Ozco Marketing Summit 2009 videos

I was lucky enough to be substituted into this event on the closing day. Again I found this an inspiring summit to be part of, in particular my writing hand was very busy during the digital media presentations. In case you missed this, the videos are now available. I'm definitely going back to see those I missed such as 'Communicating with the 50+ audience' and the update from the 'ADVICE' program, and I might even relive Donna Williams' inspiring key notespeech from Day Two, there's an audience development hero for you!

Find all the videos here: http://vimeo.com/user1014372

A date with Clover and her vision

I'm not really a fan of Clover Moore, a product of living, working and voting in her two constituencies and being on the receiving end of more City of Sydney propaganda via mailbox than really even I care to have...and I love junk mail! But as I'm a firm believer in not bagging out things entirely before you at least give them a go, I conned two others to accompanying me to see our beloved Lord Mayor speak on Sustainability and the Arts at a recent SAMAG (Sydney Arts Management Advisory Group) special event.

Now I must admit I haven't read the whole Sustainable Sydney 2030 policy...it's even a bit long for me...but I did flip through the policy in regards to arts very quickly a few weeks before this rescheduled talk where I found it hidden between all the nice city of villages rhetoric. So, what was I wanting from this experience? Well to be inspired I guess...and the verdict?

• She admits the policy document is 'a bit cheeky' aka. they don't have the power to enforce it, or budget to make it happen
• There seemed to be some consultation with arts industry leaders an 'art and design advisory panel' was mentioned as was a 'cultural round table'...note to self, have a look who is on that?
• Clover spoke about the need to sell the 'intrinsic value of the arts'....if she knows how to do that, there's some of us who would love to here that!
• She believes the wider community does engagement with the arts when given a chance and sites the large festival events as examples...but as audience members asked...is that sustainable?
• She commented that the role of the arts is to 'reflect back to us who we are' and that it 'lifts people's spirits', her belief is that arts events should make people feel good about being in the city...

But where does that leave us? Sadly the event didn't really hit the mark by engaging with the arts workers in the room and providing the tools for us to go back to our respective institutions and rally others into this 'cheeky' plan...all in all...I'm sorry Clover I would of rather had one of your pamphlets shoved in the letterbox.

But here's a big thumbs up for SAMAG, the crowd was a smattering of familiar industry faces and even my uni supervisor...I must be onto something!

Sneaky MCA visit

So I found myself, er, let's call it 'between' meetings today. Too late to go back to the office, too early to meet others...stuck at Circular Quay. Hmmm, what to do, what to do...well the MCA seemed like a place to wile away an hour.

Now I should say I've never been a fan. 'Contemporary' or 'modern' art and me haven't always been the best of friends, I love some, I loathe others..and I'm not quite there with my own personal aesthetic experience...I'm into plastics and early modernism at the moment, the minute rarity and one a kind meets mass production and consumption. And I hate the venue. All plain walls and stairs. But pushing aside my dislike of the physical and the crazed temporal states of my mind. Spare hour = MCA.

I was surprised and will go back.

Wonderful silver gelatin photographs by Ricky Maynard depicting indigenous Australians...being a fan of photography I was in heaven. However it was the placement of Maynard's works with that of those whom inspired his series, which was, well the inspiring part. The journey of Maynard (and really any artist) was just as interesting for this audience member as the work itself.

Video art. How very underrated by me...but some were wonderful, others *can you see me doing that motion for the subject matter went completely over my head!*. But one of them in particular struck me, a video piece that the artist had based on a work by Caspar David Friedrich. It had me entranced.

So...what's the outtake...well engagement and learning resonates through the lens of the viewer's previous experiences

and memories. Yep. And I'm the walking embodiment.

Note to self - visit the MCA more.

Cultural Asset Mapping...and other sexy stuff!

Ok so it may sound rather er, less riveting than watching well a dreadful opera, but if you have ever, like me, needed to seek out market information about this little thing we call showbiz, or say any other types of arts, this site would of proved a god send!

Thank you to the wonderful artist who passed it my way...

CAMRA (Cultural Asset Mapping in Regional Australia) is a major Australian Research Council and industry funded project which aims to provide planners, policy-makers and local communities with the information they need to plan for a future in regional Australia that integrates the effective development of the arts and cultural industries.

