{"id":1112,"date":"2012-06-14T21:58:06","date_gmt":"2012-06-15T04:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/?p=1112"},"modified":"2012-06-14T21:58:06","modified_gmt":"2012-06-15T04:58:06","slug":"bright-idea-freshman-orientation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/2012\/06\/bright-idea-freshman-orientation\/","title":{"rendered":"Bright Idea: Freshman Orientation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This week, our youngest attended Freshman orientation at the far-away university she’ll be attending in the Fall. \u00a0So, perhaps that’s what sparks this idea:<\/p>\n

Have you noticed how so many people who work in the arts & cultural sector – and in marketing and audience-development capacities in particular – have never before worked in the sector.<\/p>\n

No matter how qualified they are – no matter how much they have volunteered with a non-profit agency previously – no matter what small or large company or PR agency they worked for previously – no matter what strong connection they had from their work at a foundation, municipality or affiliated industry – no matter their art history major or MFA – no matter their own artistic or business accomplishments – <\/strong>there is going to be a substantial learning curve for someone coming into a marketing or audience development position in an arts or cultural organization.<\/p>\n

Where is the arts & cultural marketing equivalent of Freshman Orientation? \u00a0Why don’t we offer some assistance in getting up to speed?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps it’s not a wildly fun 3-day trip offering a first-taste of dorm living and inter-personal bonding exercises. \u00a0(Or perhaps it is! \u00a0Let’s make a note to explore that some other time.)<\/em><\/p>\n

How about creating a series of on-line videos and a resource library designed to help a new arts & cultural marketeer get up to speed with their fast-changing profession. \u00a0(We are not talking about teaching them how to do the basics of their job – but we ARE talking about how to expedite their way to optimal performance.)<\/p>\n

Imagine a 10-12 session on-line video program (each one, say 10-15 minutes) that offered a curriculum and resources that included:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Analytics<\/em> –\u00a0<\/strong>how to quickly & firmly grab hold of the revenue expectations upon you and the expense resources available to you.<\/li>\n
  2. Accepting Mission<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0– what is an organization’s “mission statement” and why is it so darned important.<\/li>\n
  3. Glossary of Terms<\/strong><\/em> – what are “paid capacity percent”, “revenue splits,” “adwords,” “UBIT” and many other commonly used phrases & concepts.<\/li>\n
  4. Competition and Collaboration<\/strong><\/em> – how & when to engage with your region’s arts & cultural colleagues.<\/li>\n
  5. The Crisis of Arts & Cultural Journalism<\/strong><\/em> – a primer on the changing nature of how newspapers and other media cover arts & culture.<\/li>\n
  6. Understanding the Role of your Board of Directors<\/strong><\/em> – practical lessons the purpose, function and interaction with non-profit Boards and their committees.<\/li>\n
  7. “Required” Reading<\/strong><\/em> – what are the books, articles, blogs and other resources that you should be sure to tap into.<\/li>\n
  8. How is a Non-Profit different from a For Profit?<\/strong><\/em> – and why does (and doesn’t) it matter.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Hey – this list is just a quick & rough start!<\/strong> \u00a0Let me invite you to POST A REPLY<\/a><\/strong> to this blog entry and suggest what additional topic areas should be covered.<\/p>\n

    \u2014<\/p>\n

    The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas!<\/strong>\u00a0 In that spirit, AUDIENCE WANTED dedicates this summer to stirring up a potpourri of creative notions & half-baked thoughts around the purpose of growing audiences for the arts & cultural sector. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

    Suspend practicality & judgment for the moment. \u00a0We are just brainstorming here \u2013 with an emphasis on BIG thinking and CREATIVE efforts. \u00a0<\/em>Together, let\u2019s amass a HUGE number of wild & crazy ideas. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

    Got a\u00a0Bright Idea<\/strong>\u00a0to contribute? \u00a0Write it up in less than 500 words (along with a brief self-introduction) and send it to: \u00a0Matt@audienceavenue.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

    And if\u00a0this happens to be an idea that you\u2019re already doing (or if you know somebody who has the power to make it happen) please get in touch, too!\u00a0<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This week, our youngest attended Freshman orientation at the far-away university she’ll be attending in the Fall. \u00a0So, perhaps that’s what sparks this idea: Have you noticed how so many people who work in the arts & cultural sector – and in marketing and audience-development capacities in particular – have never before worked in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1112","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-bright-ideas","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}