Communications Strategy Arts for LA Pilot Advocacy Team Districts

Background  Five Pilot Arts Advocacy Teams started in 2009/2010  AFLA & Teams quickly realized distinct strategies were needed in each community  Each Arts Advocacy Team took on a specific level of involvement, leadership style, and relationship to Arts for LA

Now What? As we train more people in more communities, we wanted to continue supporting the pilot communities. Communications was identified as a way to highlight successes in the Pilot Districts as models for others Countywide.

Communications Strategy Arts for LA will work with Burbank, Santa Monica- Malibu, Paramount, Montebello and Culver City to identify compelling local stories.  Advocate Profiles  News Stories  Blogs  Features

Principles & Style Guide: Our Communications Roadmap  Positive  Solutions-Based and Strategic  Focus on issues, themes or stories, not attacking people or publicizing one organization

Principles & Style Guide: Our Communications Roadmap  What we want:  Stories from the community  Inspiration and practical solutions for other communities  Opportunities to provide a larger context for a theme or issue  What we want to avoid:  Publicity for a specific organization or event (including AFLA, school districts or member organizations)  A “report-out” description of a program  Focus on the deficit instead of the solution

Example: Jerry’s Blog Original first paragraphs: The Los Angeles County Arts Commission’s Cultivate/Create Initiative, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Los Angeles County Quality & Productivity Commission, provides $10,000 grants to nine arts organizations to commission new works of art. The commissions help drive donor engagement and strengthen the connections between the organization, the artists and the people who support them. Presentations of the new work will be in the first half of June 30, The Colburn Foundation is providing $5,000 in general operating support to two additional groups.

Example: Jerry’s Blog Revised first paragraphs: Over eighty percent of contributed income for non-profits comes from individual donors and small family foundations. In recent years, there’s been a concerted effort in several communities to increase contributions from individual donors, particularly modest amounts of money from large numbers of people. An important premise at work in these initiatives was that artists and the non-profits that engage them would have a more sustainable future if there were a broad base of renewable financial support from individuals at all income levels within their communities.

Pilot Team Example 1  Instead of: Arts Education Program XYZ is a partnership between Culver City USD and Organization ABC. Here’s some information about that program and the organization.  Molly is a parent in Culver City USD with a fifth-grader who loves to play the flute. Molly has been working with Organization ABC and Organization DEF to expand access to music education in Culver City USD. Here’s what she has done, and how the students benefit from the programs.

Pilot Team Example 2  Instead of: School District X has said it will cut all of its arts programs for 2012/2013 and is refusing to listen to reason.  School Site A in School District X has formed an innovative partnership with a local college, and is able to offer a Shakespeare program to its 8 th grade students. The school has seen dropout rates decrease for students participating in the program.

Communications Rollout 1.October/November: Identify two to three blogs, stories, Advocate Profiles or features from each Community and develop a rough schedule. 2.December-February: Develop a base of content on our site and foster relationships with local media outlets. 3.March onward: Conduct outreach to media outlets to investigate content-sharing or creating original content.

My Goals for Today  Gather input on the plan from you/answer questions.  Identify time-sensitive issues, dates, etc. in the five communities and put those on the calendar.  Identify content that might come out of the group.  Hear about the state of arts education within your communities, and what you hope to see happen within the next few months.