other stuff. 

What’s good for corn or grain, however, isn’t healthy when you’re in need of creative ideas for attracting audiences in an era of declining budgets, increased competition and depressed demand.

Working in a silo, we quickly forget that there exist other organizations – and other people – who are doing work that is perfectly complementary to what we are working so hard to achieve.

From the silo, it’s tough to think about WHO might be appropriate to ask – WHEN is a good time to ask – WHERE the opportunities might be – WHAT is possible/reasonable to ask – and WHY should another organization/person might consider partnering with you.

So let’s bust some silos this week…

• If you haven’t recently contacted another arts or cultural organization to explore complementary marketing opportunities, CALL ME.
• If it occurs to you that another organization might be IDEAL for helping you reach certain audiences that you desire - CALL ME.
• If you think that your marketing challenge is so unique that nobody else could possibly be of help – CALL ME.
• If you think that you’re too small – or too big – to get help – CALL ME. 

Seriously:  CALL ME.  My direct phone number is 602-971-2223 x101; or e-mail me at MLehrman@allianceforaudience.org.  Or call any other member of your Alliance for Audience team.  (We’re all at the same basic phone number.)

One of the benefits of creating & administering a 220-member Statewide association of Arizona arts & cultural organizations is that your Alliance for Audience team of Veronica, Margaret, Skye, Kelly, Randy and me pretty much know someone at EVERY theatre company, music group, dance company, museum, art organization, festival, culinary activity and cultural destination everywhere. 

So CALL US – and let us use our contacts to connect you with someone (or a bunch of someones) who are just as interested as you in finding people who are ready & willing to partner with them.

What’s the opposite of a “silo”?  I’m thinking “Habitrail.”  Let us help you connect your silo!  That’s a better metaphor, yes?

# # #

The public knows us as ShowUp.com - and they know that they receive their weekly You’ve Got Shows! e-mail newsletter, discounts via the Chase Ticket Marketplace and free admission to museums and attractions via the popular Culture Pass program.

But many don’t know that these services are provided by Alliance for Audience, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission “to connect people, arts and culture.”

So, today we launched this special reminder:  The date 1/11/11 doesn’t come around every day. To mark the occasion, we ask fans & friends of Alliance for Audience & ShowUp.com to donate $1, $11 or $20.11 to help reach the goal of $11,111 in 11 days to sustain the services you value & enjoy!

In fact, if every one of ShowUp.com’s e-mail subscribers, Facebook fans and “Tweeps” donated just $1.00, this goal would easily be reached.

You’re invited to participate, too!  Just follow this link to choose what level of donation you would like to make: http://www.allianceforaudience.org/11111Challenge.html  (And, of course, contributions to Alliance for Audience are tax deductible.)

Look for the graphic at the very top of ShowUp.com to check on the progress of the challenge!

Let the Challenge begin!

Here at the end of 2010, let’s take a moment to count our Top 10 Accomplishments and note how they power our ambitions for 2011.  

