Iowa, North Carolina and New Jersey: Arts Venue Reopening Campaigns

State arts agencies (SAAs) are continuing to respond to the changing dynamics of the pandemic, which severely disrupted audience attendance patterns for live and in-person arts events. To address this issue, some SAAs are undertaking promotional campaigns to encourage the public to visit cultural venues and participate in the arts. Iowa, North Carolina and New Jersey recently announced campaigns that offer helpful tools to arts organizations, artists and arts lovers to support the resurgence of in-person arts activities in their respective states.

Iowa: Re-imagine, Re-engage and Reconnect Campaign

The Iowa Arts Council launched a new marketing effort to help Iowa’s arts and culture sector to reconnect audiences to local arts and cultural experiences as the state continues to safely recover from the pandemic. The marketing effort includes a new grant opportunity and a statewide promotional campaign toolkit that coincided with National Arts and Humanities Month. Based on input and ideas from more than 100 local arts and cultural leaders, the “Re-imagine, Re-engage and Reconnect” campaign sought to re-engage Iowans and highlight how the arts can benefit personal well-being and strengthen Iowa communities. The toolkit contains various promotional resources such as images for websites, digital newsletters, social media and email signatures; sample posts and tweets for social media; cobranded advertising templates; an e-mail template; a press release template; and key messages. The Arts Council encouraged arts and cultural organizations across the state to participate in the campaign by integrating the digital tools and key messages into their upcoming event announcements. For more information, contact Iowa Arts Council Program and Operations Coordinator Sarah Florian.

North Carolina: Spark the Arts Campaign

Spark the Arts is an awareness campaign created by the North Carolina Arts Council to inspire public engagement in the arts across the state by connecting local audiences and visitors to arts experiences. The goal of the campaign is to help spread the word about upcoming cultural events, newly opened spaces and other benchmarks on the arts sector’s road to recovery from the pandemic.

As part of the initiative, the Arts Council designed a toolkit with campaign logos, graphics, social media hashtags, and a video that arts organizations, destination marketing organizations and artists may use to promote arts events taking place in their own community. The campaign will undertake seasonal promotions showcasing North Carolina arts news and events in accordance with the latest public health guidelines. Its current promotions are Sparktober, Fall Back in Love with the Arts, and S.P.A.R.K. The first, Sparktober, was a month-long promotion during October that highlighted arts events across North Carolina in recognition of National Arts and Humanities Month. The Fall Back in Love with the Arts promotion, taking place October 25 – November 19, connects North Carolinians to fall arts events. S.P.A.R.K., which runs from the middle of November through the end of the year, will show North Carolinians all the ways to spark the arts in their communities. In addition, the Arts Council is developing, producing and promoting content that celebrates the way the arts spark fellowship, healing and vitality across North Carolina. For more information, contact North Carolina Arts Council Marketing and Communications Director Sandra Davidson.

New Jersey: Discover Jersey Arts

To support the arts organizations that are gradually reopening their doors, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, in partnership with ArtPride New Jersey and an advisory group comprised of arts marketers from across the state, launched an arts reopening campaign to raise awareness about reopening and safety precautions that local arts organizations are adopting. The initiative was launched as part of Discover Jersey Arts, which was cofounded by and is supported through funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. The reopening campaign was launched in October, which was officially designated as Discover Jersey Arts Month by a gubernatorial proclamation. Concurrent with National Arts and Humanities Month, Discover Jersey Arts Month celebrated the joy, entertainment and enrichment the arts offer to communities throughout the state. Thanks to a historic fiscal year 2022 state appropriation, ArtPride received additional grant funding to help it robustly execute the reopening campaign.

The campaign includes a Fall 2021 Reopening Toolkit to assist arts organizations with their reopening efforts. The toolkit contains talking points and vaccination card/record examples to guide front of house staff in implementing new COVID-19 protocols. The documents can be edited and downloaded for customization purposes. It also includes commercials, posters and free-to-use COVID-19 safety messaging symbols meant to help the field communicate the measures adopted by the arts community to welcome audiences back safely. As part of the campaign, two commercials were released. To learn more about this initiative, contact ArtPride New Jersey Marketing & Communications Manager Koren Rife.