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Speaking Art to Power

December 14, 2010

by:

Joe Patti

Tonight we hosted a retirement party for one of the art professors on our stage. We were sort of the victims of past success. About 7-8 years ago, a professor had her retirement party on stage and it fired the imagination of the art professor. But this woman has had a 40 year history with the school which is no insignificant thing so when she asked us to host it back in August, we found a date we were dark for Nutcracker and penciled her in.

There were a lot of other art professors and some of her former students getting up to talk about how she impacted their lives and what the experience of taking her class meant to them. One woman had sustained an injury that prevented her from continuing her work in healthcare and she went back to school to study art and ended up winning some awards thanks to what she learned.

And the best part of it all was that the governor was sitting there the whole time. The retiring professor (who is not at all retiring personality-wise) was a long time friend and supporter of the governor since before either of them moved here. She supported him when he started running for office nearly 45 years ago and stood behind him on his first run at governor this past year. I knew he was coming, but I expected him to be in and off to another event. Instead, he stayed the entire night, got up, spoke about the value of the artist in society, signed his first proclamation as governor commending her and sat right back down.

The night unfolded essentially just as I had it should in my post yesterday when I advised talking about the value of the arts over and over again in front of decision makers or get them to talk about you. I have never had something I suggested in a post manifest itself so quickly and without so little effort on my part. Though it will likely still be hard going from this point forward, I will take the gift.

Art(ist) Education, Government Relations

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Talk About Your Org Before Someone Else Does

December 13, 2010

by:

Joe Patti

Last week Americans for the Arts held a Private Sector salon on ARTSblog where they discussed where the interests of the arts and business intersected. Much of the discussion was very interesting, but one entry by Margy Waller stuck with me for a few days. Part of it was the timeliness of her subject. She cited the recent controversy at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) about a video that included ants crawling on a crucifix. She quoted a commenter on the NPR story about the controversy calling art the leisure pursuit of the elite.

It immediately made me wonder if the commenter was aware that admission at the NPG, like most of the Smithsonian museums, is free and that the gallery contains very accessible works of historical significance from portraits of Presidents, First Ladies, Founding Fathers and Cornwallis’ surrender to Washington at the end of the Revolutionary War to Stephen Colbert. I am not sure what more someone needs to feel that museum has something to offer them rather than deciding it is only in the purview of others. Even with the exposure provided by people like Stephen Colbert and millions of people wandering through the NPG for free every year, people are unaware of the experience the museum offers. The museums really only get national attention when there is controversy and at that point, no one is interviewing the person talking about the benefits of the arts or the thousands of other works hanging in the galleries.

This weekend when the Honolulu Symphony decided to ask a judge to allow them to dissolve rather than undergo Chapter 11 reorganization, (a request which as of this writing, the judge has granted), the 140+ comments people made on the initial newspaper article revealed just how uninformed and unaware about the symphony’s operations people were. I am not referring to people making spiteful comments about how elitist classical music is who weren’t making any effort to learn. There were plenty of them. But there were others conducting conversations in which people were learning about the business aspects of the symphony for the first time.

A commenter with the handle 1SWBP wrote:

“Shamonu–mahalo for the explanation. That makes more sense now. I appreciate your taking the time. My empathy now runs much more deeper and the union stuff makes perfect sense. I guess I never realized how ‘large’ our symphony was. I do regret not being able to get out more and enjoy them more often.”

What made Margy Waller’s post most inspiring however was a video of Cincinnati mayor Mark Mallory talking about the economic benefits the arts have brought to his city in his State of the City address last year. It reinforces the idea that you have to talk about what you bring to the table, and talk about it, talk about it some more and then get others to talk about it when people get sick of hearing you. A little depressing though that there are only 113 views so pass it on if you like it.

Arts in an Age of Technology, Audience Relations, Government Relations, State of the Arts

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I Write For Creative People Only

December 9, 2010

by:

Joe Patti

Last month Ciara Pressler had a great post on the Fractured Atlas blog about changing the way you talk about what your offering so the focus is on the potential audience and not the art organization.

Your marketing is not a mirror, it’s a window. Rather than reflecting on you, any pitching of your product or production must explain to the potential patron why their hard-earned money or precious time should be spent here when there are so many other options out there.

We have heard this sort of thing before, but Pressler offers some fun examples of how you shift the focus to audiences without constantly saying, “You will love this” or “audiences love this.” (I apologize in advance for the amount I include here, I just like so many of her examples.)

