A word cloud created with the headlines of 2011 Ontario Press Coverage
With 296 newspaper articles about Culture Days in Ontario there is just too much to read! So we’ve condensed all the headlines into one word cloud.
Archive for the ‘marketing & PR’ Category
Tips on How to Maximize Your Culture Days 2011 Experience
October 11th, 2011 by Culture Days
Thanks to everyone who participated in and helped make Culture Days 2011 a weekend to remember! Your participation transformed September 30, October 1 & 2 into a wonderful celebration of arts and culture from coast to coast to coast.
Though Culture Days is an annual 3-day event, the movement continues to grow year-round! Here are some tips to help maximize your Culture Days experience:
Thank yous! If you had volunteers, friends and/or trusty aids help out, remember to thank them for all the hard work they poured into your activity. Simply acknowledging the important role they played in helping to make your activity a success is a great way to strengthen your bond and make planning your Culture Days 2012 activity(ies) a whole lot easier!
Stay connected! As suggested in the Checklist for Hosting an Activity, if you collected email addresses, business cards or even Twitter handles to form or grow a mailing list, now is the time to get in touch with participants you met during Culture Days weekend. Reach out and thank them for participating in your activity and take the opportunity to promote your upcoming and ongoing artistic and cultural endeavors!
Social Media! If you are active on social media channels, like Facebook or Twitter, continue your Culture Days conversation online and maintain interest in your activities! Speak to the masses with a simple click and build a network with the growing Canadian arts and culture community.
Share pictures and videos! Did you capture your Culture Days experience? Upload and share your photos and videos via the Culture Days Flickr pool and YouTube channel. Be sure to submit high-quality photos to Flickr and allow for downloads and re-distribution on YouTube as they could be featured in the 2011 Culture Days Highlight Reel!
If you made a video of your activity or weekend celebrations, upload it to YouTube and share the video URL with Culture Days (via email, Twitter or Facebook), so it can be featured on the Culture Days YouTube channel! Check out the free, downloadable video bumpers available for use in your videos here.
Share your anecdotes! Send in your Culture Days anecdotes or stories to stories[at]culturedays[dot]ca and your Culture Days 2011 experience could end up featured in an upcoming newsletter or blog post!
Checklist for Hosting an Activity
September 27th, 2011 by Culture Days
Whether you are a first time activity organizer or you’re participating for the second year, Culture Days has created a checklist with suggestions to help you host your activity and maximize both your and your participants’ Culture Days experience!
Here are some things to keep in mind as you finalize preparations for your activity:
- Everyone loves a friendly face! Your connection to participants begins by simply welcoming them to your activity, so don’t be shy! Introduce yourself and be sure to thank them for participating in your Culture Days activity. Who knows, this may be the beginning of a lovely friendship and/or collaboration!
- Is the environment comfortable? If applicable, provide seating, ensure there is proper lighting in your space, accessible washroom facilities and, if you wish, refreshments!
- The Culture Days weekend is a great opportunity to promote your artistic and cultural endeavors, so if you have promotional materials (i.e. business cards, flyers, signage…etc.) be sure to have some on hand.
- Your activity is also a wonderful way to introduce your work to a new audience, so keep in touch! Have a notebook and pens on hand so people can sign up to receive more information from you via email about upcoming activities or events you may have lined up after the Culture Days weekend. Building a mailing list is a good way to stay connected with those interested in you and your practice or organization.
- Is your activity location identifiable as a “Culture Days activity” ? Culture Days Bright Spots Venue Identifiers help ensure that the public will be able to find you! These FREE vinyl clings can be picked up at your local Sun Life Financial Center and are available everyday until September 29th, from 8:30am to 4:30pm, local time. Please consult the Culture Days blog to find the one closest to you!
- If you would like additional venue identifiers and/or signage, browse the “Promote Your Activity” section of the Culture Days website. There are plenty of free, downloadable tools being offered that aim to promote and increase the visibility of registered activities. These tools include printable venue identifiers, customizable posters, flyers and more!
- Do you have volunteers or a team helping you host your activity? Be sure they are aware of the key messages you want to communicate. Messages such as: instructions on how to participate, your wish to connect with them after the Culture Days weekend or the promotion of an upcoming activity or event – or anything else you want to communicate.
