How lovely of Americans for the Arts to coordinate a fire installation for us along the Providence River in Rhode Island for the opening reception of the National Arts Marketing Project conference. OK, maybe it was already scheduled for Halloween. It certainly capped a fantastic day of sharing Arts Marketing Tips and Tricks.

FireWater, Providence Rhode Island

A few memorable take-aways from Friday's presentations:
Command the Cultural Marketplace: Building a Brand for Customer Fascination:
"In addition to your elevator speech you need the foyer speech. Think of it as your over-arching messaging, the more time you have with the person, the more detail you can get into. Start with the top most message and then work your way down into the details."

--Tamsen McMahon, Sametz Blackstone Associates

Revolutionary Amilcar Cabral once said, “Tell no lies, claim no easy victories.” As the leader of the Partido Africano para a Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC), Cabral fought against Portuguese colonial forces in Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau, and had a unique vision of the role of artists and culture bearers in the struggle for liberation and self-determination of his people. His is a quote I continue to carry every day in both my creative practice and as Cultural Affairs Manager for the City of Providence Department of Art, Culture + Tourism. If cultural equity is a human right, then I believe our work in a local arts agency is, at the end of the day, human rights work. And while our work doesn’t have to feel heavy all the time – Emma Goldman told us to dance! – work ensuring publicly supported arts and culture shouldn’t feel easy.