The project runs for five years from 2008 to 2013 and is a partnership between seventeen organisations, including four universities.

The aims are

1. developing sustainable models of data collection and documentation that map local cultural industries using a range of methodologies specifically appropriate to regional, rural and remote settings in Australia;
2. building a GIS and relational database to store this information and allow it to be interrogated, analysed and used at local, regional and peak levels by a variety of users;
3. enabling systemised interactions between national and international experts in cultural development through this culturemap.org.au online (and offline) community as a key site for knowledge exchange and storage.

Can't wait to sign up and play

Wikimedia: Conference seeks open cultural content

Stealing a headline here, but following on from yesterday's mention of cultural institutions using Wikis to gather and share planning and policy...here's another one, but only about 100 times bigger!

It will be interesting to see the outtakes from this conference and its many notable speakers. Here's hoping the content is captured and shared just as they are aiming to do with Australia's (and NZ's) cultural content....although one question...er, what about the other arts?

Wikimedia: Conference seeks open cultural content

'In a world-first conference, the Wikimedia Australia community will this week sit down with more than 170 senior executives from the nation’s largest cultural institutions – from the National Gallery to the Parliamentary Library – to devise strategies to better share Australia's cultural heritage.

Called ‘GLAM-WIKI: Finding Common Ground,’ the event at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on August 6-7 brings together Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums (GLAM) with Wikimedia Australia, the all-volunteer force that brings Australian content to the Wikipedia site.

GLAM-WIKI convener and Wikimedia Australia vice-president Liam Wyatt says the conference aims to increase the availability of Australian and New Zealand cultural content through Wikipedia in a sustainable way through collaboration and the open source treatment of cultural items.'

To visit the official wiki of GLAM-Wiki see here

Wiki world....Smithsonian Web and New Media Strategy v1.0

Great idea, both using a wiki format and putting this info out there for the world. It is nice to an institution state openly that they don't have all the answers, and seeking interaction and outside opinion in planning. Can't wait to see how it plays out.

Smithsonian Web and New Media Strategy v1.0

'We've just posted Smithsonian Web and New Media Strategy, Version 1.0. The strategy talks about an updated digital experience, a new learning model that helps people with their "lifelong learning journeys," and the creation of a Smithsonian Commons—a new part of our digital presence dedicated to stimulating learning, creation, and innovation through open access to Smithsonian research, collections and communities.

This strategy was created through a fast and transparent process that included workshops, the Smithsonian 2.0 conference, Twitter, YouTube, and ongoing collaboration through this wiki. It's a work in progress, and we welcome your comments, questions, and input, via the Smithsonian 2.0 blog or through any discussion tab on this wiki site. This strategy will feed into the Smithsonian’s comprehensive strategic plan, currently under development.'

Lunchtime = taste execution gap

A sagacious friend recommended this....and can I say....that's it...it's my old, feel like I'm giving 72% when I could be giving or striving for so much more. I'm so glad to hear it's just another explained phenomena. So I admit it. 'I'm suffering form a taste execution gap'. Phew!

Ira Glass on the Taste Execution Gap

Firehoses and Ladders

Ha! I knew there would be name for it! It's the same old ladder of loyalty again just with a new name and a new channel...and oh, don't forget the 'they' the ones you are after, are oh so much closer in this new space...sending out love to Jim Richardson again.

More here Creating a social media plan for a museum

and yet another digital hero!

Jim Richardson is a new one for me, found through the power of the web 2.0 tools that he talks and writes about so well. I thought the below, which is a posting of a talk he gave a year or so ago, was a great summary of what web 2.0 is and how we as cultural institutions are perfect for exploiting (er, I mean utilising) the content we have, in what really is, just another channel. However, the key of course is the old standard, what museums know about, but we don't speak its name... 'engagement'.

This bit is especially thought-provoking...

'While much is said about the social network and the desire of these people to be hyper-connected, the time that these individuals spend ‘curating’ their online space is often overlooked. It has become a new hobby and a seriously-considered creative outlet'.

More here

...another digital hero

Can't speak highly enough of the role he plays....another person from whom inspiration springs.

http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/dmsblog/

http://ow.ly/iFMv