Member Services, Cultural Rack Card, State Arts Survey

As a regional arts organization, we strive to provide a variety of services for our members, and are always interested in hearing what is most useful to you as a current member -- or a potential member. Read on to learn about a couple of marketing tools that we think you'll  find helpful in spreading the word about who you are and what you do.

New Member Benefit:  A  service the Arts Alliance is in the process of implementing this summer is a connection to our members via our new Arts & Culture Google Maps. These maps will show both guests and residents the locations of all member businesses and organizations, increasing their web exposure and reinforcing that arts and culture are alive and well in northern New Hampshire. The Google Maps link button will be located prominently on our home page.

The maps are just one of the services we offer members. If you're a member, take a moment to check your member listing to be sure it's current and let us know if any changes need to be made. (Be sure to give us your physical address if it differs from your mailing address.) If you aren't already a member or your membership has lapsed, we invite you to join (or re-join). You can learn about member benefits and download a membership form here.

On Stage in the White Mountains: We've also been working on our annual publication - this year a full-color rack card -- that will be available at state rest areas and the Granite State Ambassadors' desk at the Manchester airport, and distributed throughout the North Country at member sites and at hotels, motels, B&Bs, and other places that tourists and locals visit. We expect to have it printed in time for the 4th of July weekend, the official kick-off to the summer season.

Frumie and I have already spoken with many of you to invite participation, but I'm taking this opportunity to send out a broader call for listings, as we don't want to overlook any performing arts organizations or venues that would like to be included.
While many visitors to the area rely on the web, we know that there are still many people who like to get information in print. The rack card will include several inviting photos and a list of member organizations involved in the performing arts - theatre, music, dance, and other performances - that will help people understand the richness of the region and the variety of cultural activities available (both summer and year-round), and send them to your website for more information.

Your listing in the card will include your organization's name, address, phone number and website, plus a short tagline that highlights your uniqueness.
We hope you will take advantage of our collaborative marketing efforts by purchasing a listing; when you do, be sure to send high-resolution photos that you'd like us to consider for the rack card. Please call or email me at 837-2275 or eileen@aannh.org by the end of the day on Friday, June 18 (we like to live on the edge here!), so we can arrange to include you, and so that I can provide any additional information you need and answer any questions you may have.

Arts Planning Survey: The staff at the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts needs your help in developing their Strategic Plan for 2010-2013. They want to have as much information as possible from both artists and the nonprofit organizations that present arts and cultural programming as they decide where to put their resources to provide the most benefit to the citizens of New Hampshire.

The Arts Planning Survey takes just a couple of minutes to complete. Click here to go directly to the survey.

Of Interest: Why do you support the arts? Is it because you're an artist yourself, have a family member or friend who is, or is it because you recognize the connection between the arts and healthy and prospering communities?

The arts contribute to our lives socially and economically, as numerous studies have shown. Arts Alive in the Monadnock region in southwestern NH recently published the results of an almost year-long study - Arts & Economic Prosperity - that concluded that the arts and culture are a $16.1 million industry that support 477 full-time equivalent jobs in that region and - not surprisingly - greatly increase the quality of life of residents and visitors. We know that there are comparable benefits here in the North Country.

Everyone benefits when the arts flourish. Artists, certainly, but also creative enterprises and entrepreneurs like architects, graphic designers, furniture builders, and floral designers, as well as all the other businesses and industries in a region: banks, hardware stores, supermarkets, insurance agencies, pizza shops, clothing stores, hairdressers, consignment shops, antique dealers, motels, landscapers, cobblers, etc. Artists and creative enterprises circulate dollars through the local economy both through the products and services they create and sell and by providing cultural opportunities for engagement and enrichment. 

Only a few days to go until it's officially summer!