festival of arts pr campaign
TRANSCRIPT
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Public Relations CampaignBy Sommer Figone, Rebecca Haber,
Liz Quick, Astrid Martin
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Table of Contents
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Background / Situation AnalysisCore Problem and OpportunityGoals and ObjectivesKey PublicsThemeMessagesStrategies and TacticsCommunication TableCalendarBudgetEvaluation Criteria and Tactics
Press Release / Artist Happy HourMedia PitchMedia Alert / Media EventsArtist SpotlightsSocial MediaGuerrilla StuntPress KitSpecial Promotions / Program ReviewTicket Packages
Initial Key Publics / Original Research - SurveysOriginal Research - Focus GroupsOriginal Research - In-Person InterviewsOriginal Research - Client InterviewTrend ResearchCompetitive Literature AnalysisBibliography
PART 2: COMMUNICATION TACTICS
PART 3:APPENDIX
PART 1:CAMPAIGN PLAN
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Introduction
The Festival of Arts is one of the nation’s old-est and most acclaimed art shows. For over 80 years, it has offered a showcase for artists and art lovers in the backyard of Laguna Beach. A wide variety of mediums from over 140 Orange County artists are displayed. Open daily, visi-tors not only enjoy award-winning exhibits, but also demonstrations, tours, workshops, special events and much more.
The Pageant of the Masters is the Festival of Arts’ crowning jewel and one of the most unique productions in the entire world. A ninety minute stage show of “living pictures” recreates classic and contemporary works of art. This visu-
ally stunning performance includes an original score, live narration, intricate sets, sophisticated lighting and hundreds of dedicated volunteers.
The Pageant of the Masters and Festival of Arts face some crucial problems as a whole. For one, both of these events are run under the same website and social media platforms even though they are completely different. This can lead to the Festival of Arts getting lost in the visual-ly stunning Pageant of the Masters coverage. Also, there are two other art festivals in the area at the same time as the festival which divides overall attendance. Furthermore, the Pageant of the Masters never reaches full capacity since
audience members are hesitant to buy the top-tiered seating because they are afraid the view isn’t as good as it is in the front seats.
With those problems in mind, we have set two goals for this campaign: Increase attendance to the Festival of Arts and sell the top-tier seating at Pageant of the Masters. We will achieve these by implementing new marketing strategies, tick-et packages and special events to target the key publics of OC moms, student artists and lo-cal businesses. We hope our PR campaign will reach the goals outlined and inspire everyone to live creatively.
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Client Fact SheetMISSION
FACILITY
ORGANIZATION
To promote, produce and sponsor events and activities that encourage the appreciation, study and performance of the arts.
Overall area of grounds and bowl: 5.6 acres. Bowl capacity: 2,600. Property owned by City of Laguna Beach and leased to the festival. City receives a percentage of festival revenues. The Festival of Arts is a non-smoking facility.
The Festival of Arts of Laguna Beach is a non-profit, year-round operation governed by a board of directors whose nine members serve without pay. Directors are elected by the mem-bership (three each year) for three-year terms. Each year, some 500 volunteers contribute more than 60,000 hours to the enterprise.
ADMISSION
HOURS
Below are the fees for the various age groups for both the Festival of Arts and more specifically the Pageant of the Masters:
Festival TicketsGeneral Admission (Mon-Fri) - $7General Admission (Sat-Sun) - $10Students and Seniors (Mon-Fri) - $4Students and Seniors (Sat-Sun) - $6
Pageant of the MastersWeekday Shows - $15-$60Weekend Shows - $25-$90
Open to the public nightly at 8:30 p.m. from July 8 through August 31, 2015.
VISITORS
Combined, Festival of Arts’ Premier Fine Art Show and Pageant of the Masters attract more than 250,000 visitors into Laguna Beach.
VOLUNTEERS
Pageant of the Masters has volunteer cast-mem-bers to participate in the 2015 summer presen-tation of “The Pursuit of Happiness.” In addition to needing volunteers to pose in the pageant, volunteers are needed for positions in the ward-robe, make-up and headdress departments, as well as cast area coordinators and refreshment servers, among other positions.
PROGRAM
Laguna Beach’s Festival of Arts offers various programs and events, the most popular of which is Pageant of the Masters. This specific event sets Festival of Arts apart from its direct competitors. The festival itself features exhibi-tions, art galleries, a Junior Art Exhibit where K-12 students show off their art, the fundraising program Art-to-Go (features over 100 donated pieces and all purchased pieces benefit the Art-ists Fund), photo galleries, and special events such as Family Art Day, Art Jazz Wine and Choc-olate, Jazz on the Green Concert Festival, Festi-val Runway Series and Sunday in the Park Music Series.
A 90-minute stage show of “living pictures,” Pageant of the Masters consists of incredibly faithful art re-creations of classical and contem-porary works with real people posing to look exactly like their counterparts in the original pieces. The 2015 Pageant of the Masters, “The Pursuit of Happiness” theme will explore the many sources of happiness, both ancient and modern, through the theatrical production of “living pictures.” Go on a sentimental journey through depictions of pastimes and activities that gave people joy long before the instant gratification of the computer age. Discover art-ists who found their own answers to the age-old question, “What makes life worth living?” The 2015 pageant promises to be a breathtaking, playful and joyous journey in search of the most mysterious of treasures.
GUEST DEMOGRAPHICS
Based on ticket prices, guests range from chil-dren 12 and under to seniors. Many guests are from the local Laguna Beach area, but the fes-tival attracts people from all over the United States and even other countries.
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Executive Summary
CAMPAIGN GOAL
OVERVIEW
CAMPAIGN SLOGAN
KEY PUBLICS
CORE OBJECTIVES
CORE STRATEGIES
The Pageant of the Masters is an annual fes-tival held by the Festival of Arts located in La-guna Beach. It is known for its French-inspired tableaux vivants (aka living pictures of classical works of art recreated by actors). With a skillful use of costumes, makeup, lighting, props, and backdrops, hundreds of people around Califor-nia are in awe how realistic and professional each performance is displayed.
For the past 80 years, the Festival of Arts has offered breathtaking showcases for artists and art lovers. This prestigious show includes a wide variety of media such as paintings, photography, printmaking, sculpture, jewelry, handcrafted wood, furniture, ceramics, glass and more - all by 140 of Orange County’s finest artists! Visitors not only enjoy the exhibits but they also engage in demonstrations, tours, workshops, live music, special events and more.
To increase ticket sales and attendance at the Festival of Arts and to sell the top-tier seating at the Pageant of the Masters to reach full ca-pacity.
“Live Creatively”
OC Moms Student ArtistsLocal Businesses
Drive the number of ticket sales to sell the top-tier seating by promoting new packages
Increase the media awareness of the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters by utilizing Mom Bloggers, showcasing behind the scenes efforts and partnering with local businesses
Consolidate the number of programs offered to target the Key Publics.
The strategies and tactics will focus on reposi-tioning the non-profit across Orange County to target specific key publics that we identified should be engaged. We will emphasize to our key publics that it is in their self interest to “live creatively” by engaging with the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters. We will achieve this through several new ticket packages, events and unique communication tactics.
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Part 1: Campaign Plan
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Background and Situational Analysis
BACKGROUNDArt is an artifact that is reflective of a society. Not only does it offer an outlet for individuals to express themselves through imaginative or technical skills, but it’s also a way to study the deeper cultural meanings of a society. Art heals the spirit and fulfills the basic human instinct for harmony, balance, and appreciation for beauty around us.
Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters are two different entities. Festival of Arts is an eight-week festival where local artists sell juried orig-inal work. A variety of art classes and activities are also scheduled throughout the week. The Pageant of the Masters is the Festival of Arts’ crowning jewel and one of the most unique pro-ductions in the entire world. The show consists of a 90-minute performance of “living pictures,” which are theatrical recreations of classical and
contemporary art pieces. A mixture of actors, sophisticated lighting, set design and original score create a memorable presentation audi-ences have been enjoying since 1932.
