Strategic Focus : Cultural Stewardship: Discover the Unexpected

Discover the Unexpected leverages the technology and learning from Artsopolis and unites the region’s arts marketing infrastructure with shared messaging, technology tools and platforms, a universal marketing campaign and incentives for delivery. This foundation will be used to transform the way our community thinks about, accesses and engages in Silicon Valley arts, culture and entertainment and ultimately connects more people in Silicon Valley with the array of arts, culture and entertainment options that are abundant in this region.

 

Discover the Unexpected Goals:

  • Develop a compelling and authentic brand for arts and culture in Silicon Valley that inspires participation and demonstrates its value
  • Create a sustainable, local web and mobile platforms that attract new audiences, leverages cutting-edge social media strategies and enhances the community experience before, after, and during an event
  • Increase participation and engagement in arts and culture among Silicon Valley residents and workers
  • Provide arts and culture organizations with the tools and knowledge to engage and grow their audiences
  • Establish a positive image of the arts and culture ecosystem within the funding community

Progress to Date: 1stACT hired Spitfire Communications to develop a message platform, branding strategy and message adoption recommendations for a comprehensive marketing campaign. PureMatter, a local branding and interactive agency, donated a full campaign design concept and created a full navigation structure and an initial website design for LiveSV.org, the online engagement and mobile application tools connected to the campaign. A partnership with Arts Council Silicon Valley has been formed to build the new site on the Artsopolis platform, replacing the existing Artsopolis brand. This new site becomes the next generation of Artsopolis.com and builds on the 40,000 unique visitors per month. Current levels of participation on Artsopolis have been identified, a competitor scan has been completed, 15 arts organizations have been interviewed separately about their needs, and a convening of 20 national network sites to determine engagement trends and needs has been conducted.

Fifteen key arts organizations have signed up as early adopters and both the San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs and Bank of America have each invested in the campaign launch. Content partners such as Team San Jose, Discover Silicon Valley Magazine, Clever Girls Collective Blog Network, Facebook and Symphony Silicon Valley have also been identified. An additional relationship has been established with SkyPie, an online and mobile personalization engine that will be leveraged to uniquely connect Silicon Valley residents and workers with arts, culture and entertainment experiences that uniquely match their own specific interests. And, a plan is in place for the platform to ultimately become self-sustaining.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please direct your inquiry to Joshua Russell, Director of Communications and Emerging Initiatives at jrussell@1stact.org