:31
Hello and welcome to another mini podcast. Thanks to everyone who listened to my last one, do the arts, culture and music have a framing problem, and particularly those who encouraged me to do more opinion pieces like that in between my usual conversations with guests in this second mini podcast, I want to quickly touch on framing again, but this time thinking about long term, systemic solutions, but perhaps not in the way you might imagine
1:02
Because at a time when support for the arts from politicians and the funding that follows in the UK doesn’t seem to be improving, I think we have a massive opportunity. It’s an opportunity to make a systemic shift to our arts CPD and support system, a shift in focus that will enable us to change perceptions about the work we do and why it matters, and to make sure the arts, music and culture are properly valued and embedded in public policy as a means to improve our society and our lives.
1:37
So I thought it might be helpful to illustrate what I’m getting at if I talked about how I ended up doing what I do today. So today, I’m a Communications practitioner or consultant specialising in working with music and arts organisations who are making change through education well being or social justice, basically using the arts as a tool for change. I help them to communicate the value and impact, and in a sense, grow their reach and their relationships to change hearts and minds for music and the arts. And I do that in all sorts of ways, but much of it is around writing, messaging and strategy.
2:14
There was no career progression route for this, and there still isn’t no training programs, mentoring, or even people who I felt were doing similar things focused on communications for social, educational and well being outcomes.
2:28
I started my career in the arts through a very traditional arts marketing route. I learned how to sell, how to put bums on seats, and when the term audience development emerged, how to do this strategically. Around this time, the profession of arts marketer emerged, according to Anne Torregiani, in Arts Professional this week, audience development as a profession in the arts became a thing 25 years ago.
2:54
So at that time, I could finally call myself something an arts marketer, and people understood what I did just as importantly, perhaps more importantly, at the time, my Mum and Dad had a name for what I did, and there were plenty of jobs, plenty of training and really clear progression routes, but I often found myself a
3:14
little bit differently than my colleagues, drawn to the educational fundraising department, where at St David’s Hall, where I initially worked, which is a local authority music venue and concert hall.
3:26
I was really curious about what these colleagues were doing, and so I found myself moving into communications for sound sense, the UK Association for Community Music. And that was a real turning point for me, quite early on in my career, because I realised that it might be possible for me to use my skills and experience to communicate the wider purpose, outcomes and benefits of the arts and to work for social change. And
3:52
I’ve been trying to do that ever since, but the only way I could really was to go freelance these departments and organisations that are working for social change through the arts rarely had roles for comms people, and they still don’t. There was no profession of arts communicator, let alone arts impact communicator, and there still isn’t. And often people don’t really understand exactly what I do and why.
4:18
So since then, I’ve created my own training and progression route, just for me, I’m a member, and I’ve trained and networked with organisations like the Arts Marketing Association, What Next? Artworks Alliance, the National Arts Fundraising School, Sound Sense, Cultural Learning Alliance, Centre for Cultural Value, Music Mark and many more,
4:39
I take up their training. I consume and read all that they put out. I train, often, train alongside the colleagues that I advise, going outside my usual comms areas of interest, to really understand where they’re coming from, how they work and what they need.
4:58
And I’ve also trained, networked and worked with organisations outside the arts, in charities, in international development and in fundraising. I’ve consumed books and webinars about strategic comms, storytelling, persuasive writing, branding, political speech, writing, messaging, framing, you name it. I’ve absorbed myself in it, and all with the purpose of becoming a better practitioner and advisor to help these colleagues and work for social change through the arts.
5:24
So enough about me that that little kind of story was just really to illustrate that there isn’t a pathway for people wanting to do this type of work, but if there was, it could really make a significant impact on the sector. Because through the work I do, I’ve realised that there are two gaps in our arts marketing training system and the language around it.
5:49
So firstly, training for arts marketers, or perhaps specialists in the wider communication skills aligned to outcomes, impact and influence. So these are all these sort of skills allied to decision, science and framing, influencing at a deeper behavioral policy and funding level. We do some of this training for arts fundraisers. So it seems strange not to extend it to arts marketers.
6:17
I think this is becoming more important as we’re all recognising that we need the arts to be seen as a public good, essential to achieving a healthy, happy, productive and equal society, and for it to become embedded in public policy.
6:32
So secondly, the other gap is training and support for people departments and those, mainly small organisations working in arts and music, in the areas of community, education, participation, socially engaged arts, as it’s often called, now, they’re often naturally brilliant at this type of storytelling and influencing because they’re good at listening and responding to need. That’s what they’re all about. But they really struggle because of lack of comms support, lack of comms training and lack of comms budgets that the bigger organisations have, or perhaps even just being valued within their organisation,
7:13
This second group of arts professionals have become my colleagues and friends over the years, whether they’re music and arts educators, community musicians and artists, socially engaged theater practitioners or many others. And I’ve seen that they aren’t getting the comms help they need in terms of training, mentoring and resources. And to a certain extent, I fill that gap.
7:34
So rather than increasing numbers through the door, driving sales and selling tickets, they need help with a different type of comms,
7:41
with communicating their value and outcomes to grow their reach and impact,
7:46
with aligning their comms, with their evaluation and fundraising.
7:50
with finding, researching and forming strategic partnerships with organizations outside the arts, perhaps in health, in social care, in all sorts of areas of social impact,
8:00
and they need help understanding how to create a compelling narrative for potential advocates and influencers.
8:06
Now, you’ll realise by now that I am very geeky about this stuff, but I think that more people in the arts are realising how important it is. So I hope that there are people listening to this podcast who might be interested in this too, in changing this small part of the art system for a long term and significant impact. For a start, perhaps there are a few organisations who might be open to a discussion about this. I’m thinking Arts Marketing Association, Audience Agency, the comms teams in the Arts Councils of England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Ireland and Creative Scotland, perhaps.
8:43
And I’d love to hear your views. If you’re an arts professional who’s experienced these sort of problems, these gaps in your knowledge, or in people who can support you or your organisation’s communications in these important ways, do comment on LinkedIn and blue sky or pop me an email. I’d love to hear from you.
9:01
I’d also really love to hear your voices on this subject. So if you prefer to send a voice note, just pop me a message, and I’ll give you my telephone number, and you can WhatsApp a message to me, and with your permission, if I get enough, I’ll share those in another podcast. So that’s your comments, either on this little mini podcast or on the previous one. Really love to hear from you. So thanks for listening. I hope it’s of interest, and I’ll look forward to hearing from you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai