The document summarizes an event called "Night at the Carnegie" that was held to attract a new audience to the Carnegie Center for Art and History in New Albany, Indiana. The event featured a pet-themed art exhibit, music, a puppy meet-and-greet, pet portraits, and a film screening. Over 200 people attended, netting a $200 profit. Recommendations included forming a permanent event committee, exploring alternative ticketing platforms, utilizing local sponsors, and holding biannual events coordinated with new exhibits. The organizers learned that successful special events require grassroots effort and time but were pleased with attracting a new audience to the Carnegie Center.

1. Night at The Carnegie
Event Series
A presentation by Lane, Anne Marie, Sarah,
Lauren, Nicky, Megan, and Tyler

2. What is The Carnegie
Center for Art & History?
● Andrew Carnegie Library built in 1904.
● Designed by the Louisville architectural firm of
Clark and Loomis, which would later go on to
design the Speed Art Museum.
● Location for the New Albany-Floyd County
Public Library for 65 years. After a major
renovation in 1998, the museum was renamed
the Carnegie Center for Art and History.
● Today, The Carnegie Center for Art and History
is a department of the New Albany-Floyd
County Public Library and serves as a cultural
resource for the education and enjoyment of
the citizens of Floyd County and the
surrounding metro area.

3. Create and implement an after hours event showcasing
the Carnegie Center to a previously untapped audience
The Objective

4. Goals for Project
● Attract a young and vibrant audience to the
Carnegie that may otherwise have not visited
the Center
● Convert patrons into Carnegie Center
membership holders
● Design a series of events outside the traditional
scope of the Carnegie
● Create a sustainable model that allows
Carnegie Center to continue events following
participation in the NeXt Program
● Execute an event that supports itself financially,
with the possibility of investing any profits into
other Carnegie Center initiatives

6. Implementation
● Marketing materials and promotions (social media
calendar, flyer distribution)
● Event based on the pet-themed exhibit “Biophilia
Life; or, My Best Friend Has Four Legs and a Tail”
● Tickets $15 and included one drink ticket
● Music by Jecorey Arthur “1200” of Athiri
● Puppy pit in partnership the New Albany Floyd
County Animal Shelter
● Screening of the film, “A Cat in Paris” and cat
videos
● Custom pet portraits drawn on site by artists Kelly
Toon and Gemma Correll
● Sponsorships from Wesbanco, Duke Energy,
in-kind donations from several other organizations

7. Local Restaurant Partner
Guests who purchased a ticket to the event were able
to receive 10% off at any of three local restaurants:
Longboards Tiki and Taco, Exchange Pub and
Kitchen, Brooklyn and the Butcher.
● Encouraged guests to explore downtown New
Albany (especially Louisville guests)
● Helped with cross promotion for ticket sales
● Drove business at local restaurants on a cold
night in January
70 guests redeemed their 10% off at one of
the three dining locations.

8. Publicity
● Media sponsorship and promotion
by Extol Magazine
● Insider Louisville feature
● Article in the News and Tribune
● Promotion and giveaway by New Albany Social
● Facebook and Instagram Promoted Posts
● Cross promotion from restaurant partners
● Carnegie Center's member newsletter
● Word of mouth

9. ● 412 people “Interested” in Facebook Event
● 204 tickets pre-sold (54 Carnegie members)
● 41 tickets sold at the door the night of the event
● Actual attendance of 213 guests
● 5 Carnegie Center Memberships added during the event
● Net Profit of $200
● Tremendous interest in pet portraits - lines for both artists throughout the event
● Significant interest in adopting the puppies
Results

10. Financials
Night at the Carnegie P&L
Ticket Revenue $ 2,865
Memberships 230
Sponsorships Income 500
Total Event Revenue $ 3,595
Ticketing Platform Fee $ (375)
Programming (1,350)
Bar (1,246)
Catering/ Food (85)
Marketing (200)
Decor (120)
Total Cost $ (3,376)
Net Profit $ 219
In-kind Sponsorships Donation
Athiri Music and Lighting Equipment
Extol Media Sponsorship
Schmitt Furniture Lounge Furniture
NAFC Animal Shelter Puppy Pit

