Arts Marketing and Audience Engagement in the 21st Century: Building the Capacity of Pennsylvania’s Cultural Sector

Program Overview

Arts Marketing and Audience Engagement in the 21st Century: Building the Capacity of Pennsylvania’s Cultural Sector is a capacity-building initiative, funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, that supports, strengthens and advances the arts marketing and audience engagement skills of arts and cultural professionals.

In an effort to reach more organizations across the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania and ensure access to quality, relevant marketing, and audience building training, we have redesigned the Arts Marketing Initiative to include broader access, supported by digital engagements, to create a wider network of arts marketing practitioners, and collaborative opportunities. This curriculum is designed to foster shared knowledge and build a community of practice around improved marketing acumen and strengthened equitable audience development. 

Interested participants have two options to choose from: 1) Attend one of the two-day bootcamps detailed below, or 2) access the digital classroom built from this learning opportunity. The classroom will be available later this spring. More details soon.

TRAINING DATES:

Two-day Boot Camps

CAPACITY: 50 participants per session

Please only register for one training. Priority will be given to organizations not in a current program cohort or sending one representative. We will have a waitlist for each event.

February 24-25, 2020
Westmoreland Museum of Art
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Register here
 
March 30-31, 2020
The Ware Center
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Register here
 
SAVE THE DATE!
May 4-5, 2020
Location TBD (Northeastern PA)
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

We will release an update when the location has been confirmed.
 
May 18-19, 2020
Clarion University
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Register here

Each participant will receive a hard and electronic copy of the Experts' Guide to Marketing the Arts. There is no cost to attend this event, but space is limited. You do not need to attend multiple training dates. The same curriculum is offered at all bootcamps.

Limited travel stipends will be available to individuals traveling more than 120 miles roundtrip to the training. There will be two levels of support. This stipend can be used for mileage, lodging, and meals not provided during the training. To apply for support, please complete this survey. 

SAVE THE DATE!
November 14-16, 2020 (Main Conference)
National Arts Marketing Project Conference, Chicago, IL

Goals & Objectives

With internally-facing and externally-facing goals and objectives, the Initiative seeks to:

  1. Assist Pennsylvania-based arts and cultural organizations achieve increased and engaged audiences on a consistent basis through skill-building in the areas of arts marketing and audience engagement.
  2. Address long-term systemic issues of declining arts participation and loyal arts audiences in Pennsylvania.
  3. Assist arts and cultural organizations – particularly those within diverse communities – in attracting and retaining expanded audiences.

The program will provide training opportunities that support efforts to:

  • Build stronger strategic collaborations and solidarity among Pennsylvania-based arts and cultural organizations.
  • Provide opportunity and space for Pennsylvania-based arts and cultural organizations to normalize these new engagement models and structures within their local communities.
  • Advance and enhance the capacity and marketing skills of PA arts and cultural organizations to implement new engagement models, better understand the communities they serve, and sustain relevance amidst changing environments and shifting demographics.
  • A dynamic and inclusive learning environment will cultivate intercultural space and provide arts professionals the skills, support, knowledge, and agency to confidently respond to and initiate approaches to address complex questions facing the landscape of arts marketing and audience engagement.
  • Provide Pennsylvania’s arts and cultural community with increased access to a diverse network of talented leaders within the field.

Curriculum & Faculty

The two-day bootcamp trainings will be presented by our lead trainer, Dawn Frisby Byers. The curriculum is built from the Experts' Guide to Marketing the Arts and each participant will receive a hard and digitial copy.

The curriculum expands into the following areas in order for the Cohort to consider and address:

  1. Augmenting the necessary skills and capacity necessary to sustain relevance in their work and for their organizational missions to thrive artistically and with purpose;
  2. Locating themselves in a particular place, space, and time—both within history and their local/digital communities and in a relationship of camaraderie with their peers in Pennsylvania;
  3. Grasping the magnitude of social and demographic shifts happening in Pennsylvania, the U.S. and world in regard to how they impact the artists, audiences, and many communities that these organizations serve.

For program information and application support, please contact Ruby Lopez Harper, Director of Local Arts Services, rharper@artsusa.org or call 202.371.2830 x2079.