events
Local Host Tool Kit will help you organize a successful Creative Conversation in your community. It contains Seven Steps to help you think through and plan your event.
If you need a little help getting started, try these steps:
- Step 1: Think of a good topic and engaging format for a Creative Conversation
- Step 2: Think of a good partner to co-host your Creative Conversation (optional)
- Step 3: Arrange and confirm all logistics
- Step 4: Send in your Creative Conversations Local Host Agreement
- Step 5: Promote. Market. Get the Word Out
- Step 6: Host your Creative Conversation
- Step 7: Find ways to sustain the momentum
Want to streamline your planning?
Download all the tool kit resources linked below all at once through this .zip file (434KB). Or select the printer-friendly version at the bottom this page and print hard copies for your files.
Step 1: Think of a good topic and engaging format for a Creative Conversation.
Creative Conversations come in all shapes and sizes. There is no set format or mandatory content. During the past few years, Creative Conversations have taken many forms, including:
- Brown-bag lunches with peers and colleagues to discuss local arts issues and building a career in arts administration.
- Professional development workshops on work-life balance, advocacy, audience development, fundraising, etc.
- Panel sessions and moderated interviews with politicians, funders, and local arts leaders.
- Full-day symposia with keynote speakers, professional development workshops, networking sessions, and more.
Begin by planning backwards. What do you want to get out of this Creative Conversation and why? What would a successful Creative Conversation look like?
Additional Resources:
- Read the Local Host Welcome Letter (pdf, 36KB)
- See the topics and formats from past Creative Conversations
- Review hot tips in How to Spice It Up (pdf, 26KB)
- Review archived featured articles for content and ideas
- See Sample Agendas (pdf, 98KB) to see what a Creative Conversation can look like
- Review the Advocacy Overview (pdf, 41KB) and learn How to Talk to Elected Officials (pdf, 42KB)
Step 2: Think of a good partner to co-host your Creative Conversation (optional)
Think strategically about how to use partner(s) to help you plan and promote a Creative Conversation. Can you use this opportunity to either establish or solidify a professional collaboration? What ways can you design your Creative Conversation so it is a mutually beneficial event? Successful partnerships leverage existing resources well (meeting space, in-kind contributions, promotional materials, institutional reputation, etc). You don’t need to go it alone.
Step 3: Arrange and confirm all logistics
Good planning and preparation produce the most successful Creative Conversations. Whether hosting the event as a brown-bag lunch or as a seminar, each event requires coordination and oversight. We have found that the minimum amount of time it takes to plan and host a creative conversation is about two weeks. Friday, October 23 is the deadline for signing up to host a Creative Conversation.
Want additional support? Talk through your ideas with our staff or any veterans at hosting Creative Conversations.
Creative Conversation Event Pre-Conference Call
- September 15, 2009: 3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. EDT
- Dial 269.320.8300; Access Code: 539241#
Creative Conversation Veterans
- Ben Fyffe—City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department (MCAD), El Paso, TX
- Ben has expertise in working with a limited/zeroed budget for Creative Conversations and developing strategies to identify the needs/interests of your community. (Mountain Time Zone)
- Katie Guernsey—PICnet, Inc., San Francisco, CA
- Katie is specialized in working with small, start-up networks who are attempting Creative Conversations for the first time with a $0 budget. (Pacific Coast Time Zone)
- David Seals—Pittsburgh Arts Council, Pittsburgh, PA
- David has experience in building community collaborations, brainstorming Creative Conversation content and a target audience, and obtaining in-kind donations. He can also guide those interested in using their Creative Conversation as a springboard to starting a local Emerging Leader Network. (East Coast Time Zone)
- Jennifer Wijangco—Texas Cultural Trust, Austin, TX
- Jennifer can help walk you through developing content for your Creative Conversation and engaging your audience. (Central Time Zone)
Step 4: Register your Creative Conversation
This online form articulates what you as the host and what Americans for the Arts will do around Creative Conversations. Content from this form will be used to promote your Creative Conversation on this website. Information on this form will be used by members of the Emerging Leader Council and Americans for the Arts staff to help coordinate Creative Conversations during National Arts & Humanities Month. All hosts will be invited to participate in conference calls before your Creative Conversations to help you prepare and get feedback on your format and after your Creative Conversations to talk about how everything went and some possible next steps.
Register your event and submit event details at the Emerging Leaders Creative Conversation Registration page. After Friday, October 23, no new Creative Conversations events will be accepted.
Step 5: Promote. Market. Get the Word Out.
Members of the Emerging Leader Council have developed these templates to help you promote your event locally. Americans for the Arts will promote your event nationally.
- Download our Creative Conversation logos for print and for web
- Use our Swiss Cheese Press Release and Media Alert (doc, 210KB) to send to alert the media
- Create a promotional flyer to hang on community bulletin boards in coffee shops, community centers, local colleges and universities, grocery stores, etc.
- Use our Customizable Marketing Letter (doc, 37KB) to e-mail information to your listservs and constituent groups, and post your cc in the local free community paper
- Use our Marketing Tips (pdf, 88KB) to get the word out in your community
- Tell your friends to tell their friends to tell their friends!
- Send everyone to this website and get them to register now!
Step 6: Host your Creative Conversation
All the details are in place. You are ready to go. Americans for the Arts will send you a final registration list the day before your Creative Conversation, but be prepared for people to show up at the door. Americans for the Arts will also send you additional resource materials like bookstore flyers and Emerging Leader Network Brochures. You are going to be great and don’t forget to have fun.
Additional Resources:
- Call your local art reporter and remind them about your Creative Conversation event. Fax over your press release again.
- Post live information about your event through Twitter and Facebook. Connect to the National Arts and Humanities Month Twitter feed, and start your Twitter post with @nahm and include the hash tags #nahm#AFTAcc. A sample tweet could be @nahm Nearly 75 poeple are at the Cafe tonight. Great crowd. Kicking off our discussion on state funding in the city. #AFTAcc#nahm.
- At the end, hand out the Participant Evaluation Form (pdf, 24KB). These forms are feedback for you, as host, on how well the event went.
- Don’t forget to take pictures or video!
Step 7: Sustain the momentum through social media and community collaboration
So, you did it. You hosted a great Creative Conversation. There was a good turnout and lots of energy. Now what?
- Share what you discussed on the Emerging Leader listserv and see if it resonates with other people around the country.
- Find ways to get connected and stay connected. Discuss your event on the NAHM Facebook page.
- Write a blog post on your personal or organization's blog. Email a link of your post to leadership@artsusa.org so we can link to it through ARTSBLOG.
- If you took photos or video, share them on the Americans for the Arts Flickr page and YouTube channel.
- Set up other meetings and events. Perhaps you had enough interest to start a local Emerging Leader Network in your community.
- Talk with your supervisor about ways you can implement some of the ideas generated from your event – put them into your performance evaluation.
- Attend other national events like National Arts Marketing Project, Arts Advocacy Day, and the Annual Convention to meet more emerging leaders.
- In November, Americans for the Arts will be sending out a Host Survey to collect data on the impact and effectiveness of this national program.
These Creative Conversations have been consistently successful in connecting emerging arts leaders who want to make a dynamic difference in their lives and communities, just like you! Thank you again for volunteering your time, energy, and creativity to plan an Emerging Leader Creative Conversation in your community. If you need any additional information or ideas, please e-mail leadership@artsusa.org or call 202.371.2830.
October is National Arts and Humanities Month
Celebrate by convening emerging arts leaders in your community and connecting to the national network at Americans for the Arts.