These two entities are part of a number of festi-vals in Laguna Beach. After gaining a reputation as an art colony, Laguna Beach eventually es-tablished the Laguna Art Association in 1918 to promote and support the fine arts. From there, several art festivals surfaced such as Art-A-Fair and the Sawdust Festival. Art-A-Fair has a more sophisticated adult approach out of the bunch. With a mixture of adult food and beverage op-tions and exhibits filled with juried works of 125 artists from outside the area, the Sawdust Festival was founded in 1965 and has become a counterculture alternative to the Festival of Arts. Sawdust is the only one that displays non-
jury work. The Festival of Arts holds the title as the oldest festival out of all of them. The festi-val was created to attract tourists attending the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Despite the Festival of Arts/Pageant Masters ex-periencing its fair share of success, the organiza-tion is still prone to problems. Crowds success-fully attend Pageant of the Masters, but there’s no incentive for people to go solely to the Fes-tival of Arts. The Festival of Arts does a great job creating a variety of activities and original art ready for purchase. It’s a matter of appealing to the audience and publicizing the festival ex-ists separately from the Pageant of the Masters. Another obstacle is having people voluntarily choose the top-tier seats for the Pageant of the Masters. The organization wishes to rebrand the top-tier seating arrangements.
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FESTIVAL OF ARTS
PAGEANT OF THE MASTERS
If the Festival of Arts does not increase its ticket sales and attendance, then it will be unable to support the artists it helps. This results in the inability to support the operations of the event.
If the Pageant of the Masters does not sell the top-tier seating, then it will be unable to maximize its production value and reach the maximum amount of money it can make.
Core Problem and Opportunity
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Goals and ObjectivesGOAL 1
OBJECTIVES
To increase ticket sales and attendance at the Festival of Arts in 2015.
Reach out to 10 summer camps/schools who will benefit from art education by July 2015.
Reach out to 10 hotels in Laguna Beach that could send guests to the Festival of Arts by June 2015.
Bring attention to the festival through stunts by attracting media coverage on three television stations, two newspapers and one magazine throughout summer 2015.
Consolidate the number of art work-shops and events by targeting specific audiences throughout the festival from July 2015 through August 2015
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GOAL 2
OBJECTIVES
To sell the top-tier seating at the Pageant of the Masters to reach full capacity.
Re-brand the top-tier seating by June 2015 to fill 100 top-tier seats per perfor-mance.
Devise three marketing strategies for each of the target audiences to reach full capacity at the pageant from June 2015 through August 2015.
Create three top-tier incentives before the pageant performance from June 2015 through August 2015.
Increase awareness of the pageant with Orange County families, customers of Laguna Beach businesses and Orange County student artists by 50 percent by September 2015.
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Key Publics
MOMSof families in Southern California with an interest in art of Laguna Beach businesses
LOCAL CUSTOMERSCOLLEGE STUDENTS
Southern California is very family friendly in the events and lifestyle it promotes. In fact, the median household income in Orange County is $75,000 compared to the national average of $53,000. Orange County families typically make more money and spend more money than their U.S. counterparts. This means they are willing to spend money on experiences for their fami-lies and more willing to engage in paying for an event they can participate in.
This public is important for Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters because they may have an invested interest in the arts. This age group is often eager to learn and go the extra mile to enhance their knowledge in a given topic. Fur-thermore, all of the art displayed at the festival is original work, and the pageant is a one-of-a-kind show. With periodic special events thrown into this mix, the organization provides various unique opportunities for college students to preserve the festival’s mission of preserving art education.
Local business customers (tourists and locals) heavily populate hotels and restaurants in Laguna Beach during the summer months of Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters. The organization offers the opportunity to experience the artistic culture that is unique to Laguna Beach, allowing visitors to explore the city’s creative atmosphere.
SELF INTEREST
INFLUENTIALS
SELF INTEREST
INFLUENTIALS
INFLUENTIALS
SELF INTEREST
• Looking for summer activities to participate in
• Drawn to packages or deals to save money• Enjoy kid-friendly activities
• OC Mom Bloggers• OC Family + Mom • Magazine Publications• Parents• Community leaders & Educators
• Extra time to kill during the summer • No shows like this in the area• Special events + workshops allow skills to
be learned• Conveniently located in Laguna Beach
• Professors• Parents• Peers• Social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Insta-
gram)• Local art museums
• Laguna Beach hotels• Laguna Beach restaurants
• Activities to do in the summer months• Convenience of the festival location• Opportunity to purchase one-of-a-kind fine
art and experience a one-of-a-kind pageant
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Theme
Live Creatively
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SPARK CREATIVITY EXPLORE CREATIVITYSHARE CREATIVITY
Summer is when children are out of school and need to engage in activities that keep their minds sharp and contain an educational com-ponent. The Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters provide much needed exposure to the arts and provide an experience for families to have.
The Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters has the ability to provide these experiences for families, but lack of exposure and awareness drives down full ticket sales and festival atten-dance.
Building on the pre-existing structure, art work-shops, hands-on classes and family packages can draw OC families into the arts experience, providing a fun and engaging summer activity for all. Spark your creativity.
Families can engage in a ton of hands-on arts ac-tivities allowing their children to be exposed to arts education. They also will be able to enjoy a family friendly performance that will captivate their children and be a platform to explore and talk about the art scene.
Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters pro-vide an opportunity for students to expand their artistic knowledge and trigger creative juices to flow. The convenience of the festival location right by Laguna Beach is a prime spot for stu-dents, particularly during the summer months.
The Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters lack exposure and awareness among art stu-dents, especially outside of the Laguna Beach area. Also life as an artist is difficult. When you’re in an artistic rut it’s difficult to feel con-fident about your contribution to the art world. It’s quite isolating after spending so much time in the studio focusing on the same project.
With “Art Talks” every Thursday afternoon in the summer months when college students are typ-ically off from school and look for something to do, it’s the perfect place to go. Special events and art workshops allow for engaging, hands-on opportunities. Also, there is no other show in the area like Pageant of the Masters.
Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters are two entities that celebrate innovative creativ-ity. Art students will be able to interact with like-minded people, gain artistic inspiration, and trigger networking opportunities that will lead to outside project collaborations.
This audience looks for activities to do in the summer months. They can look forward to the exclusivity gained from being a member of the Festival of Arts and enjoy convenience due to the Festival location. They also have the oppor-tunity to purchase one-of-a-kind fine art.
Festival of Arts currently has two huge compet-itors in the same location, making it harder to stand out to the local customers. Additionally, Pageant of the Masters has a big audience, but it costs extra, which may be offputting. Finally, these local customers need to be aware that the festival changes each summer, making it a new experience.
Festival of Arts relies on the support of local cus-tomers to continue supporting artists and art education. By spending summer days enjoying fine art and the unique Pageant of the Masters, this audience helps ensure the Festival can con-tinue for years to come.
Messages
for Moms for College Students for Local Customers
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STRATEGY 1 STRATEGY 3STRATEGY 2
Create a family-friendly experience at both the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters to drive ticket sales and attendance.
Attract and intrigue active participation at Festi-val of Arts and Pageant of the Masters through ticket sales by creating an artistic sanctuary for student artists to mingle, express their creative expression, and show off their work.
Gain exposure, prestige and recognition with customers of local businesses of Laguna Beach to increase attendance at Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters.