- Are you active on social media channels, like Facebook or Twitter? Social media is a great platform to build and maintain an interactive dialogue with the public. Tell participants that you’re on Twitter or Facebook and encourage them to follow or “like” you and don’t forget to connect with @CultureDays on Twitter and Facebook too!
- Document or ask a friend to help capture your Culture Days experience by taking photos or shooting video of your activity. Don’t forget to upload and share your photos and videos via the Culture Days Flickr pool and YouTube channel! Be sure to submit high-quality photos to Flickr and allow for downloads and re-distribution on YouTube as your photos could be featured in a Culture Days ad in the Globe and Mail and your videos used in a 2011 video highlight reel! Be sure to include important information with your photo/video submissions such as the activity name, location, names of those captured in the images and photo credits. All this information can be included in the file name of your photo or with your video upload. Please contact Culture Days for more information if you are capturing photographs of minors.
- Videos are a fun and innovative way to capture your Culture Days weekend! Check out the free, downloadable video bumpers available for all to use HERE. Once uploaded on YouTube, share the video URL with Culture Days via email, Twitter or Facebook, so it can be featured on the Culture Days YouTube channel!
- Last, but not least; have FUN!
Bright Spots Venue Identifiers Now Available for All Activity Organizers!
September 20th, 2011 by Culture Days
Thanks to the generous support of national Lead Founding Visionary Partner, Sun Life Financial, Bright Spots Venue Identifiers are now available to all Culture Days activity organizers!
These free, 1’ diameter round vinyl clings will serve as vital tools for organizers in helping to identify activities as “Culture Days activities,” and ensuring that the public will be able to find them. These clings can be affixed to windows, walls and almost any other surface to help identify the location of your activity. Be sure to place them in a highly visible location outside your venue!
Not only do these identifiers tell the public that they’ve found the right place but there’s also a “call to action” on them to encourage people to use social media platforms via their smart phones to publicize that they’re at your activity; helping to further promote you, your practice or organization.
The free Culture Days Bright Spots Venue Identifiers are now available and can be picked up at your local Sun Life Financial Center.
To find the Financial Centre closest to you, please click the link below that corresponds to your province and use the geo-location map on the Sun Life Financial Canada web site to locate the center nearest you:
British Columbia
Saskatchewan
Manitoba
Ontario
New Brunswick
Nova Scotia
Prince Edward Island
Newfoundland and Labrador
For those in the territories, please email Reuben Finley (reubenfinley[at]culturedays[dot]ca) for more information on how to obtain your free Culture Days Bright Spots Venue Identifier.
Bright Spots Venue Identifiers will be available at these centres from September 21st to September 29th, Monday to Friday, from 8:30am to 4:30pm, local time. Should you not be able to pick up your identifier at your local Sun Life Financial Centre, please contact your Provincial Representative for information about how you can obtain one.
A printable version of the Bright Spots Venue Identifier is also available for download via the Culture Days web site as part of the many free tools in the Culture Days Marketing Kit. You can download and print a colour version of the Bright Spots Identifier on an 8.5” x 11” or 11” x 17” sheet of paper.
1200 FREE activities as Ontario Celebrates Culture Days
September 13th, 2011 by Aubrey Reeves
More than 1200 free activities are registered to take place in 170 cities and towns across Ontario for the second annual Culture Days on September 30 to October 2, 2011. Over 500 arts organizations, cultural groups, individual artists, libraries, museums, festivals and municipalities have enthusiastically joined the Culture Days movement to offer hands-on and behind-the-scenes activities exploring music, dance, visual arts, film, history, theatre, literature and much more.
“Culture Days is more than a celebration – it is an opportunity to discover local creators and to find out how the arts and heritage enrich our lives and communities,” said Warren Garrett, Chair of the volunteer task force for Ontario Culture Days.
Culture Days celebrations are taking place in just about every corner of this province from major urban areas to small towns and rural counties. For example:
- In Ottawa, don a red clown nose during a circus workshop at Arts Court or join-in with the Savoy Society for a Gilbert and Sullivan sing-a-long at the Nepean Creative Arts Centre.
- Feel like roaming? Take one of several studio tours happening during Culture Days such as the Brant Studio Tour (Brant County), the Caledon Hills Studio Tour (Peel Region) or the Autumn Leaves Studio Tour (Wellington and Grey Counties and Durham Region).
