Popejoy’s senior public affairs representative on the latest in arts marketing

By Kelly Koepke

Terry Davis

Terry Davis is the man with the public relations plan at Popejoy Hall. He attended his fourth National Arts Marketing Project conference last fall. A program of Americans for the Arts, the conference brings together performing arts producers and promoters to discuss the present and future state of arts marketing.

As part of Popejoy’s membership in the Albuquerque Theatre Guild , Davis created a presentation to share this year’s experience with other marketing and public relations folks.

Swapping ideas

“Every year I come away boggled by the opportunities and possibilities—there is so much going on in arts marketing,” he says. “It grows exponentially what we could and should do. It raises our sights because we pick up ideas from others working in larger, comparable and smaller-sized cities. I think, ‘I could do that now with my staff.’”

Those who submit proposals for sessions, in effect, create the conference. Most sessions are interactive, combining presentations and question-and-answer. A couple of years ago, Davis says, a participant talked about creating a performing arts fair in his city.

“When I was looking for ways to expose Popejoy more to the community, I thought it would be really great to do a fair, so we organized one. Last year was our second. It’s a start, and we’ll continue. All these ideas come from the conference.”

One particularly surprising and interesting discussion at last fall’s conference centered on the question “What would happen if your local paper went away?”

“The session expanded to—what happens if advertising gets too expensive for our means? Then we added, what access do you have to traditional media, and if you don’t, what else can you do to get the word out? An awful lot of smaller organizations face this on a daily basis here. More than likely they don’t get coverage in the daily paper,” he says.

Social media possibilities

Out of the session came ways for any group to create its own buzz—via sites like Facebook and YouTube, an organization’s own Web site, newsletters, blogs and e-mails. This, Davis says, created a unifying thread for him for the entire conference.

One conference presenter talked about not always asking for money, instead tapping into the idea that people wanted to participate and belong. “That’s a key element for me in using social media—creating content. The stuff people aren’t getting anywhere else—like new photos, new content, and opportunities. That rewards them for being faithful,” says Davis.

Popejoy has taken many of the ideas Davis learned to heart. It now posts on its Web site original videos and interviews of artists coming to Popejoy that no one else in the country has. “We’re creating our own YouTube channel of content,” he says.

Terry’s words of advice for other arts groups, and not only performing ones:

Rely on and use social media for marketing.

Have a constant and interesting presence on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Be vigilant about putting up observations and interesting content.

Don’t always ask for money or advertise tickets.

The message of the Internet is interactivity, so interact with people.

Visit Popejoy here and on Facebook.

Popejoy Hall
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-0000
(505) 277-3824
Monday-Friday 9am-5pm

—Kelly Koepke is a contributing editor to albuquerqueARTS.