Tactics
TacticsTacticsConsolidated and revised programming
Ticket packagesMom blogger media event Press releaseSocial media improvementsArtist Spotlights
Artists Happy HourSocial media improvementsArtist SpotlightsConsolidated and revised programmingTicket packages
Guerrilla stuntSpecial promotionsArtist SpotlightsSocial media improvementsConsolidated and revised programming
Strategies and Tactics
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Communication TableSELF INTERESTS PRIMARY MESSAGE INFLUENTIALS
To have fun family experiences that are both memorable and budget friendly
To expose their children to an arts education that they are not receiving in school
To gain artist exposure in Orange County
To bond and meet like-minded people who are also interested in art
To have a unique artist experience within Orange County
Activities to do in the summer months
Convenience of the festival location
Opportunity to purchase one-of-a-kind fine art and experience a one-of-a-kind pageant
Spark Creativity
Share Creativity
Explore Creativity Laguna Beach hotelsLaguna Beach restaurants
Other Orange County families, family, friends, social circles, classmates of children, blog viewers (if a mom blogger)
Other artists, like-minded peers, campus peers, social circles, art followers
COLLEGE STUDENTS
LOCAL CUSTOMERS
MOMS
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OBJECTIVES STRATEGIES TACTICS
Fill the top level of seating with families during the Pageant of the Masters
Draw in families to boost attendance during Festival of Arts
Unite and increase attendance of student art-ists with the common goal of bringing them to the Pageant of the Masters and Festival of Arts
Reach out to local businesses to promote Fes-tival of Arts Pageant of the Masters to reach local customers
Create a family friendly experience at both the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Mas-ters that will drive ticket sales and attendance.
Attract and intrigue active participation at Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters through ticket sales by creating an artistic sanctuary for artists to mingle, express their creative expression and show off their work.
Gain exposure, prestige and recognition with customers of local businesses of Laguna Beach to increase attendance at Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters.
Guerrilla stuntSpecial promotionsArtist SpotlightsSocial media improvementsConsolidated and revised programming
Consolidated and revised programmingTicket packagesMom blogger Media Event Press releaseSocial media improvementsArtist Spotlights
Artists Happy HourSocial media improvementsArtist SpotlightsConsolidated and revised programmingTicket packages
COLLEGE STUDENTS
LOCAL CUSTOMERS
MOMS
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CalendarMAY
AUGUST
JUNE
SEPTEMBER
JULY
• Follow up to special media events, man-age RSVPS
• Distribute local business advertisers for bill discounts
• Distribute candies with wrappers to local hotels
• Promotion of Artists Happy Hour in tar-geted media outlets
• Solicit food and wine donations for Artists Happy Hour
• Artists Happy Hour every week on Thurs-day
• Social media posts highlighting the festi-val
• Family Nights every Monday – Weds (in-cludes character meet and greets)
• Social media posts highlighting the festi-val
• Promotional marketing in place for local business and hotels
• Host OC Summer Camps during Festival of Arts
• Social media posts highlighting the festi-val artists and behind the scenes of Pag-eant of the Masters
• Media preview nights for Press + Mom Bloggers, thank you note to follow
• Promotional marketing in place for local business and hotels
• Promotion of Artists Happy Hour in tar-geted media outlets
• Guerrilla marketing for one week high-lighting Festival of Arts Pageant of the Masters
• Thank you note to all attendees, and sum-mer camps invitation to join newsletter
• Recap the overall ticket sales of packages and seats for Pageant of the Masters to see if the goal was obtained
• Recap of strategies: What went well? What didn’t?
• Analyze media coverage, ticket sales and attendance patterns
• Send email surveys about consolidation of workshops during Festival of Arts
• Check in with artists who participated in Festival of Arts to get their views and opinions about this year’s event
• Social media posts highlighting the festi-val
• Family Nights every Mon – Weds (includes character meet and greets)
• Artists Happy Hour every week on Thurs-day
• Promotional marketing in place for local business and hotels
• Host OC Summer Camps during Festival of Arts
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BudgetCOST PER UNIT TOTAL COST ESTIMATEQUANTITYITEM DESCRIPTION
Artists Happy Hour - Drinks 40-50 servings, 1x a week $2.50 per serving $100 per Happy Hour
Artists Happy Hour - Live Music 1x a week ~$100 TBD based on the booking
Character Meet and Greet 2-3 characters $0.00 (volunteers) $0.00 (volunteers)
Guerrilla Advertising 5-6 characters $0.00 (volunteers) $0.00 (volunteers)
Local Business Bill Inserts (5”x7”) 1,000-2,500 inserts $.40 per unit $400 (for 1,000)
Press Events - Snacks and Drinks For 40-50 people, 2x $150 $300
Artist Spotlight Video Series 2-3 spotlights $0.00 $0.00
Hotel Room Chocolates 5,000 labels $.31 $1,550
Artists Happy Hour - Cheese and Crackers
Artist Happy Hour - Servers and Bartender
3-4 servers, 1 bartender, 1x a week
$35 per person for 1 hour TBD based on amount of servers
2.5 platters, 1x a week $15 per platter $75 per Happy Hour
Press Events - Artists to act out tableaus
20 characters, 2x $0.00 (volunteers) $0.00 (volunteers)
Media Pitch and Special Events Alert
Targeted mailing list $0.00 via email $0.00 via email
TOTAL BUDGET ~ $5,010
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Evaluation Criteria and TacticsGOAL 1
OBJECTIVE 1
OBJECTIVE 2
EVALUATION
EVALUATION
To increase ticket sales and attendance at the Festival of Arts in 2015.
Reach out to ten summer camps/schools who will benefit from art education by June 2015.
Reach out to 10 hotels in Laguna Beach that could send guests to the Festival of Arts by June 2015.
• Track media coverage for Festival of Arts in local Orange County publi-cations and blogs by the end of the festival in August 2015.
• Evaluate the number of mentions and conversations on social media by the end of the festival in August 2015.
• Track and evaluate the ticket sales of the 2015 Festival of Arts and compare to ticket sales of previous summers.
OBJECTIVE 3 OBJECTIVE 4
EVALUATION EVALUATION
Bring attention to the festival through stunts by attracting media coverage on three television stations, two newspapers and one magazine throughout summer 2015.
Consolidate the number of art work-shops and events by targeting specific audiences throughout the festival from July 2015 through August 2015.
• Track media coverage for Festival of Arts, including press clippings and feature stories that mention stunts, by the end of August 2015
• Track conversation surrounding the media coverage of Festival of Arts through platforms including social media (views, likes, shares, etc.) and online news sources by the end of August 2015
• Send email surveys following work-shops and events to receive feedback on the consolidation.
• Track attendance at each event and workshop to measure which were the most successful by the end of the festival in August 2015.
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GOAL 2
OBJECTIVE 1
OBJECTIVE 2
EVALUATION
EVALUATION
To sell the top-tier seating at the Pageant of the Masters to reach full capacity.
Re-brand the top-tier seating by July 2015 to fill 100 top-tier seats per perfor-mance.
Devise three marketing strategies for each of the target audiences to reach full capacity at the pageant from June 2015 through August 2015.
• Track media coverage for Festival of Arts in local Orange County publi-cations and blogs by the end of the festival in August 2015.
• Evaluate the number of mentions and conversations on social media by the end of the festival in August 2015.
• Track and evaluate the ticket sales of the 2015 Festival of Arts and compare to ticket sales of previous summers.
OBJECTIVE 3 OBJECTIVE 4
EVALUATION
EVALUATION
Create three top-tier incentives before the pageant performance from June 2015 through August 2015.
Increase awareness of the pageant with Orange County families, Laguna Beach residents and businesses and Orange County student artists by 50 percent by September 2015.
• Track media coverage for Festival of Arts, including press clippings and feature stories that mention stunts, by the end of August 2015
• Track conversation surrounding the media coverage of Festival of Arts through platforms including social media (views, likes, shares, etc.) and online news sources by the end of August 2015
• Send email surveys following work-shops and events to receive feedback on the consolidation.
