Slow Art Day – host training call
Tonight we had our first host training call for Slow Art Day 2011.
Listen or download here
We heard from the hosts on the call about how they are promoting their event, how they are choosing their art and how they are communicating to their attendees.
After the page break below, you can read the notes from the call.
Notes from Slow Art Day host training call
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Slow Art Day Central team
This is your event – you get to decide the location, the art and everything about it. The central volunteer team is here to help you in any way.
If you need help on anything, do not hesitate to ask:
– Caroline Wingate – ask Caroline about Eventbrite login, editing, emailing, etc.
– Shannon Hone – ask Shannon for any advice on press releases or press outreach
– Arielle Amir – ask Arielle about the Facebook Slow Art page
– Phil Terry – ask me about any of the above or anything else
We started Slow Art Day to inspire a movement around the world that helps mainstream museumgoers learn how to look at art.
Get inspired not tired is our slogan!
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Slow Art host list
Use this list. Ask questions of your fellow hosts.
And get ready – in the next week or so we’ll begin the very fun process of having hosts introduce themselves to the whole community by sending a note to the list.
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Size of event
It’s up to you. Some people have small events – 5 or 10 people. Others have larger events – 25, 50 or more. Slow Art Day works well in all sizes. If you are doing a larger event, you may want to get a cohost or you may ask the museum to help.
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Promotion ideas
…for hosts not affiliated with their museum
– Send out short e-mails to people you know – that’s the most important step
– Get event listings or mentions in your local newspaper – or alternative newspaper
– Contact local arts organization – and ask them to include Slow Art Day in their newsletter
– Ask your museum to plug it on their Facebook page
– Send Slow Art invites to friends in other cities (check Slow Art homepage)
…for hosts who work inside their museum
– List on the events postcard, newsletter, website
– News release – to be sent in about a week
– Using enews and Facebook
– Quarterly newsletter will have an article on it – generally mailed before April 1
– Museum PR firm
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Art selection
It’s totally up to you. We don’t dictate the selection. We only ask that you pick about 5 pieces of art for people to view for 5-10 minutes each (you can do a few more if you like).
…for hosts not affiliated with their museum
– variety of pieces is one way to do it
– or create a theme and pick pieces on that theme
– or pick a gallery and focus only on pieces in that one gallery
– or look for art that has a bench in front of it
– the only rule: pick pieces that you like and can hold *your* interest for an extended period.
– and for first-time hosts variety can be a good choice
…for hosts who work inside their museum
– you may want to select based on both permanent and temporary exhibits
– you may have educational goals that you want to focus on
– if you have curators involved, then they obviously may select
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Communication to participants
You can communicate in whatever way you like – but the Eventbrite system does make it easy for you (as long as you know how to navigate their sometimes-confusing screens).
To use Eventbrite to e-mail your art list and send other communications, please do the following:
– Login to Eventbrite.com (with your username and password)
– Click on “My Events”
– Click on the name of your event in the event list – i.e. “Brooklyn Slow Art Day…”
– Click on “Email Attendees”
– Then fill out the e-mail form – your name, subject and the text of the e-mail
– Then click on “send to test recipient” and send to yourself to check it’s working
– Then once you like the e-mail go ahead and click on “Send Now”
– Send the e-mail with your list of art about 1 week before Slow Art Day 2011
– Then send 1 or 2 reminders – i.e. 3 days before and the day before
Note:
– your list of art should contain the name of the art, the location in the museum and whether there’s a bench to sit while looking
– your list of art should also contain the address of the museum, the start time and the location and time for lunch
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Other ideas
– The volunteer host in Washington, DC, Kira, is e-mailing her friends in other Slow Art cities and suggesting they sign-up for those events (hooray! to Kira for helping the other hosts) – if you have the time, then do the same thing. Help everyone build a great event. You can see all the cities participating on the SlowArtDay.com website
– Magnets – the museum in Roswell, New Mexico is making magnets for Slow Art Day (I don’t expect many of you to do that – especially those who do not work for the museum)