- In Sudbury learn how to make a traditional Finnish rag rug on a loom at Finlandia Village or marvel at how Pierre Laframboise transforms tree branches into flutes at the Greater Sudbury Public Library.
- Uncover the hidden secrets of the Windsor Community Museum’s collection vault, where you can glimpse rarely seen artefacts such as swords and cannonballs.
- Get your toes tapping with Zydeco music or be mesmerized by the melodies of Indian classical music at Mississauga’s Celebration Square.
- Listen to Anishinaabe elders (with English translation) tell the story of the Corn Husk Doll at the Serpent River First Nations Trading Post in Cutler.
“One of the things that makes Culture Days so special is the commitment of thousands of artists and community volunteers to sharing their work with the public. The result is an extraordinary level of participation that reflects the vibrancy, diversity and creativity of Ontario’s communities,” said Culture Days Ontario Manager, Aubrey Reeves.
In only one year, there has been a 30 percent increase in the number of Culture Days activities across Ontario. Ontario is the province with the highest number of activities in the country with the exception of Quebec, where their Journées de la culture has been in existence for 15 years .
How to Use the Culture Days Bright Spots Schedule
September 5th, 2011 by Culture Days
The Culture Days Bright Spots Schedule, made possible with the generous support of national Lead Founding Visionary Partner, Sun Life Financial, is a free, online scheduling tool that will help both Culture Days activity organizers and the public create a customized schedule of activities taking place over the Culture Days weekend (September 30, October 1 & 2). The Bright Spots Schedule will provide activity organizers with another tool to help promote and publicize their activities by creating a program guide and ensure that the public can better discover and plan their weekend in advance.
Accessing the Schedule and Adding to Your Schedule
The Culture Days Bright Spots Schedule is easy to use! Once you’ve created an account using the “My Culture Days” portal on culturedays.ca and are logged in, simply browse registered activities and select those you wish to add to your schedule using the yellow “Add to my Bright Spots Schedule” button (located on the top-left on each activity description page). Once an activity has been added to your schedule, that button will turn green and will read “In My Schedule”. The activities you’ve decided to “add to your schedule” will automatically appear in your customized 3-day schedule. If an activity is happening more than once over the Culture Days weekend, the activity will automatically appear in your schedule on each day and at each time it’s scheduled to take place.
Viewing Your Schedule
To view your schedule, simply click on the “In My Schedule” button and you’ll be directed to the “My Schedule” page. You can also access your schedule via the “My Culture Days” section. Once you’ve logged in, click the link at the top right that reads “My Schedule”.
Removing an Activity
To remove an activity, click the icon to the right of the activity you’d like to delete (the circle with a line through it) from your “My Schedule” page. A message window will pop up asking you to confirm that you want to remove the activity; click the “Remove” button and you’re done! One important thing to note is that if an activity is happening more than once over the Culture Days weekend, it will automatically appear in your schedule on each day and at each time it’s scheduled to take place, and if you choose to remove it from your schedule, it will remove all instances of that activity.
Exporting Your Schedule
You can export your customized schedule in a number of ways: by email, to popular calendar platforms (ie. Outlook, iCal, Google, etc.) and in PDF format, which can then be shared and printed. For individuals or organizers who want to create a program booklet, choose the “Print My Schedule” option where you also have the option to include an accompanying cover and customized title.
Activity Recommendations
In addition to these exciting features, there is also a “smart” referral engine that will make recommendations based on activities you’ve selected based on the geographic proximity of activities you’ve already selected or by category, based on the kinds of activities you’ve selected (i.e. dance, visual arts, music…etc.)
So, what are you waiting for? Plan your Culture Days weekend NOW!
Self-Promo and Marketing Info Session – Summary
August 3rd, 2011 by Culture Days
Thanks to all who participated in last week’s Info Session on Self-Promo and Marketing!
This Info Session was the first in a series dedicated to self-promotion, so if you weren’t able to join in, mark these upcoming sessions in your calendar:
- Tuesday, August 16 at 2pm ET – Self-Promo: Public Relations
- Tuesday, August 23rd at 2pm ET – Self-Promo: Marketing Tools and Social Media
Be sure to reserve your spot for these sessions here.
Last Tuesday, we reviewed some of the FREE Culture Days marketing tools now available for download off the Culture Days web site, including: logos, e-flyers, web banners, and web badges. You can maximize the use of these tools by uploading logos to your social media profile, sending e-flyers via email, or posting the web banners and badges on your website or blog; all you have to do is simply copy and paste the provided embed code!
