Press Release 5.6.03

Small Arts Groups Help Themselves – CAMP Arts Marketing Intensive a Success

San Jose, CA, May 6, 2003 – More than 50 attendees representing 32 arts and cultural organizations honed their marketing skills Saturday at a marketing workshop hosted by CAMP (Collaborative Arts Marketing Partnership), a program of Arts Council Silicon Valley.

The all-day seminar at West Valley College brought diverse groups together from dance, theatre, music, the visual arts and cultural organizations to learn basic marketing strategies for tight budgets. Amy Kweskin, director of Arts & Business Partnerships for the Business Arts Council, a non-profit affiliate of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, facilitated the day. Eager participants gained an overview of marketing tools, audience development techniques, market research and budget and evaluation efforts. The agenda was geared to small to mid-size arts organizations with annual budgets ranging from $25,000 to $250,000.

Russell Cramer, a non-profit media specialist, offered common sense advice when pitching the press and an integrated approach to media. Cramer talked about the need to include advertising, promotion and PR in a marketing plan. Participants also heard from Lee Foster, executive director of Hillbarn Theatre Company in Foster City. Foster shared her success story on how Hillbarn Theatre became a financially stable community treasure after a near brush with closure in the late 90s.

The day also provided individuals an opportunity to network and collaborate on successes, failures and the current challenges facing all arts organizations. The attendees were mixed in their experience, including full and part-time staff, and dedicated volunteers who have taken on marketing and fundraising roles. Now more than ever, groups feel a need to beef up their marketing skills and implement affordable strategies. Participants who might not have collaborated in the past were seeking creative options, including partnerships with one another. CAMP will create a list serve to provide a chat room for attendees and other arts marketers – so the learning and collaborating can continue.

“Focused marketing isn’t always the highest priority for smaller-budget arts organizations,” said CAMP Director Ed Sengstack. “But with increasing financial pressure due to the economy and cuts in arts funding, Arts organizations are realizing they have to step up their marketing efforts – a particularly daunting task with less dollars and mostly volunteer staffs. CAMP’s mission is to lead this process.”

With funding from John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the City of San Jose, CAMP is focused on helping nonprofit arts and cultural organizations improve their marketing efforts and increase their audiences.  The marketing workshop is the first of many services designed to assist groups in these endeavors. CAMP’s charter is an extension of Arts Council Silicon Valley’s mission of fostering and creating a dynamic arts community through funding, advocacy, and support services to the region’s arts organizations and artists.

For more information about CAMP, click here: http://www.artscouncil.org/camp/index.ht