Call for participants: TAKE A PARTNER
By Una Carmody, May 31, 2010
In brief
Ever wondered if arts organisations should recommend the work of other arts organisations to their own audiences, and what the best ways might be to do this? Arts Audiences wishes to run a pilot project from June – September 2010 to devise and monitor a small number of ways of doing this, to see what lessons we can learn, with a view to publishing the results.

It is a tried and tested approach in other sectors, where for years linkages between businesses and organisations have been used highly effectively, particularly in entertainment. Informal partnerships have taken place in many areas of the arts; this is an opportunity for specific methods to be tested and monitored such that we can all learn what may have the best chance of working.

The scheme
Even the most creative and productive of organisations can struggle  to build audiences with limited resources, and many people have wondered over the years whether better co-operation in the form of recommendation of each others’ work would have an impact on audience.

This scheme will select three projects from those submitted to receive structured support and monitoring in recommending the work of partner organisations.

The pilot scheme will assist with:

•Identification of audiences and their characteristics;
•Devising of straightforward and low-cost methods;
•Implementation and monitoring of results;
•Publish the results such that others can learn from the experience
The three projects selected will be provided free of charge with appropriate support resources, in planning and monitoring,  including possible external support where appropriate.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
1.Partner up with an organisation whom you know, or believe, to have audience who may be interested in your work, and vice versa.
2.Submit your organisational details, and those of the partner, along with a two-paragraph outline of your reasons for having chosen each other as partners.
3.Submit an outline of your artistic plans in the period July – September 2010-04-29
4.Submit a brief outline of your regular marketing activity, to include details of the scope of any mailing lists, including email , social media groups, direct mail groups and lists etc.
An assessment panel will select three sets of partners to work with in devising project specific activity, and monitoring the results. It is anticipated that in the main, these activities will form part of the normal marketing activity of each organisation – e.g email mailings, website links etc. Organisations participating in a structured way will be obliged to report the results of their activity to Arts Audiences.

NB If you do not have a partner organisation, you may submit details of your own organisation as above and if appropriate the selection committee will attempt, with your consent, to match you with another single organisation.

HOW DO I PICK A PARTNER?
You should consider a number of elements in asking another organisation to participate in the project with you:

1.Consider that you may choose an organisation in a totally different artform, with a similar sensibility to yours. An art gallery might choose to recommend the work of an independent cinema, for example.
2.It will be appropriate in many cases that your partner organisation may be geographically located close to you. However, if the key to your project is a specific initiative, or is primarily aimed at achieving a specific aim, such as driving traffic to a website, then this may not be key.
3.Bear in mind that partnerships may be most effective if they are of equal benefit to both partners; i.e that during the period in question you both have something to promote. An organisation which is in a quiet period (such as a festival which takes place outside the period) may however choose to use the scheme to maintain a presence with their audience.
APPLICATION
If you are interested, you should submit your organisations’  details no later than Friday 18th June at at 5pm, by email to [email protected].
Submissions should be of approximately one-page length and contain:

•your organisational details, and those of the partner, along with a two-paragraph outline of your reasons for having chosen each other as partners.
•an outline of your artistic plans in the period July – September 2010
•a brief outline of your regular marketing activity, to include details of the scope of any mailing lists, including email , social media groups, direct mail groups and lists etc.
In order to be considered, you must;

•be in receipt of Arts Council funding in the year 2010,of any type including project funding;
•be prepared to work with us to document the outcomes of the project and we anticipate that this will mean a minimum of 10 hours work
The panel will seek to achieve a regional and artform spread in the projects selected.