• Track attendance at each event and workshop to measure which were the most successful by the end of the festival in August 2015.
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Part 2: Communication Tactics
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Press Release / Artists Happy Hour
LAGUNA BEACH, California —With Pageant of the Masters’ new student arti sts ti cket package, young arti sts are invited to Festi val of Arts’ Arti sts Happy Hour every Thursday night during the summer two hours before the Pageant of the Masters performance.
This add-on to the Festi val of Arts schedule is part of the Live Creati vely campaign. With the desire to att ract a younger arti st demographic and build an inviti ng, inspiring environment, Festi val of Arts is a prime desti nati on for young arti sts to connect with like-minded people and expose themselves to the Laguna Beach art community.
“The Festi val of Arts and Pageant of the Masters opens students’ eyes to endless possibiliti es and knowledge about art, especially with the additi on of the Arti sts Happy Hour,” says Fred Satt ler, presi-dent of the board of directors of the Festi val of Arts.
The Arti sts Happy Hour will off er a variety of wines and cheeses. Craft beer from local breweries will also be provided, in additi on to mocktails for those under 21-years-old. Students will have the opportu-nity to parti cipate in a pursuit of happiness-themed art competi ti on, following this year’s theme, where parti cipants can share their creati vity. This off ers att endees an opportunity to interact with other young arti sts while also celebrati ng their work. Winners will be showcased throughout the summer at the Festi val of Arts.
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FESTIVAL OF ARTS INTRODUCES ‘ARTISTS HAPPY HOUR’ THIS SUMMER
Contact:Astrid Marti nPublic Relati ons [email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMay 31, 2015
Educating a young artist generation is key for both the survival of the art community and the Festival of Arts. To compliment the student art-ist discount package, the Artists Happy Hour offers a destination where young artists can in-teract with like-minded people. The event will take place on Thursday nights, hours before the Pageant of the Masters showing. The following will be provided:
• Cheese, wine and craft beer from local brew-eries for those 21+ and mocktails for anyone under 21
• ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ friendly art contest
• A variety of other activities (poetry circle performance, paint balloon darts, jazz per-formances, etc.)
• Behind-the-scenes tour of Pageant of the Masters
ARTISTS HAPPY HOUR
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Media Pitch
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Media Alert / Media Events
WHO: The Pageant of the Masters and Festi val of Arts
WHAT: Mom bloggers are invited to att end an exclusive preview day of the new family off erings at this year’s Pageant of the Masters and Festi val of Arts. They will enjoy exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the props, costumes, makeup and acti viti es that are family friendly.
WHERE: The event will take place of the grounds of the festi val located at 650 Laguna Canyon Rd, Lagu-na Beach, CA 92651. Parking will be clearly marked for the event and is free.
WHEN: Sunday, June 7th at 2:00 pm. Light refreshments and beverages will be served before and aft er the tour. There will be a 30-minute press conference at the conclusion of the tour.
WHY: Spark creati vity in your family this summer at the Pageant of the Masters and Festi val of Arts. Located right in your own backyard, this family and budget friendly event is sure to be a hit with all members. Family packages and special events guarantee your family will make memories that will last a lifeti me.
FESTIVAL OF ARTS PAGEANT OF THE MASTERS WELCOMES MOM BLOGGERS TO EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW NIGHT
MEDIA ALERT
Contact:Liz QuickPublic Relati ons [email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Through research, it is clear that OC Families play a heavy role in the consuming of events across the OC. The Mom Blogger Media Event was de-signed to invite Mom Bloggers and their children across Orange County to learn about the new Family Packages that will be implemented. They will enjoy exclusive access to props, costumes, makeups and hands on arts and crafts that are family friendly.
The family packages include four tickets to the Festival of Arts at a discounted price. Included in the ticket is also an invitation to a character meet and greet happening during the Festival of Arts. This meet and greet allows children to meet characters in full costume and makeup that will be in the Pageant of the Masters. It is our hope that these new packages, and the word of mouth of the Mom Bloggers, will drive the sales of top-tier seating and the attendance of the Festival of Arts.
MOM BLOGGER MEDIA EVENT
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Festival of Arts / Pageant of the MastersMay 1, 2015
Like • Comment • Share
Every artist has a story to tell! Follow our Artist Video Series - this week we’re featuring photographer Rick Graves!
Festival of Arts / Pageant of the MastersApril 30, 2015
Like • Comment • Share
Ever wondered how much work goes into creating each scene for Pageant of the Masters? We’ll take you #BehindtheScenes!
ABOUT
(949) 497-6582
650 Laguna Canyon RoadLaguna Beach, California 92651
Every summer the Festival of Arts produces the Festival of Arts Fine Art Show and Pageant of the Masters, where art comes to life!
http://www.foapom.com/
PHOTOS
VIDEOS
English (US) • Privacy • Terms • Cookies • MoreFacebook © 2014
Timeline PhotosAbout Likes More
Festival of Arts / Pageant of the MastersArts & Entertainment
Festival of Arts / Pageant of the Masters
Artist Spotlights
Every artist has his or her own story. The prob-lem is that most people don’t know it. With two-minute long personal narratives, audiences will be able to relate to and engage with the art-ists, encouraging them to go to the Festival of Arts.
Videos will be shot in the artists’ natural, per-sonal spaces (i.e. personal art studios). Once complete, they will be posted on the Festival of Arts’ website in a special section for the artists. We will also create a YouTube channel for the festival and post the videos on there as well. Then, they will be linked to on the festival’s so-cial media pages (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Insta-gram).
Several artists from our focus groups expressed interest in working on this project.
VIDEO SERIES
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Social Media
Festival of Arts / Pageant of the MastersMay 1, 2015
Like • Comment • Share
Every artist has a story to tell! Follow our Artist Video Series - this week we’re featuring photographer Rick Graves!
Festival of Arts / Pageant of the MastersApril 30, 2015
Like • Comment • Share
Ever wondered how much work goes into creating each scene for Pageant of the Masters? We’ll take you #BehindtheScenes!
ABOUT
(949) 497-6582
650 Laguna Canyon RoadLaguna Beach, California 92651
Every summer the Festival of Arts produces the Festival of Arts Fine Art Show and Pageant of the Masters, where art comes to life!
http://www.foapom.com/
PHOTOS
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Festival of Arts / Pageant of the MastersArts & Entertainment
Festival of Arts / Pageant of the Masters
The Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters do have a strong social media following, with over 25,000 Facebook likes and 2,500 Twitter followers. Posts are frequent and engaging, in-cluding trends like “Wisdom Wednesday” and “TBT”.
However, it can continue to improve its pres-ence to create stronger engagement and con-versation on these platforms. Through the Artist Spotlight video series and behind-the-scenes images of the Pageant, FOAPOM can feature the artists that make the whole event possible.
Additionally, simple elements like the cover photo should change regularly according to FOAPOM updates, like the new facade, or dates for the upcoming pageant and festival.
ENGAGEMENT AND CONVERSATION
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Guerrilla Stunt
The guerrilla stunt around Orange County will rely heavily on word of mouth and social media to get its point across.
For one week, guerrilla marketing for both the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters will strike popular places. Ideal times to do these pop up events are the lunch hour (12-1 p.m.) and dinner hour (6-7 p.m.), in order to capital-ize on the most heavy foot traffic. Sample place ideas include: Orange Circle, Downtown Fuller-ton, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Irvine Spectrum, Fashion Island, etc.
The guerrilla marketing crew will roll up to these locations in full hair and makeup and without saying a word stand still in their designated pos-es. The only thing they will have indicating what they are doing is a sign with #foapom. Viewers will not only take pictures, they will use this hashtag to look up what it is. That is why in the weeks leading up to and week of the campaign, the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters must have a very active social media presence and use of this hashtag. This marketing tech-nique can also be applied to the Festival of Arts ticket sales and attendance but instead of pos-ing in tableaus, utilizing more art centric work like sketch artists, painters, etc. Once the allot-ted time of 30-45 minutes has finished, the art-ists will leave without saying a word.
