The City of Richmond, BC, coordinated one of the country’s most successful Culture Days campaigns in 2010 and 2011, ranking ninth overall in terms of number of activities presented and fifth among regional and belt cities in 2011. As a growing number of municipalities across Canada take the lead to promote Culture Days participation in their communities, Liesl Jauk, Manager of Community Cultural Development for the City of Richmond and member of the Culture Days BC Task Force will present the associated challenges and opportunities of running an effective local campaign at the Annual Arts BC Conference on Saturday, April 21.
Posts Tagged ‘community organizers’
Checklist for Hosting an Activity
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!
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.
Waabi-ma’iingan (Grey Wolf) Traditional Teaching Lodge – Thunder Bay, ON
Nazanin Shoja, the OAC Culture Days Ontario Animator/Coordinator spoke with Cynthia Coons, Assistant Coordinator of the Waabi-ma’iingan (Grey Wolf) Traditional Teaching Lodge about what they offered the residents of Thunder Bay, ON during Culture Days 2010.
Culture Days – Who are you and what do you do?
Cynthia Coons – Waabi-ma’iingan is a teaching lodge which reconnects people with their spiritual side. We have ceremonies 4 times a year, Elders and Youth Gatherings once a year and a sharing circle every two weeks. At Waabi-ma’iingan, we encourage tolerance and offer a comfortable environment where non-aboriginals can learn about Aboriginal culture as well.
CD – What made your 2010 Culture Days activity unique?
CC – We held an Elders and Youth Gathering entitled “Voices from the Past, For Tomorrow.” We had Elders come from 50 different communities, from all over Ontario. Many people were invited to come to the lodge to listen to the Elders speak.
CD – What inspired or surprised you about Culture Days?
CC – The event was very successful. People kept asking when the next one would be happening.
CD – What do you feel is the impact of culture in your community?
CC – There has been a very positive impact. On the last day of the event, the youth were invited to speak. They discussed issues such as racism and expressed their desire to learn more about their culture and reconnect with their native language and heritage. As a result of these discussions, the lodge has been going to St. Pat’s high school, where an Aboriginal counselor visits with the students and teaches them about Aboriginal culture and traditions. They are also in the process of arranging a sweat lodge for them, since they had no access to that before.
Capture the Public’s Eye: Uploading an Image to Accompany Your Activity
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!
Toronto Public Library Application Form
Please note: the application deadline (midnight on June 10, 2011) for artists seeking venue spaces at the Toronto Public Library during Culture Days has now passed. Notifications will be sent out by July 15, 2011.
The Toronto Public Library (TPL), the Neighbourhood Arts Network and Culture Days are pleased to announce an exciting partnership called Culture Days @ The Library to help artists and arts organizations to share their creative work with the public. The Toronto Public Library is offering free venues to Toronto-based artists and arts organizations wishing to be part of Culture Days. Some 45 TPL branches spanning the city will provide various types of venues at no cost. Often described as the living-rooms of the city public libraries are important community spaces in our neighbourhoods for learning, exchange of ideas and connecting with others. This partnership enables artists to take their practice out of their private studios into the accessible spaces of library branches so that the public can discover and engage with their work.
To be considered for a space, the arts activity must be free and interactive. Toronto-based individual artists, small and medium-sized arts and cultural organizations, collectives or groups that wish to organize their events at a TPL branch are invited to submit an application by June 10, 2011. These will be assessed by a jury and matched with an appropriate branch location. Decisions will be based on the suitability of the activity for the branch’s venue space and the interactive nature to the activity. Artistic merit will not be assessed. Activities in all artistic disciplines are encouraged as well as those that appeal to families and to audiences of diverse ages. Whenever possible, artists/organizations will be matched with a branch in their own neighbourhood.
















