Re: Looking Forward.
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 3:20 pm
Hi Frank; good question. I live near a city of about 75,000 with a total population of about 100,000 in the county. This we see as our "community" and it is served by a number of special interest clubs/organisations; orchestra, theatre, musical theatre, galleries, commercial cinemas etc. The usual mix of arts/entertainment resources plus the productions of the university theatre. arts and film departments. The Space Between was established to produce "fearless theatre" and the film unit is a part of that. We like to think that all the people living here are interested in some branch of the arts/entertainment so we promote our activities very broadly. We use the local press, radio, internet, e-mail lists, Craigs List, Facebook, flyers and word of mouth to broadly keep the community aware of what we are doing. Obviously some of our projects are of limited interest but the problem is knowing who those are in the community who will be interested so we spread a broad net. For example the script-writing contest attracts 10 to 20 entries but in each year we have received scripts from people we do not know. This requires a person who enthusiastically and continuously promotes the organization across a wide base. You cannot have an occasional promotion; you have to work at getting the attention of the community; deliver something they enjoy and then you get their support.
This past month TSB put on a play with 12 performances the usual promotions plus a lengthy write up in the local press and a spot on local radio; the result is a 90% sell out. As you can see all this requires a person dedicated to promoting the enterprise. At TSB we are lucky to have a lady who does this from her wheelchair with skill, good humor and grace.
If any club/organisation wishes to grow/survive it must make itself known to the world at large as well as its special constituency and in my opinion here lies the weakness of the IAC; it serves its constituency but to the wider world (including the modern world of n-c film makers) it is invisible. Film making is NOT about camera/NLE ownership; it is about creating entertainment for a wider public - the community -and inviting them to be a part of the adventure.
ned c
This past month TSB put on a play with 12 performances the usual promotions plus a lengthy write up in the local press and a spot on local radio; the result is a 90% sell out. As you can see all this requires a person dedicated to promoting the enterprise. At TSB we are lucky to have a lady who does this from her wheelchair with skill, good humor and grace.
If any club/organisation wishes to grow/survive it must make itself known to the world at large as well as its special constituency and in my opinion here lies the weakness of the IAC; it serves its constituency but to the wider world (including the modern world of n-c film makers) it is invisible. Film making is NOT about camera/NLE ownership; it is about creating entertainment for a wider public - the community -and inviting them to be a part of the adventure.
ned c