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Are you looking to bring your organisation’s online performance to a new level?
Looking to harness the power applications such as Facebook, YouTube, Google Analytics, WordPress & Twitter to better engage with your audiences?
Would you like expert guidance to assist you along the way?
Arts Audiences is pleased to announce details of the New Media Mentoring Scheme, in which experts from a variety of organisations offer their time, for free, to mentor arts organisations seeking to build relationships with new and existing audiences online.
Individuals from 6 organisations will be mentored in this scheme (RTÉ Publishing kindly offering to provide mentoring to three), and participating organisations will produce case studies at the end of the mentoring, to share lessons learnt with the wider arts community.
For more information about the mentors, suitable projects, the workings of the scheme, how to apply etc., please click here!
In their own words, Dilletante is an online classical music hub that connects organisations and musicians with audiences, listeners with recorded and live music, and members of the worldwide classical community with each other.
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David T.Little – Virtual Composer in Residence
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Earlier this month, after an open competition worldwide, they announced that U.S. composer David T.Little would be their Digital Composer-In-Residence for the 2009/10.
Little wins a modest cash prize of £1000, but more interestingly, a year-long residency on the website. This allows him to engage with web-site members through a Composer’s Corner blog, a podcast series, online forums, and masterclasses. His residency culminates in 2010 a live event with a performance of a new work.
Of interest to Arts Audiences readers will be posts she has written outlining how to get going with a wordpress website. It’s actually very easy, and in these posts, she lays it all out very clearly;
In another post, Sinead gives a simple introductory explanation of how Theatre companies can use social media.
If people want to be kept up to date with the rest of the series – blogging is next – they can subscribe by RSS and email.
Finally worth mentioning that she has also set up a website called startatheatrecompany.com which provide a series of training modules for those looking to set up a theatre company, giving practical advice on business plans, budgeting, strategy as well as on audience development, marketing, and all that jazz!
This is a heads up… Platform Ireland, a dedicated online portal for Irish arts and culture content, is due to go live with a soft launch this month.
The site will bring together Irish arts and culture content from across all artforms, creating an online focal point where web users from around Ireland and the world can engage with Irish art and culture.
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a pre -launch peek at the site:
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In the Global Economic Forum in Farmleigh last month, a consenus emerged that arts and culture should be one of the foundations of the rebuilding of Ireland – delegate Shane O’Neill summed it up saying “There was a general consensus that culture was one thing we’ve excelled at” (Irish Times 26/9/09).
If this is indeed the case, then Platform Ireland could well play a part in this process, bringing the work of Irish artists to international audiences, in ways that a multitude of individual arts websites could not.
Further details will be posted here when the site goes live. Platform Ireland is being developed by Jessica Fuller of Stillpoint Productions, to get on their mailing list, or if you feel you have content which could be included, contact details are available on Stillpoint’s website.
If you’re not on LinkedIn, you might, for a moment, fight the initial reaction of ‘oh no, not another drain on my time!‘ and read on, as what follows may be of interest to those working in an arts management context.
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Firstly though, for those already on Linkedin – this is advise you we’ve set up an Arts Ireland group (hence the new logo above). The aim this group is to provide an online space where those working in the management and administration of the arts in Ireland can discuss and exchange ideas, find support, make contacts, find work opportunities etc.
With 60 members and rising, all are welcome! Click here to join; Arts Ireland Group
(we only ask that you are working, seeking to work, or have an active interest in arts management and administration in Ireland).
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For those unsure / unclear of what exactly Linkedin is;
Linked In is a professional social networking site, and as such is a powerful tool to help you access a wide network of professional contacts.
Where a site such as facebook keeps you in touch with friends, Linkedin is about keeping in touch with colleagues (and friends) in a professional capacity. As such, the functionality of the site is geared accordingly (and there is not a holiday photograph in sight).
One aspect of the site I find very useful is the ability to access an extended network of people outside my own circle.
For example, imagine I am looking for a web designer with experience of designing a site incorporating a ticketing system, and that I know no one who can do this. This is what I do;
In Linkedin I search my contacts’ contacts using specific search terms
I find my friends Joe, Sue and George each have a different contact who can do this (Joe, Sue and George don’t have to respond to me, the search is automatic)
I phone Joe, Sue and George and ask them if they can recommend their contact
very quickly I get an idea of the right person for the job without much effort
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holiday photos: not on Linkedin
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It’s like word of mouth on steroids. When you start to use groups, this becomes even more powerful. Every group members can post a question which all the group will see – they can choose whether or not to respond. So, I could ask the group (most of whom I won’t know personally) for advice on a web designer with specific experience, and get advice from all sort of people I don’t know.
Many of you are familiar with discussion forums (like the fantastic boards.ie) so the idea might not be so new. What we are hoping for Arts Ireland, is that the group becomes a discussion forum specifically for arts management and administration in Ireland – and this will only work if a critical mass of people get involved.
Well, by now you probably get the idea. If you’re curious, the best and easiest thing to do is give it a go. It’s free, you can give as little or as much personal information when you’re setting up your personal account, which can take as little as 5 minutes. For those interested in a bit more explanation, this film explains the concept a bit more…
With thanks to Declan Doherty for the current banner photograph, of 'Walk the Plank' pyrotechnics company at Cosán Glas, Machaire Raghartaigh, presented by Saothar Ealaíne as part of Earagail Arts Festival 2007
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