Reimagining relationships with audiences through engagement with young people

1. RE-IMAGINING RELATIONSHIPS WITH AUDIENCES
THROUGH ENGAGEMENT WITH YOUNG PEOPLE

2. Kate Andrews
Freelance Project Manager
& Arts Marketer
Marcia Springer
Senior Marketing and
Communications Officer
mac birmingham
Lucy Mulgrew
Icing Agency Member
Olivia Brown
Icing Agency Member
Joseph Hale
Icing Agency Member
Kiran Badyal
Icing Agency Member

3. SESSION OVERVIEW
Projects at mac birmingham: Artist Rooms and Creative Agency
Learning outcomes, impact and challenges
How can engagement with young people enhance marketing?
How can young people shift the public perception of an organisation?
Supporting young people to re imagine the conversation about culture
Building a strong relationships between project and marketing team
Group break out for future planning
Q&A, discussion

4. ARTIST ROOMS PROJECT - SUMMER 2014
PROJECT APPROACH
Build skills in curation, interpretation and creative marketing
Gain real world experience on a national project
Work with the individual strengths, allowing them to lead
Enable young people to engage with their own audiences
Encourage new conversation and debate
Explore the question ‘what is the role of young people in
galleries in 2014?’
Kate Andrews

5. ARTIST ROOMS PROJECT - SUMMER 2014
PROJECT OUTCOMES
Creative marketing, signage and audience development
Sound, film and graphic design workshops
Skills building and sharing
Creative interpretation: film, graphics and installations
Creative writing
Social media campaign
Public workshops, events and performances
Kate Andrews

6. CREATIVE INTERPRETATION &
WAYFINDING
Kate Andrews

7. Kate Andrews

8. Kate Andrews

9. Allowed mac to take new risks with
marketing and interpretation
Blurred the lines between departments to
offer the public new experiences
Gave young people real world experience
on national project
Art Fund grant allowed mac to test a new
type of project
Considerations:
How would messaging and platforms work
after the project?
Recruitment needed to be more targeted
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Kate Andrews

11. Mac recognised the need for more hands-on
experience for young people with aspirations
to work professionally in arts marketing.
PR
Arts marketing
Digital
Events
Audience research
Evaluation
New experiences for young people with the
goal to gain future employment within a
communications role.
CREATIVE AGENCY PROJECT - OCTOBER 2014
Kate Andrews

12. 16 - 25yrs with an existing skill or interest in
arts communications
Met every week and supported areas of arts
marketing
Members took on roles dependant on skills or
interests
The group supported the Next Gen project in
marketing planning and delivery
Programme and market events
CREATIVE AGENCY PROJECT - OCTOBER 2014
Kate Andrews

13. CREATIVE AGENCY PROJECT - ACTIVITY
Lucy Mulgrew
Creation of ‘The Icing Agency’ Icingagency.org #wecreateacrowd

14. CREATIVE AGENCY PROJECT - ACTIVITY
Lucy Mulgrew
One Hundred Thousand Welcomes campaign

15. CREATIVE AGENCY PROJECT - ACTIVITY
Lucy Mulgrew
‘Be Mac’ video project - Video trailer for mac

16. CREATIVE AGENCY PROJECT - ACTIVITY
Lucy Mulgrew
The Welcome Party event

17. Specific roles allow YP to thrive
Plan activity ahead - proactive > reactive
Truly youth led to have the creative impact
Deadlines need to be realistic and flexible
Manage expectations with external partners
Good communication between project and
marketing team
LEARNING OUTCOMES - PROJECT LEAD
Kate Andrews

18. Builds on mac’s ethos of offering opportunities
for young people and encouraging real world
experiences
Ensures mac’s programme for young people
continues to grow and develop in real time –
it’s not a one off but an integral part of mac’s
programme
Informs future work with young people –
ensures quality from one project to the next
Ensures mac’s team (specifically marketing)
continues to evolve, with new ideas and new
perspectives – informing our work and how we
communicate with young audiences.
LEARNING OUTCOMES - MAC MARKETING
Marcia Springer

19. CREATIVE AGENCY PROJECT - PHASE 2
Kiran Badyal
FORGE MAGAZINE - PUBLISHING PROJECT Forgemag.co.uk

20. Development of a new magazine brand with a
professional designer
Development of a website and online content for the
magazine
Devise a call out for content for the publication and
develop a network of young writers and artists
Develop our own content
Sell advertising for the magazine
Work with a publisher to bring the magazine together
and get it to production and distribution
Organise an event or a series of events to launch the
magazine
FORGE MAGAZINE PROJECT
Kiran Badyal

21. True engagement which filters out into the
community – off site leading to onsite engagement
An awareness of their capacity and power to actively
market their activity which in turn profiles mac
They speak the language, they’re proud of their
product(s)/project so feel more able to ‘sell’ it to their
peers
A true voice – from young people to other young
people - an authentic voice
Young people appreciate and recognise the limitations
and reality of working within a large organisation with
set guidelines
Using creativity in a professional environment – a life-
long learning skill
BENEFITS - MAC MARKETING
Marcia Springer

22. Initial struggle with organisational limitations – a
learning curve on both sides
Managing expectations – compromise important
in order to ensure trust on both sides
CHALLENGES - MAC MARKETING
Marcia Springer

23. Supporting young people to re imagine the conversation
for the next generation of arts professional
Joseph Hale
From The Welcome Party to Shout About Brum
Took what we learned from Creative Agency Project
Events - Working with Hidden Spaces
Twitter account - facilitating the conversation
What’s next? Building on the project
What can other organisations learn across the UK?

24. Constant communication between project and
marketing team
Ensure project members know the organisation's
overall strategy and audience
Encourage staff to meet the group and help train YP
Project objectives and ethos fully communicated from
learning to marketing team from the start
Agree sign off processes for communications project
will send out, design, PR etc
Come to joint decisions about which platforms will be
created, purpose and how they are managed
BUILDING STRONG RELATIONSHIPS
Kate Andrews

25. ANY QUESTIONS?
Kate Andrews

26. BREAKOUT
In groups discuss ideas based on your organisation’s own future
planning. Creative Agency members will support the discussion.
Kate Andrews

27. MANY THANKS & STAY IN TOUCH
Kate Andrews Kate@kateandrews.me /
kateandrews.me
mac birmingham macbirmingham.co.uk
Icing Agency icingagency.org
Forge Magazine forgemag.co.uk
Kate Andrews