Culture Days will continue to release free marketing tools, including customizable posters, post cards/flyers, web banners, and more! Stay tuned for the release dates of these items, along with a PR Tool Kit, which will be made available over the next couple of weeks.
Also discussed during the Info Session was how word of mouth is a powerful and effective tool, as seen in the Culture Days elevator pitch. This pitch was created as a guide to help activity organizers explain the Culture Days movement and spread the word. There has been some great feedback about the pitch and many are creating their own! Feel free to share your pitch with the growing Culture Days network in the “Comments” section, here.
Those who participated in the Info Session also posed questions about how to find a venue and how to “hub”. In both instances, the best place to start is on the Culture Days web site. Check out the “Looking for a space to share” page – this is where available venues are listed. Also, use the search functionalities on the web site to search for other activities happening near you and see if you can work with other organizers to share venue space and resources. You can also contact your regional representative – they can connect you with other organizers and also make suggestions for possible venues.
One of the key marketing tools available to you is your activity page. With an engaging title, clear description and an enticing photo, your activity page will be ready for its close up! To learn more about how to write a captivating description, check out this informative blog post. Not sure how to upload a photo? It’s quick and easy! Click here to learn more.
Did you know that your activity page has built-in social media tools? Maximize your activity’s visibility by “liking” the activity and have it automatically shared with friends on Facebook and Twitter. Social media is a great resource when wanting to share a message to many in a short period of time – you can copy the URL for your activity page (the address for your page at the top of your web browser) and send it out to your network of friends, family, colleagues, and whoever else via email, Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media platform. Don’t forget to ”like” and “follow” Culture Days on Facebook and Twitter, as well; Culture Days encourages cross-promotion and wants your activity to become a success, so be sure to use the Culture Days social media channels made available to you!
Capture the Public’s Eye: Uploading an Image to Accompany Your Activity
July 19th, 2011 by Culture Days
As we get closer and closer to the Culture Days event weekend (September 30, October 1 & 2) it’s time to start thinking about how you can maximize the visibility your activity on the Culture Days web site! The site offers a wonderful opportunity to generate enthusiasm for your activity, particularly when you supplement your information with an eye-catching image. While uploading an image to accompany your activity is not a requirement, it will go a long way to enhance your activity listing on the web site.
Uploading an image to your activity is easy! Once your activity has been registered, log into the system and, head to the “My Culture Days Activity Page.” Click the “View My Culture Days Activities” button. You will then see a list of the activities you’ve registered. To the right of the activity(ies) you’ve registered, under the header “Actions”, you will see a series of options, including “Activity Image”. This link will take you to the Culture Days activity image upload screen. Follow the instructions on this page, taking special care to ensure that your image’s file size (in both “weight” – ie megabites, and “dimensions” ie pixels) falls within the system’s processable range. Here’s a list of some things to keep in mind:
- it’s a good idea to keep your images well under 8MB in size; 1 – 3 MB is ideal – Before uploading your image, you can check its size by right-clicking on the image icon and choosing “properties” from the pop-up menu. (or if you’re on a Mac, click the image icon and hit “command + i”). If your image is too big, don’t worry! There are a number of free sites that specialize in resizing JPG and other files to suit your needs, most notably Shrinkpictures.
- the ideal dimension for your image is 240 x 160 pixels – the maximum size you can upload is 1000 x 1000 pixels
- horizontal (or “landscape”) images work much better than vertical (or “portrait”) images when displayed on the Culture Days web site
Once you have an appropriately sized image prepared, the rest is easy! Simply click on the “browse” button next to the “Your Activity Image” field and choose the file from its location on your computer. Don’t forget to give credit where credit is due in the “photo credit” field. Then press the “Upload & Process” button at the bottom of the page and you’re done!
Your activity will now be ready for prime time!
The Elevator Pitch: A Short Explanation of Culture Days
July 14th, 2011 by Culture Days
As the Culture Days event weekend grows nearer, lots of people are talking about it. However, you may be wondering how to explain what Culture Days is all about. Without getting too lengthy or going into too much detail, how do you talk about Culture Days?
An elevator pitch is a great way of highlighting key aspects of what makes Culture Days unique to someone who is unfamiliar with the movement. An elevator pitch is a clear and concise description, and its name reflects the idea that one should be able to deliver a short summary in the span of an elevator ride.
