| Want to link or embed this PSA on your web site? Use the ”production version” now available here. |
Before I go on my July hiatus, I wanted to lob one more idea into the ether, and offer an incentive to anyone who catches it. I’ve generally been frustrated with public campaigns to promote and support the arts. They either err on the side of utility (the arts improve test scores) or the side of entitlement (support the arts because you should). I’ve had a campaign bubbling in my head for several months now, and thought it was time to set it free.
I’ve produced an on-line video storyboard of the idea, with static images as placeholders for what would ultimately be video testimonials. Since I don’t have a production capacity beyond this, I figured I would set the idea free to see if anyone’s interested. The video is published under a Creative Commons license (an Attribution-Noncommercial License, to be specific). So, anyone can feel free to rethink, rewrite, reframe, or even professionally produce a video based on this idea. I give you permission in advance (although restrict that permission to noncommercial use).
I’ll be thrilled to post any produced videos on my weblog (they’ll need to be in an on-line video format like YouTube or Blip.TV or the like). Also, ArtsJournal editor Doug McLennan has agreed to post the ”winner” as a featured video on the ArtsJournal home page (Doug and I will judge). So, give it a go!
Art. It’s what’s inside.
a proposed PSA, in storyboard format
The idea is this: art in communities does, indeed, have functional value — it refocuses economic activity, engages students more deeply in school, builds and sustains social groups. But this functional value is the byproduct not the driver of cultural activity. This PSA seeks to balance those two messages.
Watch it. Share it. Copy it. Produce it. Perhaps win a spot on the ArtsJournal home page for tens of thousands of people to see. Just keep me posted on what happens next.
Oh, please someone, produce this ad!
You describe exactly what drives me crazy about many arts advocacy campaigns and advertising. The assumption is that Americans will never accept the arts as valuable in and of themselves, so we never address that part of the equation — the most important part. Case in point: the new Americans for the Arts PSAs.
My question for any of these campaigns is, though, how will we measure effectiveness?
Andrew: I agree most completely with you as regards other arts marketing/media campaigns and I echo Maryann’s question in a slightly different way. What do we want people to do when they see this? What is the proverbial “call to action?” Is there a call to action? And if not, what do we want to have happen? Your interview examples get at the utilitarian/intrinsic benefits in a simple and compelling way. But where will this lead? Many thanks for putting this out there!!
This is a great ad idea. And well done, considering tech limitations.
Perhaps the call to action could be implied by the voices. We could include a volunteer, a donor, a board member, audience members, and staff/teachers.
With these sample arts participants, we would be communicating how to get involved.
Evaluative measurements for ads such as this include donated media time, hits to a specific website, and any awards or recognition the ads receive.
Great message, if/when it’s produced please contact us and we’ll post it on our website http://www.broward.org/arts
-Broward County Cultural Division
vpaylo@broward.org
Wow! What a great idea. I wonder if there’s a way we can get statewide arts advocacy groups on board to showcase this contest and take a page out of the MoveOn play book. I’m going to share this with our staff at the Illinois Arts Alliance.
I do think there needs to be a call to action in the final PSA, and there should be some discussion about what that is.
Andrew’s PSA is fabulous, and mirrors ARTS North Carolina’s objective with our Plant The Arts, Grown North Carolina campaign begun in 2004. A powerful documentary about the value of the arts was produced by Georgann Eubanks and Donna Campbell of Minnow Media and was shown extensively throughout the state. The work hooks with the functional value but oh so smoothly moves the viewer into the heart value. It’s about telling the WHOLE story. We credit the power of the testimonies and stories with an 82% increase in state public funding in the past five years.
PSA’s are on
http://www.artsnc.org/plant/psa
Karen Wells
ARTS North Carolina
http://www.artsnc.org
Andrew – thanks so much for this production! Love the message, love the air of it.
I got your call to action in my personal way: If we all get involved in MAKING the arts, at our own personal level, then the arts will sure find support in every community. Because once you sing with a community choir, take a pottery class with your kid, or produce a photo album for your parents – it’s all inside of you. And once it’s inside – it will have to come out to be shared with others.
I would like to include a link to your PSA in one of my next newsletters to our online subscribers, since you gave a general permission.
And I hope this message finds a producer, but even if not, it seems that it already found great audience!
I love it! and only wish I had the resources and education to get it made. There needs to be a stronger voice for the arts! Well done.
I just read the following this morning; it fits!
Through Fluxus, Beuys and other performance artists promulgated the idea that art permeated all areas of life. Beuys’s often misunderstood statement that “Everyone is an artist,” reflects his idea that every person can be creatively active. “To make people free is the aim of art therefore art for me is the science of freedom,” he said. Beuys believed that all human intelligence, especially scientific and political knowledge, is derived from artistic creativity.