POP UP ART
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Press Kit
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Special Promotions / Program Consolidation
As a weeklong promotion, customized chocolate kisses will be placed on hotel guests’ pillows.
Guests will be graced with a range between 10-25 precent-off coupon on the bottom of the kisses as an opportunity to attract visitors to the Pageant of the Masters and Festival of Arts. To manage costs, five hotels will be chosen to par-ticipate in this promotion.
Additionally, we recommend partnering with lo-cal restaurants to place coupons for “Dinner and a Pageant.” These coupons will be on custom-ers’ final bills, offering them a discount to the Pageant of the Masters.
The Festival of Arts struggles in comparison to the attendance of the Pageant of the Masters. One way that we could change this fact is to consolidate the program offerings and include new programs to target our key publics of OC Moms, local customers and student artists.
Glancing at what is offered the Festival of Arts currently overwhelms with its options. Week-days are filled with two a day offerings for “Youth Arts”, while adult and teen art workshops sprin-kle the whole weekend. Our suggestion is to cut back on the programs offered as well as add new ones.
The Youth Arts Classes should be offered only once a day and closer to the Pageant of the Mas-ters start time. Since the new family packages will be offered with a ticket to a character meet and greet, the suggestion is to have the art class and meet and greet back to back. We suggest the class should start at around 3:30 p.m., with the meet and greet at 4:30 p.m., which will leave ample time for families to explore the art exhib-its before the show. Furthermore, the youth arts should be renamed “Kids Crafts” to be more ap-
pealing to families who look at the schedule. Building on that, the Kids Crafts should only be offered Mondays - Wednesdays since that is when we are targeting families to come.
Thursdays should be completely revised to target our key public of student artists. There should be the Art Talks happening as well as the Artists Happy Hour. This will draw in the student artist demographic and work in conjunction with the student packages that will be offered.
Friday through Sunday should target the key demographic of locals. These are people who frequent the shops, business and restaurants around the Laguna Beach area. By offering the Wine and Jazz Night on Friday, it will appeal to the demographic we are trying to reach. It also provides them with an activity to do before the Pageant of the Masters, drawing them into the festival.
Finally, we recommend that the Sundays stay the same with the “Afternoon in the Park” ac-tivities since it will draw both OC Families and locals into the festival.
HOTEL CHOCOLATES
DINNER AND A PAGEANT
CONSOLIDATING AND REVISING
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Top-Tiered Seating Ticket Packages
A family four pack of tickets will be available for purchase at a discounted rate that is 10 percent cheaper per ticket. Exclusively with this package, families will have the opportunity to experience the following deals:
• Meet-and-greet with characters from the pageant two hours before the show
• “How to” sessions at Festival of Arts where kids can get a behind-the-scenes look at how the makeup and costuming are done for the pageant
• Kid-friendly, hands-on workshops at Festival of Arts, including water coloring, cartooning and sculpting
With the goal of inviting younger artists to the festival, the Student Artists Package will offer tickets discounted at 15 percent off. This ticket purchase will give students access to the world the Festival of Arts has to offer with these exclu-sive experiences:
• Artists Happy Hour - a cheese and wine so-cial with Pageant of the Masters artists and performers two hours before the pageant
• Pageant of the Masters backstage access tour Thursday afternoon
• Art competition reflecting the 2015 theme, “Pursuit of Happiness,” where finalists’ work will be displayed at the Festival of Arts
Customers of Laguna Beach hotels and restau-rants will be offered tickets at a discounted rate ranging from 10 to 25 percent off the regular price, depending on coupons found in:
• Chocolate kisses left in hotel rooms • Cards inserted in restaurant checks at the
end of a purchase
MONDAYS-WEDNESDAYS: OC FAMILIES THURSDAYS: COLLEGE STUDENTS FRIDAYS-SUNDAYS: LOCAL CUSTOMERS
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Part 3: Appendix
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Initial Key Publics / Original Research - Surveys
The survey of 40 college students ages 18 to 22-years-old held three primary goals: to under-stand the perception of arts festivals, to find out what incentivizes students to attend arts fes-tivals and to gage the awareness of Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters.
When respondents were asked to describe their perception of arts festivals in one word, common answers were: creativity, inspiring, cultural, bor-ing, hipster, variety, crafty, colors, sophisticated, nauseating, fun, intriguing, diverse, quirky and interesting. While most of these words have a positive connotation, it’s important to note the negative perceptions and consider how to per-suade students otherwise.
On a scale of one to five, one being the least and five being the most, the average interest level in attending arts festivals is 3.15. With 37.5 per-cent of respondents ranking their interest level at a three and 35 percent of respondents rank-ing their interest level at a four, it’s evident that
a large percentage of students have some level of interest in arts festivals overall, so it’s import-ant to recognize what specifically draws them in.
With the option to select more than one answer, 80 percent of students said that free food and drinks would motivate them to attend an art show and 70 percent of students said that ticket deals or special pricing would motivate them to attend. Under the “other” option, respondents said they’d attend “if I can relate to the work” and if there are “good artists/performers.” This is one of the most helpful findings of this survey and this information will be used in the creation of student promotions and initiatives.
When asked what the best way is to find out that an event is happening, 90 percent of re-spondents said via Facebook/social media. This illustrates that the campaign will have to reach students via digital platforms.
62.5 percent of respondents said they’d be most
likely to attend an arts festival during the sum-mer on a weekend afternoon, 20 percent they’d be likely to attend on a weekend evening, 12.5 percent said they’d be likely to attend on a week-day evening and 5 percent said they’d be likely to attend on a weekday afternoon. Because of this, the campaign will either need to imple-ment tactics for students during their preferred times or do something different with strong rea-soning to persuade them otherwise.
Another primary message of the campaign should also focus on awareness of Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters. Only seven respondents (17.5 percent) said they have ever attended any of the three arts festivals in Lagu-na Beach, and of these seven, only three have ever attended Festival of Arts. therefore, name recognition should be a goal of this campaign. Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters need to have higher recognition, especially over the Sawdust Festival and Art-A-Fair in Laguna Beach.
SURVEY OF 40 COLLEGE STUDENTS AGES 18 to 22-YEARS-OLD
• Families in Laguna Beach• Past, present and potential artists at Festival• Hotel owners/guests in Laguna Beach• Restaurant and owners in Laguna Beach• Shop owners in Laguna Beach• Current and potential sponsors
• Current and potential donors• Past, present and potential volunteers• Current Festival of Arts members• Laguna Beach locals/Neighboring cities• California residents• U.S. tourists out of California
• International tourists• Resource providers/Vendors at festival• Employees of festival• Art enthusiasts - traveling to various festivals• College students with interest in art• Members of art museums
PRELIMINARY IDENTIFICATION OF PUBLICS
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Original Research - Focus Groups
Interesting personalities participated in the fo-cus group with a variety of artists from the Fes-tival of Arts, all of which live in Laguna Beach:
Shelley is a fiber artist who uses any item she can get her hands on to create 3-D mixed media sculptures. As a Festival of Arts participant for 24 years, she’s still enjoys the experience. Not only has she developed a wonderful community of artist friends, but she also enjoys how inex-pensive it is to showcase her work. Unlike oth-er art shows, the festival has a consistent eight weeks where she can show of her work.
Rick is a highly competitive photographer, who built a camera that uses a roll of film to make one picture. This process uses math formulas to move film at the correct speed to capture a moving subject. That way the subject maintains its sharpness while the background blurs. This
art form is viewed more like a hobby to Rick. His career is a short and documentary filmmaker.