11. Puppy Pit Participants

12. Puppy Pit

13. Live Musical Performance by Jacqui Blue

14. Pet Portraits by Kelly Toon

15. Pet Portraits by Gemma Correll

16. Pet Portraits Gallery

17. Moving Forward
● Night at the Carnegie events are
anticipated twice per year, based on
staff and volunteer capacity.
● Events should correspond with exhibits
that lend themselves to interesting
programming opportunities.
● Expanding the pool of event sponsors
will be crucial to financial sustainability
of the event series.
● The NeXt group will leave an outline,
recommendations, a list of potential
sponsors, and marketing templates for
future use.

18. Recommendations
● Form a permanent Night at the Carnegie
Committee, which can decide when to
create events and how to compile
relevant programing.
● Consider alternative ticketing platforms
rather than Eventbrite for future
Carnegie Center events. Two promising
options are EventBee and Thundertix.
EventBee charges a flat $1 per ticket,
while Thundertix is subscription based
with the monthly charge based on
number of ticket ranges.

19. ● Utilize the Southern Indiana businesses
for Carnegie series or individual event
sponsorships to increase funding and
local buy-in. There’s also opportunity to
partner with local organizations
depending on the current exhibitions and
programming of the event.
● Recreate future Night at the Carnegie
events based on the successful model of
the January event and using marketing
templates.
● Select event dates that coincide with
exhibitions that lend themselves to late
night events and engaging
programming.

20. Sponsorships
● This role will be the main point of contact
with all sponsors of the Night at the
Carnegie. It would be a goal to have a
title sponsor that covers multiple events
with the possibility of having additional
sponsors related to the topics or themes
covered in the current exhibition. This
role would work closely with the
marketing role to ensure that the
sponsors of the event are properly
displayed on marketing material, as well
as during the actual event.
Recommended
Committee Roles
Programming
● The Programming Coordinator will
oversee reaching out to artists to gauge
interest and assist the artist throughout
the planning process of the event. While
the committee should come up with five
to seven possible options for artist
showcases, the event will more than
likely only have the capacity for two to
three pieces of programming. The night
of the event, this role will ensure that the
artists have everything they need for the
duration of the night.

21. Marketing
● With the base graphics already created
for the event, this role will need to work
with Carnegie’s creative team to update
the designs to showcase the respective
theme of the event as well as any new
sponsors. They will create and monitor
the social media aspects of marketing
for the event and any digital spend. Any
printing needs for the marketing of the
event will be done by this member of the
committee and they will create a plan for
the distribution of the material. The
marketing role will assist operations with
developing copy for the ticketing
platform.
Operations
● This member of the committee will work
with all non-artist vendors needed for the
event. This could include bar services,
food or catering, furniture, and décor
vendors. They will ensure all contracts
and payments are made and work with
the vendors the night of the event to
ensure execution. Additionally, this role
will manage the ticket sales system by
setting up the event from a technical
standpoint, as well as working with
marketing for copy related to the event
description.

22. What did we learn?
What will we
take with us?
● An involved, grassroots effort is required to put
together successful events such as the one in
January. Originally, we anticipated on programming
two to three Nights at the Carnegie, but the process
revealed issues with the feasibility of this plan
under the given time constraints. Event planning is
time- and resource-intensive
● Even with only one event, the goals of attracting a
larger and more diverse audience to the Carnegie,
as well as increasing membership, have a strong
start with the model created in January.
● There’s an audience in Southern Indiana for
creative, accessible arts programming
“It was really nice to see that sense of
joy and wonder for a lot of people who
told me they'd come to our event
and had never been to anything
like that before.”