“We’re #1! (reference unavailable)

It’s about you: Amazing Jewelry is the most amazing jewelry.

(PASS: At that price, it better be amazing. Know what I think is amazing? That jewelry I saw at the mall the other day on sale. At least I’ve heard of that brand before.)

It’s about them: Amazing Jewelry is dedicated to creative design for creative people.

(MASS: Dedication, how admirable! I am pretty creative… I’ll click on this link and check out their designs, which I will find creative because a creative person like me recognizes creativity, and will value it accordingly.)

Non-Editorial Process Disclosure, aka, Oz Was Behind a Curtain for a Reason

It’s about you: After one year of development, we present: Our Show.

(PASS: Why did it take so long? How long is it supposed to take? Man, if I took a year to do something at my job, I wouldn’t have a job. Just sayin’.)

It’s about them: Be the first to see Our Show in its limited Our City engagement.

(MASS: Oh yeah, I’m an early adopter. Just check out my iPad! I can’t wait to tweet this to all my followers while I check in on Foursquare. I hope I can still get tickets.)

No One Puts Baby in a Corner

It’s about you: Unsigned Indie Band is completely original, no-genre music!

(PASS: Eh, this clip sounds like something else I heard once but I don’t have the available brain space to connect it to anything I already like. Next.)

It’s about them: The progressive orchestration of Arcade Fire meets the ethereal vocals of Florence and the Machine – with a beat you can dance to.

(MASS: Who are these guys, my perfect Pandora station? It’s about time someone mashed up two bands I’ve heard of with an activity I’d like the option to take part in.)

While Ciara is right in noting that people do need a reference point when evaluating something new, I am a little wary about making comparisons to other people/groups because so many people are promoted as the (different age/gender/generation) version of a person or as the next (insert popular entity here.) You can suffer when fans of the existing entity don’t feel the new version measures up. People who read fantasy novels roll their eyes at claims that a writer is the next J.R.R. Tolkien because it happen so often. I once read a book review where the writer proclaimed his joy that there was finally another writer in the genre good enough that comparing people to Tolkien was no longer necessary.

A number of years ago I linked to a series of posts by Greg Sandow who gave examples of poorly written press releases that cited musicians winning awards and competitions that might as well been made up for all the significance it had to most audience members. Ciara Pressler’s post reminded me of that because that sort of approach focuses so heavily on the artist and doesn’t provide as much time letting the audience know what they will receive from the experience that they wouldn’t with some other soloist. If there is no significant difference, then best not spend so much focus on that person when you could be focusing on the value to the potential audience.

The first reaction I had to Ciara’s “audience comment” that “Man, if I took a year to do something at my job, I wouldn’t have a job,” was that it took a lot longer than that to get Spiderman up on Broadway and people still want to see it despite all the weak reports. But then again, most of us ain’t putting up something with the cachet and hype to endure development delays and technical difficulties.

By the way, did this post title make you want to read it?

Marketing/PR

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You Need To Make An App For That

December 7, 2010

by:

Joe Patti

In the last couple weeks I have come across two stories about iPads being used as part of art exhibits. Museum Marketing had a few examples of iPads being used to provide more information about an artist; an app that lets people use various features of the iPad to “Shake, touch, tilt your way through 10 different science and social history themes; and a game another museum is using to “convey the difficult of managing an urban water system – dams, water towers, water filtration, sewage treatment, and storm water – with a growing population.” A second piece I came across on The Telegraph website covered an effort by a Buddhist temple to display 3D images “restoring” now faded and semi-inaccessible statues.

Using handheld devices to deliver information about arts is nothing new. Concert Companion aimed to do just that for classic music concerts. With these devices and the wireless networks necessary to serve them becoming more prevalent, the opportunity to offer interactive support for performances presents itself. And it occurs to me, so does the anxiety of being able to meet people’s expectations of available cool apps on a non-profit budget. Makes me wonder if every production of Hamlet will be accompanied by a mini-game where you have to try to pour poison into a sleeping king’s ear.

Best scenario, such interactive tools break down barriers by helping people understand performances that intimidate them and a whole industry emerges to create apps to support making the arts accessible. Right now not only are there more people with handheld devices to deliver the content to, the ability of amateurs to develop these apps has increased since Concert Companion was first envisioned.

Arts in an Age of Technology, State of the Arts

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