Rob is another photographer who actually used to be Rick’s professor. Just like Rick he also par-ticipates at the Festival of Arts as a hobby while his professional endeavors are in advertising as a commercial filmmaker.
Creative collaboration never looked more inter-esting and beautiful than the work Stephanie and Betty present every year at the Festival of Arts. Stephanie is a landscape painter and Bet-ty is a figure painter, but together they make canvas art masterpieces that not only attract crowds at the festival, but also the entertain-ment world. Many pieces of their work have been displayed in movies such as The Proposal and The Last Song. This 15-year-old friendship didn’t collaborate until nine years ago when Bet-ty approached Stephanie and insisted to com-
bine their talents into one canvas piece. Their intriguing duet-process has no restrictions on theme before combining their work. Stephanie and Betty’s collaborative work has been show-cased at the Festival of Arts for seven years. As pioneers in the collaboration art section of the festival, the two close friends still look forward painting together every time.
These individuals were chosen because they are great examples of the diversity of artists found in the festival as well as the strong communi-ty that each one has created. They each have known each other for years. This close connec-tion was demonstrated through their entertain-ing and free flowing discussion with one anoth-er in the conference room of the Festival of Arts. Giggles flared and enthusiasm was present. The passion of their work and relationships filled the atmosphere.
FOCUS GROUP OF 5 FESTIVAL ARTISTS
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Original Research - In-Person Interviews
Lindsay provided a great insight into the per-spective of a young working professional. Since this demographic is more likely to go out and spend their money, this could be a key target audience for our PR campaign. She brought up some great points to keep in mind. She mentions she gets about 90 percent of her event news via Facebook. This means having an active Face-book presence and events can hook in young-er participants for the pageant and festival. She also stated that deals and promotions are key to getting her to spend her money. She said she loves either a certain percentage off, perks with what you buy, or buy one get one free deals. The takeaways from her interviews show us that deals are crucial to securing young buyers and Facebook promotions play a defining role in so-liciting them.
Grace has been living in the Laguna Beach area for 15 years so she was very familiar with what the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters was. She said she has been a few times but only really vividly remembered the Pageant, as art shows “weren’t really her thing”. She says during the months of the pageant, it’s her fa-vorite time because of the surge of tourists and visitors in her hometown of Laguna Beach. She suggested some sort of promotion for locals like some sort of dinner deal since she eats out a lot. She thought it would be cool to see a promo-tion for the festival inside local Laguna Beach stores. Both her suggestions are great ideas to tie together local businesses and residents to the Pageant of the Masters and Festival of Arts.
Michelle is a busy stay-at-home mom with two young kids in the Irvine schools. She said sum-mer is a very stressful time for her because she is constantly looking for ways to entertain her students since school is out. We had a long talk about her feelings about education, and she mentioned that she was saddened that arts ed-ucation had been cut in public schools across America. She said a lot of the activities she does at home involve some sort of craft to keep her kids practicing and experiencing art. We ex-plained to her all about the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters. She said the pageant is definitely something she would take her kids to and know they would love. She also said the fes-tival seemed a little too “old” for her children and she would only take them if there was some sort of activity or event for them to enjoy. This suggestion could be a great way to get OC fami-lies involved in the Festival of Arts.
LINDSAY DURNIAK GRACE NEARY MICHELLE LUNA23, young working professional 47, Laguna Beach resident 36, Irvine mom with two young kids
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Original Research - Client InterviewFestival of Arts is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the arts and arts educa-tion. It is a place for artists to sell their wares and keep the entirety of the sales. Some artists have showcased for 50 years, while others will be participating for the first time. The organiza-tion also gives scholarships to local high school students and art organizations, and hosts a per-manent art collection that is showcased in dif-ferent exhibits.
The festival grounds are currently undergoing a major building project. The front facade is be-ing updated, and this will result in an overall re-branding of the Festival of Arts (logo, style, etc.). The new facade will reflect the canyon setting and include recycled materials, wood and met-al. The old facade was up for about 17 years.
FESTIVAL CURRENT SITUATIONFor the Festival of Arts, the main challenge lies in weekday attendance. The weekends and weeknights are always packed. The organization has worked to improve attendance by includ-ing art activities and workshops during the day. These include free printmaking in the art center, mixed media and ceramics workshops, art talks, a full schedule of paid classes for children and art tours.
We hope to answer the question: Who would benefit from learning more about art? The Festi-val of Arts certainly hopes to attract people with
purchasing power, but also people that can ben-efit from the art education, like students. This holds true to the festival’s mission of supporting art education.
The Festival of Arts also needs more press cov-erage, specifically on artists and grounds events.
PAGEANT CURRENT SITUATIONThe Pageant of the Masters gets plenty of press. It is covered locally, nationally and even inter-nationally. It was even featured on Somebody’s Gotta Do It with Mike Rowe on CNN. For the Pageant of the Masters, the main chal-lenge is getting people to purchase upper tier seating. This is the cheapest seating, but it is also the farthest from the stage. The amphithe-ater sits roughly 2600 people, and the organiza-tion would love to see a full house each night. Attendance is not an issue though. Pageant of the Masters sees around 250,000 attendees each summer.
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPESawdust and Art-A-Fair are direct competitors in Laguna Beach - in fact, both of these festivals take place right across the street from the Fes-tival of Arts. In contrast to the Festival of Arts, Sawdust and Art-A-Fair don’t require artists to showcase original artwork. These festivals allow reproductions, which causes sales to be much cheaper. The Festival of Arts includes only orig-inal fine art.
Sawdust only allows Laguna Beach residents to hold a booth. The process is non jurying; art-ists that want a booth get one if they ask ear-ly enough. Additionally, the festival prices are more expensive than the Festival of Arts. The audience skews younger, and Sawdust includes a summer and winter show with year-round art classes.
Art-A-Fair, which is an international show, is also more expensive than the Festival of Arts (almost 6x!). It allows reproductions, and the organiza-tion takes 20 percent of artist sales.
Festival of Arts is the cheapest for artists.
TARGET AUDIENCEFor the Pageant of the Masters, the audience skews older, primarily between ages 45-55. However, attendees cover both extremes. Mem-bers have been members for 30+ years.
The organization doesn’t currently track who comes into the art show, and therefore keeps its target audience extremely broad. We can work to narrow this down.
Both the festival and pageant tend to attract lo-cal hotel guests as well.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONSDue to the timeline of our campaign versus the festival, we can include short-term and long-
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term ideas on our PR plan. This allows us to share ideas that can be used this summer, as well as ones that may require more planning for future summers.
While social media is well-managed now, it can grow through better incorporating the pageant theme. Twitter and Instagram don’t have as big of an audience as Facebook yet, and the organi-zation is playing around with Pinterest. A chal-lenge is that some of the festival artists don’t necessarily feel comfortable with having their art posted on social media. However, using the
stories of the artists could drive attendance. Ad-ditionally, both events could benefit from more Internet presence overall (ex: ABC 7-day Plan-ner). The organization already does calendar listings and uses social media, but is curious to know what else is out there.
Pageant of the Masters has a new theme every year. This year it is “Pursuit of Happiness.” The Festival of Arts sometimes picks up the theme via artists incorporating it into their work, but not with strength. The theme could help tie these two together without causing confusion.
Advertising of the two events used to be joint, but it created confusing messaging and people were unaware you could choose one event to attend. Now, the two are only combined in spe-cific situations, like to save money in print ads by creating a split page ad.
The three Laguna Beach art festivals offer a Passport to the Arts. This allows people to at-tend all three festivals, all summer long, for only $23. These types of promotions can help drive attendance.
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Trend Research
Orange County has two different types of art shows: annual art shows and ongoing art shows. Some of the most well-known annual art shows are Pageant of the Masters from July through September, Sawdust Festival from June through September and Art-A-Fair from June through August, all located in Laguna Beach.
