Americans for the Arts

As we ring in 2020, it’s the perfect time for a little hindsight (get it?)—so let’s get the year started with a look back at the most-viewed ARTSblog posts from our last trip around the sun. I know what you’re thinking: “It’s 2020 … you still have a blog?” We do, dear reader! Competition for online attention is fierce, and most virtual conversations (civil or not) seem to be happening in the comments of social media posts—and yet, ARTSblog clearly is still a valued place for our field to share experience and expertise as we navigate the varied complexities of what it means to work in the arts. There is no better place to learn from your peers, whether you’re an artist, administrator, educator, city planner, arts marketer, or countless other careers that intersect with the arts—and we’re grateful for all of the writers and readers who continue to make ARTSblog both a vibrant and practical space.

The 2019 National Arts Marketing Project Conference in Miami, FL was my first arts administration conference and I had a wonderful time! As an individual artist cultivating diverse audiences as well as an entrepreneur serving clients across the arts ecosystem, #NAMPC was the most ideal professional development for both my artistic and administrative growth. 

What do beer, cocktails, and ice cream have to do with art? Well, when done creatively, they can be used as vehicles for your museum marketing messages to reach new audiences and visitor attendance goals.

Earlier this year, we gathered marketing leaders from top cultural institutions in New York City to talk about conflict. It comes as no surprise that on the way to delivering on the mission, there can be disagreements, clashes, and maybe all-out battles. We set out to create a brave space to have this conversation and brought in an expert to show us the way.

As arts marketers, we’re always working to deliver the best experiences. Creating the perfect message and reaching out to interested followers at just the right time is our mission. But you could be missing out on connecting with a large segment of your fans by not optimizing your emails for accessibility.

As a hearing person in the Deaf world, I can’t begin to understand and represent that experience, but what I can do is advocate, assist, help, and be an ally. In the world of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, as a disabled person, I can understand and represent that experience as well as be an ally.

Many of us in the arts administration world have experienced ticket sales panic when it comes to new or unusual works. How do we get people to take a chance on something they’ve never heard of, when we’re literally scientifically conditioned to resist change?

So often, as marketers and communicators, we are focused on the immediate future of our organization and can’t get the perspective we need to see the bigger story that we are not telling, the one that informs every aspect of the arts ecosystem: how the broader public views the arts.