When the local arts writer is let go

The May issue of the Art Newspaper has a lengthy article on the decline of arts journalism in the newspaper industry.  You probably have some first hand experience in your market, almost everyone can point to staff cuts at the local daily.  Either your local reporter was let go or their beat is now much larger so it's harder than ever to get their attention for a story pitch.

One of the article's key points is that, while newspaper arts coverage is in danger, there are more people writing about the arts than ever, thanks to blogs.

If you are concerned about the decreasing coverage of the arts in your local media I would suggest it's time to update your media list to include the authors from your most popular local arts/entertainment blogs.  While these writers are rarely trained critics in the way traditional arts journalists may have been, they are becoming a vital source of arts news when newspapers are cutting back.

As an example, here in the Triangle there's a name that probably isn't on a lot of traditional story pitch lists, it's Ginny Skalski.  Ginny's a community content manager at the local NBC affiliate's online effort, mync.com.  

She's not officially a reporter, but not only does Ginny make decisions on what's shown on the mync.com site.  She's a major contributor to the local events blog 30threads.com.  And she hosts her own site as well Ginnyfromtheblog.com.  As such she has the power to touch thousands directly each day and could be a valuable contact for any arts marketer in our area.

Do a Google Blog search for arts, or museums, or theatre in your community and soon you'll likely find the Ginny Skalskis that are writing in your market.  If you don't already have them on your media contact lists add them and make a first connection. 

Checklists for Measuring Success in Art Museums

The media often uses a single criteria to gage the success of an art museum - attendance.  That's the reason I talk here so often about ideas for improving attendance figures.

In good markets the criteria list reporters are more savvy and that criteria list may look beyond a single exhibition to include the broader number of important exhibitions conducted and the size of membership.

But there's much more to a museum's mission than even these simple statistics.  Maxwell L. Anderson published an excellent essay for the Getty Leadership Institute back in 2004 called Metrics of Success in Art Museums in which he argues that there should be at least 11 primary measurements followed:

Quality of Leadership

Fulfillment of Education Mandate

Institutional Mandate

Management Priorities and Achievements

Caliber and Diversity of Staff

Standards of Governance

Scope and Quality of Collection

Contributions to Scholarship

Contributions to Art Conservation

Quality of Exhibitions

Facilities Contribution to Core Mission

Under each of these criteria he goes into greater depth to identify measurable elements of performance.  From number of catalogs published to the number of permissions granted for sketching in the galleries.  It's 20 pages and well worth the time if you haven't seen it before. Each of the measurable elements is clearly listed in an end-of-document appendix, so his proposed checklist is there for easy access.

It occurs to me that a list like this is not only a way for a museum to judge itself internally but could be used to redefine success in the public eye.  

If you'd prefer not to be judged solely by admissions you must help the media (and through them the public) see these other measures of success.  You'll have to define those other criteria if you want to be judged by them.

note: at the time of this posting I had intermittent trouble with the PDF link from the Getty Leadership Institute.  Here is an additional link that provides an all text version of the document.