1. Visibility: In 2010, the ShowUp.com website grew at a respectable 5% monthly rate to serve an average of 34,481 unique visitors each month.  Analysis reveals that this traffic fuels 150,000 visits to arts and cultural venues every week – and that’s a lot of marketing power that can (and will!) be unleashed in the coming year.
2. Value: In 2010, the Chase Ticket Marketplace generated $259,302 to organizations that sold discount tickets – and topped $1 million in sales since its launch in 2004.)   The most successful users of the Ticket Marketplace have figured out how to use this service to attract new audiences and increase the frequency of participation of current audiences.
3. Innovation: 35 small and emerging organizations used ShowUpTIX this year to sell nearly $100,000 of their own full-price tickets.  The recent introduction of PatronManager CRM brings AFA members some of the most sophisticated, affordable and impactful “customer relationship management” technologies that are available today.
4. Statewide: The Prescott Area joined the ShowUp.com family in April 2010,  joining Flagstaff and Metro Tucson which joined in 2009.   Discussions are now underway to add even more communities to the ShowUp.com calendar of arts & cultural events.
5. ShowUp for Fun Initiative – A partnership with the Arizona Department of Education enables the arts & cultural community to make available specially-discounted show tickets to school teachers statewide – and next, we are working to find a financial sponsor that will enable this program to expand to include active-duty military, veterans and their families.  
6. Culture Pass Initiative – AFA inherited management of the popular Culture Pass program (which was started by the Phoenix Art Museum) by which more than 200,000 people have received the benefit of free admission to 14 Valley museums and cultural attractions.  We’re working to sustain that program for the future as well.
7. Collaboration: Alliance for Audience is making it possible for all of its member organizations to analyze and evaluate their audiences with powerful new collaborative technologies.  Production of a first-ever Arizona Arts & Cultural Census / Community Database just recently got underway, with 60 organizations participating in the inaugural effort – and it will go live by February 2011. 
8. Communication: This year, the growth of ShowUp.com’s social media efforts shattered industry benchmarks with 92% of fans actively engaged with the page (industry benchmark is 2.5%) and a monthly growth rate of 8.5% (industry benchmark is 3.5%), allowing instant communication with a group of nearly 2,700 people actively seeking information on participating in arts and cultural events.
9. Transparency:  In 2010, Alliance for Audience/ShowUp.com earned the status of a GuideStar Exchange Valued Partner! Guidestar makes sure donors to non-profits know exactly where their money goes.
10. Service:  Veronica celebrated 4 years with Alliance for Audience in 2010 and Margaret & Randy will reach the 4-year mark in 2011.  New this year, your Alliance for Audience was joined by Skye, Kelly & Ashley - and we were grateful for assistance from Jamey in Flagstaff and Herb in Tucson.  There will be a few changes in 2011, but our commitment to being of service to YOU remains paramount!  

This New Year’s Eve, let’s raise 2 toasts:  ONE to what has been accomplished by collaboration – and TWO to the ambitions to which we commit ourselves for 2011.

See you next year!

The list of organizations that have committed to participate in the Arizona Arts & Culture Census/Community Database continues to grow. Visit this link to see who is currently on board: http://allianceforaudience.org/Pages/arts&culturecensus.html

It’s not too late to participate!  Just download the Participation Agreement from that linked page and return it today.

Tomorrow (December 1) is the DEADLINE for organizations to sign the Participation Agreement for the Arizona Arts & Cultural Census/Community Database Project.

As of 2:30 pm today, here is who has committed to participate. (If your organization is NOT on this list, then we haven’t officially heard from you!)

• A Ludwig Dance Company
• Actors Theatre
• Arizona Broadway Theatre
• Arizona Curriculum Theater
• Arizona Museum of Natural History
• ASU Gammage
• Broadway in Tucson
• Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre
• Carnival of Illusion
• Children’s Museum of Phoenix
• Childsplay
• Conder Dance
• Desert Botanical Garden
• Herberger Theater Center
• Hozhoni Foundation
• KAET / Arizona PBS
• KJZZ & KBAQ / Friends of Public Radio
• Mesa Arts Center
• Musical Theatre of Anthem
• Paradise Valley Community College
• Phoenix Conservatory of Music
• Phoenix Theatre
• Red Rocks Music Festival
• Scorpius Dance Theatre
• Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
• Sharlott Hall
• Smoki Museum
• Southwest Shakespeare Company
• Theatre Artists Studio
• West Valley Arts Council
• West Valley Symphony

To download a Participation Agreement and/or for additional information, visit:  http://www.allianceforaudience.org/Pages/arts&culturecensus.html

Wednesday, December 1 - That’s the deadline for organizations that wish to participate in the Arizona Arts & Culture Census and Community Database, a collaborative initiative to gather information, analyze and affect the participation of attendees, members and supporters of arts and cultural organizations.

