This is an ongoing discussion about art, organizing, marketing and making a living. This has been an ongoing discussion this last week or so. For any new readers, there is a AWE Project (Artists Window Exhibit) already going on and an artists and crafts fair in a week and a half. …. A bit ago Butterfly wrote a very thoughtful response to my post. Part of what Butterfly wrote is “It seems to me that you spend a tremendous amount of time organizing your own and other people’s work that only indirectly have to do with the actual art of creation. It seems that you hardly ever have time to sit down for hours on end to craft your art, or am I getting completely the wrong impression now?”
Twists and Turns, Digital © Diane Clancy
Yesterday in talking about the board meeting of Fostering the Arts, I forgot to tell you about a publicity example other people mentioned that was very inspiring to me. This was an elementary school art teacher who decided to hold a display of her students work at the local food co-op.
People said she behaved as if she were showing the premier artwork in the whole world – the way she worked with the press. (This was said with great admiration!) She created BUZZ around town about this show with the way she promoted the event. This was incredibly inspiring to me!!
This got me very excited!! The day after the meeting, I got out the publicity lists and materials and decided to make another go of it around the current and coming events. A couple of people had written some materials and I had already pulled them together and sent them out to several news places.
Looking at them, I saw a few more corrections and decided they didn’t read as well as they could. So I called up an artist (part of the Artists of Franklin County) and she reworked the press releases to make them tighter and clearer. Great!.
So with that in hand, I decided to tackle them all again … and to create some BUZZ! If she could do it, so could I! Thus, I decided to tackle the local newspaper first (the Recorder) – the most important one … and I was incredibly anxious before I called – I don’t like to bother people. But I got a reasonable response – they will do what they can, but mainly a small announcement.
I had already been planning on talking with a regular reporter to see if they would write a story – besides seeing if the the Arts & Entertainment section could do a small feature on us. They suggested which reporter woud be the most useful to speak with – and he transferred me to her.
Several things have happened since I started writing this post. Tomorrow at 1 in the afternoon, we are going to meet with the reporter and she is definitely going to do an article on us!! Yippeee!! We are in the process of creating buzz! She is going to write about the AWE (windows), the fair and also the students we are showcasign along with our own work. This is very exciting and I will share it with you when it is written – she says it is a definite!
Then I tackled the regional weekly (Valley Advocate) … they had recently had and article about art in the windows of the larger town in the lower valley. It took many tries but at last I made some contacts there and emailed the person who would be the most likely person. In the process I gave them the info again for a regular announcement. This will all be a lot less scary the next time.
Since I started this post, I have actually talked with the woman who would potentially be writing the article. She was very nice, on deadline, but agreed to perhaps write an article. It would only be about the AWE Project since their publicity schedule is further ahead. But great!! It is a real possibility.
Talking with these people another time will be much easier. Another good reminder – choose which things to turn over to others and which things to do yourself. I had thought the publicity was done a month ago, and then it got handed back to me, Tomorrow I will speak more about the grant, which will put things in perspective.
After dealing with the 2 main newspapers, I went on to send out the releases to another 10 or so. Then decided – hey, why not, and I called the local weekly (the Town Crier) and ended up eventually talking with the editor – she said she would try to do something small (that is all they do.) And feeling successful, I even tackled the Boston Globe (centered about 100 miles away, that is the biggest paper in the state). I manageed to get the email of the appropriate person and pitched the idea to him. I will folow up with another email when I am done with this post.
I have been doing the publicity for these events for the last couple of years, but this time I have definitely learned how to take things to another level. We also are doing some local access TV psa’s – (public service announcements) and some little TC spots. I now feel more ready to tackle the publicity another time.
Thanks for stopping by!!
~ Diane Clancy
Technorati Tags: AWE, fair, Butterfly, organizing, board meeting, Fostering the Arts, art teacher, Artists of Franklin County, buzz, publicity
