News
Experiments in Online Arts Journalism: Reflections from the NEA Fellowship Program for Theater Writers
The following post is by Arizona Republic reporter, Kerry Lengel.
Kerry Lengel is the theater writer at The Arizona Republic. In his 16-year career with the newspaper, he has held a variety of positions, including arts and entertainment editor, and has moonlighted as pop-music critic, film critic and beer critic. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona. Photo by Michael McNamara.
Ten days in Los Angeles to see cutting-edge theater, rub intellectual elbows with critics from around the country and launch a “pop-up newsroom” as a no-rules experiment in online arts journalism: Last month’s NEA fellowship program for theater writers was a “dream” gig and a highlight of my career. But for me, the dream ended slightly ahead of schedule. (more…)
Making the Best of Your Applications: Tips for Job Applications and Internships
If you happen to be spending some of the hot Arizona summer looking for a career transition, an internship or re-entry to the workforce, tips from two recent articles might prove to be helpful in your pursuits.
In a recent post to the Fractured Atlas blog, Ciara Pressler of Pressler Collaborative talks about the (many) reasons job applications get deleted. Everything from a wild font choice to an over-the-top cover letter can move you from the applicant-with-potential pile directly to the delete file. For application tips and tricks, read Pressler’s post, Why Resumes Get Deleted: Job Application Basics for Artists and Arts Professionals, here. (more…)
ShowUp.com Launches ShowUp for Veterans
Just one month ago, Alliance for Audience and ShowUp.com announced a new program for veterans and active duty military, thanks in part to generous support from Bank of America. Through a partnership with Veteran Tickets Foundation, a Phoenix-based nonprofit organization that works nationally, ShowUp for Veterans promotes opportunities for Arizona’s active-duty and veteran military service members and their families to participate in our state’s wealth of arts and culture activities. In addition to deep discounts on tickets, and a specific access “window” – www.VetTix.org – for service men and women, arts and culture organizations can offer exclusive military discounts on an event basis. (more…)
Arizona Humanities Council Hosts Grants and Programs Workshops
The Arizona Humanities Council (AHC), the Arizona affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is offering free workshops to provide information about their grants and programs. The workshops are open to anyone interested in learning more about the Arizona Humanities Council, its available resources, or how to write a competitive AHC grant proposal. Two workshops will be offered this month; one in Phoenix and one in Tucson. See below for more information, and click here to register. (more…)
Investing in Innovation: (i3) Grants
On June 3, the US Department of Education kicked-off the 2011 Investing in Innovation (i3) grant competition to continue support for evidence-based practices in education. This second round of i3 makes $150 million available to individual school districts, consortia of districts, and non-profit organizations in partnership with districts or groups of schools.
Tomorrow, June 30, from 2:30pm – 4:30pm (Eastern Time), the i3 team will host a webinar with the Institute of Education Sciences to discuss the evidence and evaluation requirements for the FY2011 i3 competition. (more…)
So You Think You Can Dance features AXIS Dance Company
Tune in to popular television show So You think You Can Dance on Thursday night at 8pm to see acclaimed nonprofit dance group, AXIS Dance Company perform live. Dancers Sonsheree Giles and Rodeny Bell will perform a duet, “To Color Me Different,” choreographed by Alex Ketley. (more…)
Arts and Business Council of Greater Phoenix Seeks Nominations
The Arts and Business Council of Greater Phoenix is currently seeking nominations for their annual Business in the Arts Awards. Nominations will be accepted until July 11, 2011, 5:00pm. Nominations are accepted in six categories: Large Business Partner, Mid-Size Business Partner, Small Business Partner, Arts Organization of the Year, Arts Advocate of the Year and Arts Board Member of the year. Click here to learn more about making a nomination. Award recipients will be recognized at the Business in the Arts Awards Breakfast on August 17, 2011.
This event has been held annually for over twenty years. It aims to recognize the vital connection between arts and business communities, to highlight the mutual benefits of partnerships between the arts and business communities.
See the website for the event, http://www.abcannualawardsbreakfast.org/, to learn about honorees from previous years, find detailed information about the event, purchase tickets or to make a nomination.
Social Media in the Arts: A New Report
Theatre Bay Area recently commissioned a report that takes a close look at how arts nonprofits are making use of social media. The Tangled Web: Social Media and the Arts report includes feedback from 207 participating arts and cultural organizations from across the country. The study was funded by the Wallace Foundation, Grants for the Arts, The San Francisco Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Koret Foundation.
Top-level findings from the research include:
- All told, the 207 arts organizations in the study utilize over twenty other social networking platforms.
- The average arts organization is active on three social networks (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) and uploads 66 new pieces of content each month.
- Facebook Pages that are updated multiple times per day, use a customized URL and feature a custom Welcome tab have more fans, who interact with the page more often, than those who do not.
- Arts and cultural organizations that tweet more than four times per day and do not replicate Facebook content on their Twitter feed have more followers and a higher rate of engagement than others.
- Venue pages on Yelp and Foursquare that have been claimed by an organization have more user engagement than those that have not.
- Arts organizations who use a custom URL and a custom template for their blog have more engagement than those who do not, but overall blogs offer a very low rate of engagement regardless of format, structure or frequency.
More about the report, below. See the full report, here.
If arts organizations want to reach their traditional audience, they can find a substantial portion of them on social networks. If they want to build new audiences, it’s nearly certain they must connect with them online. But on which of the many social networks should arts organizations focus their efforts? What are the most effective best practices on each of these social networks? How does an individual arts organization’s use of social media compare to the rest of the field? This study attempts to answer those questions.