In October, the Newport Beach Arts Foundation holds its annual “Art in the Park” fine arts and crafts fair, and in the same month in Fullerton, “A Night in Fullerton” offers free music, art, drama and dance programs at several locations throughout the city. From November through December, one can find over 130 artists with original arts and crafts, artist’s demonstrations and hands-on workshops at the Sawdust Winter Fantasy in Laguna Beach. Furthermore, some of the most well-known ongoing art shows are Art Walk in Huntington Beach on the third Thursday of every month, Artists Village Art Walk in Santa Ana on the first Saturday of every month and Art Walk in Laguna Beach on the first Thursday of every month.
There are three main fundraising trends in the arts. The first is corporate sponsorships. Many businesses help fund local art events in the Or-ange County area. For instance, Wells Fargo, the Orange County Register and The Ritz-Carlton La-guna Niguel are just a few companies that spon-sored the 2014 Festival of Arts and Pageant of
the Masters in Laguna Beach. The second trend is an individual philanthropic donation toward funds to help local artists. For example, the Saw-dust Art Festival in Laguna Beach has the Art-ists’ Benevolence Fund which raises money for artists who have “suffered a catastrophic event, making them unable to work.” The third trend is an arts council to help the advancement of the arts. Arts Orange County is a perfect example of this; it raises money from membership dues, fundraising efforts, grants and contributions from foundations, corporations and individuals.
their passions and pursuits.”
When it comes to PR content, the festivals con-sistently promote their longevity (Ex. “48th an-nual festival”), featured artists, or special events throughout the festival. Though the exact con-tent changes from festival to festival, these are the topics that are often focused on. Many festivals also announce artist awards and have online festival stores. It’s pretty easy to find the press section of the websites, and this section tends to include history, quick facts, press re-leases and photos.
ORANGE COUNTY ART FESTIVALS
Arts festivals in California often include art of all sorts: fine art, design, textile, photography, performance art, etc. Common features include artist exhibits, classes and live entertainment. Most art festivals have similar goals of promot-ing and supporting community arts and in some way donate the money made from the event.
A major trend noticed was festival workshops or classes. These are used to incentivize people to attend festivals, encouraging people to actively participate in the festival, rather than just ob-serve and leave. As stated by Eventbrite, “Con-sumers [are] enjoying greater choice and variety in everything from food to travel to on-demand entertainment [and] are increasingly expecting and demanding events that more closely match
All across America arts programs at schools have been cut, and arts attendance at “benchmark arts activities” (jazz events, classical music per-formances, opera, musical plays, plays, ballet) has been on a steady decline since 1992. In that year, 41 percent of adults attended at least one art activity a year. In 2012, only 33 percent at-tended. Furthermore, 73 percent of arts attend-ees said their main reason for going to an arts event was to socialize with family and friends.
In the United States, people who call them-selves middle class were most likely to attend art events than those who identified themselves as working class. According to the National En-dowment for the Arts, museum and gallery at-tendance has been hit the heaviest. In terms of
CALIFORNIA ART FESTIVALS NATIONAL ART FESTIVALS
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audience size, art museums and galleries have lost about eight million visitors since its peak.
Arts and education have been hit extremely hard with budget cuts in public schools and shifts in university degrees. States across the U.S. have seen drastic budget cuts in public education. In Pennsylvania, $1 billion was cut from arts and social sciences programs across the state. Chi-cago laid off 1000 teachers when it decided to close 50 schools and a majority of them taught art and music. In the university level, fewer stu-dents are majoring in liberal arts degrees. En-glish degrees accounted for almost eight per-cent of degrees in 1971, but had sunk to four percent by 2002; history degreed had five per-cent back then but now gets only two percent.
Even as globalization has exploded, the number of degrees in foreign languages and literatures has been cut in half, from 2.4 percent to 1.2 per-cent.
natives and corporations excited to poor funds in. Another trick that proved effective was the idea of organizing parties, events that guaran-tee a memorable experience. In addition to this, social media and an organized site for the Greek Art Festival were successful in consistently ex-posing fans to their programs and activities. This offers a chance for the festival to continue main-taining and growing their fan base even when the festival is in hiatus.
Exploring international festivals, the goal was to figure out why people are attracted to the programs over the commercial events in pro-claimed art festivals . In festivals found in Ven-ice, Scotland and New Haven, art is a defining factor for the community. Not only do they have easy access to essential resources (world-class performers, costumes, makeup, etc.), but the festivals have become part of the nation’s/state’s identity. This invites crowds of tourists,
INTERNATIONAL ART FESTIVALS
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Competitive Literature Analysis
WEBSITEThe Festival of Arts/Pageant of the Masters’ website goes with the theme of old school art. With classic, elegant fonts and rotating imag-es on the home page, it has a nice, clean look. However, once viewers try to find information they need, it can get a bit complicated. First off, there are way too many options on the drop-down menus. This can be overwhelming and deter people from exploring the site. Also, when you hover over ‘Pageant of the Masters,’ ‘about the pageant’ is the fourth option down, and the first option is to ‘buy tickets’. The ‘about’ page should be first on the list, because why would anyone want to buy tickets to something if they don’t even know what it is?
The ‘news’ tab on the website, however, is very well done. With press releases and materials, photos and contact information readily avail-able, it shows that Festival of Arts has strong professionalism and good communication with the media. Another positive aspect of the web-site is its use of videos. In this day in age, people gravitate more toward visual elements such as photos and videos over large amounts of text, so this is a plus for the non-profit and a great way to show rather than simply tell.
While the overall use of images and videos is generally positive, the one big negative is the
FESTIVAL OF ARTS PAGEANT OF THE MASTERS company logo. It’s an awful lot of text in a tiny
little circle and it is very difficult to read. It’s also hard to understand what the image inside is and how it correlates to the Festival of Arts, and more specifically, Pageant of the Masters.
SOCIAL MEDIAOn the top right of the website, one can find several social media widgets. It’s great that these are on the site, but they could be bigger and more present on the page.
As previously mentioned, the use of images is significantly important in this day in age, and studies show that Instagram is becoming wildly popular, especially among millennials. Howev-er, this platform has the lowest engagement for the Festival of Arts with only 260 followers. It doesn’t help that there hasn’t been a post since December 2014. The non-profit posts about once a month, if that, so the followers aren’t en-gaged. It’s important to realize that just because the festival isn’t happening doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be frequent posts.
Some ideas that the Festival of Arts could do is have a post of an artist next to his/her piece, post about previous years and post about what people can expect at the upcoming pageant.The Festival of Arts/Pageant of the Masters Facebook page has over 25,000 likes and over 45,000 visits, which is great for the organization.
Posts are frequent and engaging, which keeps its audience coming back to the page. They in-clude ‘Wednesday wisdom,’ ‘TBT’ and shared photos about the audition process.
On the downside, the title name for the page is very long and can make people confused as to the differentiation between the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters. There needs to be a greater distinction between the two throughout all marketing collateral. Moreover, the cover photo and profile photos are weak. Both images aren’t appealing and don’t give enough information. The cover pho-to, for instance, could have the dates for the upcoming pageant, and it should also mention Pageant of the Masters.
The Twitter page has over 2,500 followers. While it’s not as strong as Facebook, it’s still better than Instagram. It also has the same pro-file picture and cover photo as Facebook. It’s important to differentiate the two platforms and realize that each reaches out to a different audience, so it’s important to brand each one accordingly. It might also be helpful to link the Instagram to the Twitter and post more images with relevant hashtags.
BROCHUREThe Festival of Arts/Pageant of the Masters uses
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the same overall look with its print collateral: dark brown background with light text colors (greens, whites, yellows). It’s opposite of the website, which has a tan background and dark brown text.