Complete information – including the downloadable PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT to  be signed & returned by December 1 - is posted here:  http://allianceforaudience.org/Pages/arts&culturecensus.html 

These organizations have already signed their Participation Agreements:

• Actors Theatre
• ASU Gammage
• Broadway in Tucson
• Carnival of Illusion
• Desert Botanical Garden
• Herberger Theater Center
• Mesa Arts Center
• Red Rocks Music Festival
• Sharlott Hall Museum
• Smoki Museum

If your organization is not on this list, we haven’t yet heard from you!

Please contact Matt Lehrman at MLehrman@allianceforaudience.org for additional information or assistance.

Thanks to the miracle of modern technology, yesterday’s webinar that introduces the Arizona Arts & Cultural Census/Community Database is NOW AVAILABLE TO VIEW ON-LINE.

Please view it here:  http://allianceforaudience.org/Pages/arts&culturecensus.html

Remember:  December 1 is the deadline to sign the PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT for your organization to be part of the launch of this important initiative.  (That agreement is also downloadable via the above link.)

LAST CALL!  Next Wednesday is the FINAL briefing overview for the imminent creation of an Arizona ”Community Database” – a project you’ll most often hear discussed as the Arizona Arts & Cultural Census. 

Participation in this project is FREE and open to all member organizations of Alliance for Audience.  This project is powered by a partnership with TRG Arts – and this presentation will provide a thorough overview of how & why organizations choose to participate.

NOTE: This is the SAME introduction presentation that TRG’s Will Lester and Alliance for Audience’s Matt Lehrman have made several times in recent months. If you’ve already seen it, it is NOT necessary to attend again – but you are invited (and encouraged) to send additional representatives from your organization.

WEBINAR
When: Wednesday, November 17; 3:00 – 4:30pm
Where: On-Line. Conference Call instructions will be provided on Tuesday 11/16 to those who RSVP
RSVP: http://dataphone.eventbrite.com

Who Should Participate: Marketing Directors, CEO’s & General Managers, Box Office Managers, Development Directors, Board Members and everybody from your organization who is interested in knowing more about WHO your audiences, visitors & supporters are and HOW to find more of them!

Please direct questions/comments to Matt Lehrman at MLehrman@allianceforaudience.org; 602-971-2223 x101.

Your Alliance for Audience team (Veronica, Kelly, Margaret, Randy & Matt) wish you a spook-tacular Halloween:  http://www.allianceforaudience.org/Happy_Halloween.html

Just received this note from Gary Bacal, Managing Director of Center Dance Ensemble…
—–

Hi, Matt.

Did you know Joe Onofrio?  See Wednesday’s Arizona Republic obituary here:  http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/azcentral/obituary.aspx?n=joseph-onofrio&pid=144208331

As you can see he worked with and for just about everyone–and knew everyone.

When I first came to Arizona in mid-80s, and was working at ATC, four or five of us–I can’t remember all the players–got together in Tucson and put together an Arts Sampler–a package that got the buyer one ticket each to any performance of, as I recall, ATC (me), Ballet Arizona (Chuck Fischl), Arizona Opera (Joe),  the Tucson Symphony (Yvonne Tost Ervin) and I think an admission the Tucson Museum of Art.  We always talked about doing something like that for Phoenix , in fact talked about it a lot at the old Cafe Casino that used to be at 24th and Camelback next to Harkins.  And maybe a broader discount pass or system like ShowUp.com has.  But we never did because all had full-time commitments to our organizations–never broke free like you did from Scottsdale .  I know Joe was intrigued and pleased by the success and growth of ShowUp.

And I thought you’d be as intrigued and pleased to know there was the kernel of the ShowUp idea so many years ago.

 - Gary Bacal
————

I’m sorry to say that I didn’t know Joe – but I am truly touched by Gary’s note and his reminder that the work we all are privileged to do today – and the community in which we live – is built on the vision, efforts and spirit of so many capable and passionate people who preceded us.

To everyone who knew Joe, I offer my condolences for the loss of your friend and colleague.

When I asked Gary for permission to reprint his note, he replied, “Sure, Joe loves good publicity.”   Sounds like someone I would have really liked!