20th Annual ArtHouse
About ArtHouse
ArtHouse is the annual celebration of visual arts at the University of South Florida. The event revolves around an open house at the USF School of Art & Art History, the opening reception for the MFA Graduation Exhibition at the USF Contemporary Art Museum and the Juried Student Art Exhibition at the Carolyn M. Wilson Gallery. Over the years, a number of fringe events have become part of the tradition, including live music, an ArtWalk, art games, a silent art auction, and more.
Campaign Objectives
1. Increase audience attendance over the previous year.
2. Raise awareness of the art program among the USF community and the Tampa Bay arts community.
2. Raise awareness of the art program among the USF community and the Tampa Bay arts community.
Campaign Duration: Feb. 1, 2018 to Mar. 30, 2018
Media Outlets
Print calendar: 9,000 distributed
ArtHouse received the cover spot on the quarterly print calendar for all college events. This piece was direct mailed to an established list of subscribers, and available at information desks across the USF campus and in tourism centers around the Tampa Bay area.
ArtHouse received the cover spot on the quarterly print calendar for all college events. This piece was direct mailed to an established list of subscribers, and available at information desks across the USF campus and in tourism centers around the Tampa Bay area.
My direct role: Organized event managers to provide events and information. Planned the calendar layout. Designed the calendar spreads. Copy-edited the descriptions and provided final proofreading.
Email calendar: 8,000 reached
ArtHouse was the featured event for the School of Art & Art History in the monthly email calendar sent to subscribers around the Tampa Bay area. The Arts Monthly has an established list of subscribers interested in all events from the College of The Arts.
ArtHouse was the featured event for the School of Art & Art History in the monthly email calendar sent to subscribers around the Tampa Bay area. The Arts Monthly has an established list of subscribers interested in all events from the College of The Arts.
My direct role: Planned the calendar layout. Programmed the email template in HTML and CSS. Organized event managers for event information proofing. Provided final proofreading and distributed the email.
Facebook event: 18,000 reached
A Facebook event was set up as co-hosted by the School of Art & Art History, the College of The Arts and the Contemporary Art Museum to reach audiences among all three pages and share metrics.
A Facebook event was set up as co-hosted by the School of Art & Art History, the College of The Arts and the Contemporary Art Museum to reach audiences among all three pages and share metrics.
My direct role: Organized the project tasks for other team members. Requested a video from the photography team. Proofread the social media event set up by the social media interns and published on Facebook.
Social media newsfeed posts: 11,000 reached
Posts to build anticipation were programmed for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. On the day of the event, live social media coverage of the event showed audiences different highlights happening throughout the event night.
Posts to build anticipation were programmed for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. On the day of the event, live social media coverage of the event showed audiences different highlights happening throughout the event night.
My direct role: Organized the project tasks for other team members. Copy-edited and proofread the social media post texts set up by the social media interns. On event night, coordinated the social media interns and managed the Facebook live feed.
Community web calendars: 40 calendar entries
Event information was entered in to 40 Tampa Bay area community calendars run by small, medium and large news organizations. This medium was chosen because it has a regular audience of community members looking for arts and culture activities.
Event information was entered in to 40 Tampa Bay area community calendars run by small, medium and large news organizations. This medium was chosen because it has a regular audience of community members looking for arts and culture activities.
My direct role: Provided an image and final description text to the marketing interns responsible of calendar data entry.
Event posters: 50 posters distributed
A small run of posters was printed in-house only for USF Tampa campus distribution. These were displayed inside the buildings at the College of The Arts, in residence halls and in bulletin boards at the library.
A small run of posters was printed in-house only for USF Tampa campus distribution. These were displayed inside the buildings at the College of The Arts, in residence halls and in bulletin boards at the library.
My direct role: Reviewed the School of Art & Art History's design to ensure it complied with USF branding requirements.
Campaign Results
The biggest success was the increased estimated attendance by 42% over the previous year. In 2017, attendance was estimated at 700 visitors. The attendance in 2018 was estimated at approximately 1,000 throughout the course of the 4-hour event. An increased focus in social media marketing is credited for the improved outcome.
With the additional marketing reach, we were also able to raise awareness among our USF community that the university has an art program on the Tampa campus. As a result, part of our event attendance increase was due to an increase in participation from more student clubs not affiliated to the School of Art & Art History.
By giving influencers early access to tools for sharing our event, they helped grow our organic social media reach and build anticipation buzz among our audience.