The brochure does a great job explaining the theme, and the overall look is aesthetically pleasing. There are several images and it uses serif fonts with non-serif fonts (for the titles and body text), which is visually appealing. There’s also a section with the title, “two shows for the price of one,” which grabs the reader’s atten-tion with a bargain. The back of the brochure is very informative, listing the location (with a map), address, website and phone number for Pageant of the Masters
My report analyzed the San Francisco Interna-tional Arts Festival, a festival that unites coun-tries and citizens from around the world with local artists. I found several pros and cons in my key findings for this non-profit. For one, I loved the simplicity in the images and texts that were presented to me. The Facebook cover photo stood out to me, as it was an engaging picture from the performance and contained statistics about the festival that informed about what it was. The statistics that were included were:
date, location and number of artists and perfor-mances at the festival. This is a great idea that we should implement for our non-profit since our current cover photo is plain and offers no explanation of what our event is. Another thing I enjoyed was a multi day giving campaign that centered on artist that was in this year’s festival. Not only did it get me excited about the artist since information about him was given away, I felt more invested to donate and buy a ticket since it created a personal face for me to iden-tify with. I also feel like this campaign would be great to implement for our own non-profit.
Some things I did not like that are important to include and take note of for our own nonprofit is the lack of actual press that was available. The “news” section of the website contained one ar-ticle and offered no past articles or mentions in the media. As a journalist I was frustrated be-cause I would have been unable to complete any assignment about this event without fur-ther asking of more information. I also noticed that there was a HUGE lack of social media posts. The last Facebook post was in December and there were barely any photos of the perfor-mance or festival shared. This left me confused about what the performance was like and why it was so unique and global like the texts said. They definitely needed more social media posts, something I took note of for our own group.
Finally the most frustrating thing that happened was I never truly understood what the festival was about. They wanted me to buy this ticket to this innovating global event but I didn’t even know what I was buying. There was no descrip-tion of a schedule or what performances were like. I didn’t know what I was getting into or what my money was buying. As an audience member this was so frustrating and turned me off to being invested into this event. This was a great point to remember for our own organiza-tion.
After looking through various Art-A-Fair litera-ture channels, it’s obvious that the festival con-tent could use some work. The tagline seems to be, “Laguna’s Fine Art Summer Destination,” though this is not consistent throughout the lit-erature. This tagline displays no differentiating features about the festival and is especially too generic since the festival directly competes with two other popular Laguna Beach art festivals. The website copywriting is bland, but it gets the details across. There is nothing really dif-ferentiating the copy from another festival’s. Additionally, since it is the offseason, the web-site is not updated. When you click on certain pages, like Advertisers, it’s completely blank. It should include some type of informative con-tent, such as, “Check back for the schedule.”
SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL ART FESTIVAL
ART-A-FAIR
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Competitive Literature Analysis ContinuedA blank page does not convey professionalism to viewers because it makes the organization look like it doesn’t care. The menu bar includes an item called “About,” which has a dropdown menu only including “Visit Laguna Beach.” This link doesn’t take you to any Art-A-Fair informa-tion, but instead to a separate Laguna Beach tourism website. This seems pretty unrelated, especially under the About tab. On the festival website, there is no mission statement. Viewers have to navigate to a separate Art-A-Fair Foun-dation website in order to learn more about the mission of the foundation and how it ties in with the festival. This is too many steps for a viewer looking for quick information. Simplicity is key. The Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinter-est content are practically identical. The orga-nization should not have the four social media platforms without using them intentionally. The platforms are updated every couple of days, which is more regular than other organizations, but could be even more regular, especially on Twitter. The content is extremely basic, includ-ing things like “Wacky Wednesday,” “Throwback Thursday,” and “Mentionable Monday.” That tends to be the entirety of the content, which gets repetitive and easy to block out. While it is good to have content that viewers can expect weekly, it should be mixed in with updates, in-teresting facts and links to other sites. However, the fact that Art-A-Fair is on all four platforms shows that it is trying to remain up to date and
relevant. An opening day flyer was posted on Art-A-Fair’s social media accounts. The flyer has the dates of the festival, the number of artists exhibiting and a link to the website. While that informa-tion is important, it could be more engaging. Additionally, the type of design posted on social media doesn’t necessarily need to include the same information a physical flyer might include. Information like the website link could simply be included in the caption of the post, rather than directly on the flyer, since you can’t click on it anyway. Additionally, the flyer itself looks thrown together.
fun the experience may actually be. Luckily the effectiveness of the videos would regain site visitors if they choose to come across that tab. Placing more media tools in the media tab of the website is necessary for the sake of provid-ing enough information for journalists. As for so-cial media, Sawdust does a great job in provid-ing enough variety in their content that are both branded as well as art inspired. The best way to use social media is to not bombard people with the organization’s brand, but to provide people with content that reminds them of the brand.
WEBSITEThere’s a lot of white space throughout the website. For some pages, this use of white space complements some of the colorful im-ages provided. A beautiful banner image of the festival rotates among other images of art class activities. There is also a watercolor logo that comfortably blends into the white background. This offers a nice first impression. However, the only problem is when you go deeper into pages devoted to classes and artists. Text is used ex-tensively. Pictures should be provided in hopes to generate an audience that can lure people to stay on the site. Other than that, by the time you keep clicking on links that outline class sched-ules and artists, the web developer did a great job of organizing simple images and brief head-ings. By the time people reach the media sec-tion, I was disappointed to find no brochures. If this organization wants to gain the attention
Sawdust Art and Craft Festival is a non-profit dedicated to educate and promoting individuals about the art created in Laguna Beach. Surfing through the website, literature was devoted to more than just the festival. There’s information about classes in addition to local artists. Each micro page for these topics relies on written content more than images. It would take a per-son already interested in the organization to find the motivation to stay on the website and learn more about the Sawdust Art and Craft Fes-tival. Other than that, no one who is unfamil-iar with the organization would be intrigued of any of the experiences provided, despite how
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from both media individuals and new attend-ees, they’re going to have to be more proactive in this department.
VIDEOSawdust Art earns a glorified A+ in the video de-partment. Filmmakers do a great job showcas-ing a vibrant ambiance as they spotlight several artists and art skills that are taught in festival classes. Not only is this an essential medium to inform people about the festivals existence, but
ing fun, and inspirational quotes are showcased. This content variety, as well as occasional brand-ing encourages individuals to actually read the organization’s material while keeping Sawdust outside the digital world. Individuals will also appreciate the content Sawdust posts in their social media, which will maintain Facebook fol-lowers even during the festival’s hiatus.
also it’s their chance to showcase the organi-zation’s creative side through cinematography. This is the portion of the website that will win people’s hearts and turn interest into action.
SOCIAL MEDIASawdust has fun with social media by doing more than just informing people about the fes-tival’s existence. Artists are spotlighted as a way to humanize such talented minds, pictures of previous festival attendees are illustrated hav-
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“Creative Communities Exchange.” New En-gland Foundation for the Arts Non Profit. Web. http://www.nefa.org/events/creative-commu-nities-exchange
“Edinburgh Festival PhotosScotland.” Edinburgh Festival City Pictures and Information, Scot-land. Web. 17 Feb. 2015. <http://www.bugbog.com/gallery/edinburgh_festival_pictures/edin-burgh_pictures_door.html#ixzz3RxXGadx9>.
“Festival of Arts Pageant of the Masters in La-guna Beach, CA.” Festival of Arts Pageant of the Masters. N.p., 2015. Web. 16 Feb. 2015. <http://www.foapom.com/>.
“International Folk Art Market.” International Folk Art Alliance Non Profit Organization. Web. http://www.folkartalliance.org/markets/san-ta-fe/
“La Quinta Arts Foundation | Art. Culture. Life.” La Quinta Arts Foundation | Art. Culture. Life. La Quinta Arts Foundation, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2015. <http://www.lqaf.com/>.
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