It seems to me there are three main reasons that arts supporters offer for government contributions to arts activities.
Math test scores are mentioned, but that argument is usually made directly to parents who are considering whether or not to sign up their children for private music lessons. A more customary rationale is economic stimulus — for every dollar invested in the arts, there is a return of eight dollars in tax revenues. The whole creative economy argument, and the willingness of cities to create arts districts or other arts-friendly amenities, hinges on the belief that the arts draw tourists who spend money. I’m not fond of that argument, in part because it is difficult to separate the reasons that tourists visit a given place: People don’t simply visit New York City, for instance, to see a museum exhibition and then immediately leave; they come to New York for the New York experience, which includes the art, as well as a Broadway show and the book stores and clothes shopping and eating in a fancy restaurant — a bunch of things that are not nonprofit and are not aided by government. They might have done all those same things and not visited the museum because they didn’t have time.
The second customary reason arts advocates offer is how much more generous other industrialized nations are towards their arts institutions, and it is certainly true that museums and performing arts organizations in Europe are more likely to have half or more of their budgets paid by the government, as opposed to the 10-15 percent that is more typical in the United States. The problem with this argument is how different Europe is from the U.S.: We are personally far more generous than they, partly because our taxes aren’t as high; our museums also are more visitor-friendly (on the whole), partly because they rely on visitorship for the bulk of their support.
What you call the entitlement reason — I would rephrase it as “the arts are good for you” — ends up as the last argument standing. It is not an easy thing to support such a stance, and it does sound elitist, but it is still true. Improving the quality of life is part of the job of government, and a vibrant arts scene is a strong element of what adds to that quality.
Let me know what you think.
Daniel Grant
Andrew,
This is a great idea! I blogged about it and hope you don’t mind.
I am involved in a few new ways myself of actively promoting the work of the arts as you described:
One is to engage in the work of Linda Naiman who is known internationally for her work to corporations using arts based learning, Creativity at Work. She is giving a 3-day workshop in Vancouver in Sept. — here is the link:
http://entrepreneurthearts.wordpress.com/2008/07/14/transformational-leadership-for-the-age-of-innovation/
And my newest way to do more of the same, is by creating a performance-based arts entrepreneurial incubator vehicle to offer the community, through all different kinds of disciplines, creativity training through arts training for their business development, personal growth or leadership development. My new ensemble is called The Bite-Size Arts Ensemble. You can check it our here:
http://www.Bite_SizeArtsEnsemble.org
Love your site,
Lisa Canning
It’s fabulous! I’d also love a way to help everyone connect to this message, not just people who can pretty easily access their heart connection to what we typically think of as the arts. For those who have that connection accessible, this type of video is a great way to activate it, but how about those who don’t understand that they have that heart connection. I’ve been playing in my head with the idea of the national anthem and flag as art and how they move people. Fight songs for sports, etc. People are moved by art every day (and deeply and profoundly) but don’t recognize it as such. Then there’s connecting people to the making aspect–how can you connect someone with a passion for creating something they’ve never considered to be art (knitting, or whatever) to that woman with a song in her heart….
Amy Bethel
You almost made me cry! I am trying SO DAMN HARD on all this stuff here in the UK. It’s great to meet others in the world who ‘get it’ too.
Thanks – and we’ll try and help if we can. A film featuring all the international versions of the ad would be very moving.
Great job! Great job! Great job! You have done a great job!
One comment said: “Perhaps the call to action could be implied by the voices.”
That’s the problem with NGOs and non-profits — you are all so timid. Or is it, you are all so “special” that you must “infer” what you want from an PSA. And you would do that over Pachelbel’s Kanon in D, of course, since we must play classical music in the background since we are so SPECIAL.
A call to action is just that. TELL your market the next step. Tell them what you want them to do. No infomercial relies on inference or implication. You have a product to sell. You have revenue you need to make or your doors close. And you want to “imply” what you are looking for? You want them to guess what you want from them?
And following that line of thought how many organizations have done late-night infomercials? There is a reason they exist: THEY WORK! It’s a tough, hard, cold marketplace. Innovate! You are all vying for tight dollars and, hence, existence.
Now, for the responders to my post, _WRITE ME_ in the NEXT 30 minutes and you get a yearly membership for, NO, not THREE payments of 19.95, NO, not three EASY, EASY monthly payments of 14.95, but _WRITE ME_ and you pay only $9.95, that’s JUST three payments of ONLY $9.95… THAT’S LESS than a stick of conte crayon a day! But there’s more, _WRITE ME_ and YOU get a free “dancing bobblehead” and for the NEXT 3 RESPONDERS, _WRITE ME_ and your partner gets a free membership as well. But, WAIT, there’s MORE… (Tehee.)
Harsh and crude yes, but you get the point.
Jake