When telling friends, family and anyone else about your activity or Culture Days in general, an elevator pitch is an enticing and efficient way to share your message!
Below is an elevator pitch you can use when talking about Culture Days.
Culture Days Elevator Pitch
- Culture Days is a collaborative pan-Canadian, volunteer movement to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of all Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities.
- Culture Days is a grassroots movement that self-mobilizes to implement concurrent, annual, province-wide public participation events that take place throughout the country over the last weekend of September.
- This year, Culture Days is taking place throughout the country on September 30, October 1 & 2.
- Thousands of artists, individuals, organizations and communities are involved in organizing Culture Days.
- Culture Days events feature free, hands-on, interactive activities that invite the public to participate “behind the scenes,” to discover the world of artists, creators, historians, architects, curators, and designers at work in their community.
- Culture Days is the largest-ever grassroots campaign to celebrate the arts and promote cultural participation in Canada.
- You can find out more via the Culture Days web site: CultureDays.ca
Culture Camp Guelph
July 11th, 2011 by Aubrey Reeves
On May 25, 2011, the City of Guelph hosted a “Culture Camp” for artists, organized by Culture Days task force member, Astero Kalogeropoulos, in partnership with the Guelph-Wellington Business Enterprise Centre, Work in Culture, Guelph Arts Council, and Ontario Crafts Council.
After an info session and discussion with Culture Days staff, artists broke out into groups to brainstorm ideas in preparation for Culture Days on the following given topics: Sharing Resources, Maintaining Connections, Promotion & Marketing, Venues, and Measurements of Success. Below are a few highlights from the Culture Camp brainstorming sessions.
Sharing Resources
Working together and sharing resources can lead to more successful Culture Days events. These are a few ways to share resources effectively:
- Do an inventory of the needs, skills and assets amongst a group before you start planning so collectively you know what resources are already available.
- Invite the Chambers of Commerce or Business Improvement Association to join your Culture Days planning group to tap into their resources and to build relationships with local businesses.
- Gather for regularly scheduled meetings with activity organizers. It’s impossible to share resources, if you don’t communicate with each other!
- Be willing to support others and extend a helping hand. For example, mentor young artists who may need some guidance to realize their activity.
Maintaining Connections
Many of the artists at the Culture Camp wanted to see how their Culture Days experience could become more than just one great weekend. They asked – what ways could they extend the impact of their Culture Days events to the rest of the year by recruiting new audiences, customers or volunteers, and by developing lasting relationships with other artists in their community?
Some of their ideas take a little preparation, but are well worth the effort:
- Determine what is your ideal audience/client/market so you know who you are trying to connect with on the Culture Days weekend.
- Have a clear goal for your Culture Days activity and a next step in mind before the Culture Days weekend.
- Be prepared for your next step with promo materials for your future events, a sign-up sheet for your newsletter, etc. allowing the public to connect with you again soon.
- Create or attend follow-up networking events between artists as well as between artists and businesses.
Promotion & Marketing
In addition to discussions about using the Culture Days marketing and promotion resources and social media to promote activities, the attendees at Culture Camp had a few innovative ideas for collectively promoting Guelph Culture Days activities, such as:
- Have a Kick-off Party/Launch event that brings attention to all Culture Days activities happening in the community and starts off the weekend’s celebrations.
- Work with other cultural events on the September calendar. With multiple cultural events in the Guelph area during the month of September (Jazz Festival and Nuit Blanche – Sept. 9 – 11, Eden Mills Writers Festival – Sept. 16-18, Culture Days – Sept. 30- Oct. 2), they are planning to promote September as “Culture Month.”
- Preceding festivals and events are great opportunities to cross-promote Culture Days. Connect with those events to set up an info booth, or have volunteers hand out flyers, buttons or other promotional material.
Artists in Guelph and area interested in learning more are also invited to register for:
Marketing 101 for Artists & Small Arts Groups
Date: Thursday, September 15, 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.
Location: TBA
Cost: $25
To register, please email mcalarco@craft.on.ca
Blog post compiled by Aubrey Reeves, Culture Days Ontario Manager and Nazanin Shoja, OAC’s Culture Days Animator/Coordinator with notes from Ontario Task Force member Astero Kalogeropoulos.