AMA PR Summit Report2012

7/31/2019 AMA PR Summit Report2012

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Arts Marketing Association Press and PR Summit: 2012

Report prepared byJonathan Goodacre [email protected] Arts Management and Consultancy +44 (0)1223 513784

Arts Marketing AssociationPress and PR Summit

A collaborative future for the arts and media?

Sponsored by Target Live

Media partner ArtsProfessional

8 March 2012

Museum of London

Report of the day


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Contents

Introduction and welcome 3

Paul Bradshaw New models for cultural journalism 4

Martin Belam A collaborative future for the arts and media 9

Keynote questions 12

Round tables 13

Plenary 19

Delegates 26


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Introduction

The AMA press and PR summit provided an opportunity to look at future trends forpress and media and at the way that the arts could benefit. It brought together arange of journalists, press officers, bloggers, editors, marketers and digital mediaexperts in an intensive and vigorous day of debate at the Museum of London.

The day began with two keynote presentations with questions. During the afternoon asession of round tables enabled delegates to talk in greater depth with fourteendifferent hosts who represented all parts of the arts and media sectors. Afterwards,these hosts came back to a plenary in the auditorium to report back and debatesome of the ensuing points.

Welcome

Tim Wood, Board Member of the Arts Marketing Association andCommunications Director at The Place, London

Tim Wood welcomed delegates to The Museum of London for the second AMA pressand PR Summit, noting that these days always seem to come just after an iPodlaunch. He speculated that perhaps this was symbolic of the fast pace of change weare experiencing now. Those of us who work in press, pr and media roles are oftenon the frontline of this change, especially when we are working with the people thatused to be known as journalists. The wide range of people and roles seems to showhow that process of producing media is rapidly developing.

He thanked the sponsor, Target Live and the media partner for the day,ArtsProfessional .


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Keynotes

Paul Bradshaw; media consultant, author and trainerPaul Bradshaw is an online journalist and blogger and a Visiting Professor at CityUniversitys School of Journalism in London. He manages his own blog, the Online

Journalism Blog (OJB), and is the co-founder of HelpMeInvestigate , an investigative journalism website funded by Channel 4 and Screen WM. Paul has written for journalism.co.uk, Press Gazette , the Guardians Data Blog, InPublishing , Nieman Reports and the Poynter Institute in the US. He is the co-author of the Online Journalism Handbook with former Financial Times web editor Liisa Rohumaa, and ofMagazine Editing (3rd Edition) with John Morrish.

Bradshaw has been listed in Journalism.co.uks list of the leading innovators in journalism and media and Poynters most influential people in social media. In 2010,he was shortlisted for Multimedia Publisher of the Year and in 2011 ranked 9th in

PeerIndex's list of the most influential UK journalists on Twitter.

New models for cultural journalism

Over the last 15 years we have moved into a multi-platform, networked environment.Its easy to overlook the fundamentals underlining this. Traditionally, a story wascreated in stages. A journalist would go out and obtain the information, come back tothe office and produce it, hand it over to someone who produced it a bit more whowould then give it to other people responsible for its distribution.

When this information becomes digitised these different areas begin to overlap. Thishas all sorts of implications about what gets published in terms of the editorialdecisions made and also opens up journalism and reporting to other people.

So, someone like Jemima Kiss at The Guardian will be following all sorts of updatesfrom traditional media, specialist blogs, social media and official reports coming in to


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her through her RSS reader. All she has to do is press a button and that content isthen shared on her page. This page also has an RSS feed and automatically appearson Twitter and on The Guardians PDA news bucket. If something is prefixed Imreading thats all that the journalist is doing pressing one button to share content.

Similar examples include link blogging such as that of Created in Birmingham byChris Unitt who is bookmarking something with a quote attached. Matthew Cain willbe talking about what he is reporting at the same time as he is reporting it. They dontwait till they get back to the office to use their content management system.

This digitisation of news has resulted in an expansion of where news is publishedand what constitutes news. Traditionally, most journalism consisted of an article orbroadcast package focused on whats new which may be followed up with somecontext such as an interview, round-up, explainer etc. However, online the money isin speed and depth. The internet is brilliant for both, because it has the capacity forinstant distribution and has unlimited space for depth.

The 21 st century newsroom

So, live-blogging for example,has taken off enormously in thelast few years. In this format, thecall to action and the initial draftare integrated. The journalistmight put out a question sayingdoes anyone know anything about

this? or a Tweet might lead to astory. The information whichcomes in then forms part of a liveblog which combines this in anopen draft but still being updated.

The reason that news organisations love live blogs is that they are brilliant forstickiness and engagement. On a live blog people stick around and interact andadvertisers are interested in this. After the story, there is also a demand for greatercomment than we used to see.

Journalists have to deal with new sources of information such as data, social mediaand feeds. Alongside this, they have to take decisions about format this didnthappen in the print world. Now, we have to decide on the best means of publishingthis material tweet, audio, video, live blog etc. which platform in the paper, onFacebook etc - and when it is to be published. And these decisions have to be madevery quickly.


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Depth

News organisations are no longer looking at news as something passive but assomething for people to engage and interact with. The BBC for example, developedthe backstage project in which people could mash up and reuse content.

Newspapers now investigate stories and provide databases for people to use. LaurenLuke made a name for herself by engaging with her community about make-up tips.

For cultural events, there are Flickr pools and groups springing up and Facebookpages and apps where people can discuss the newsworthy items of the moment.There are lots of ways to tell the story now.

Data is becoming a real source and social artefact. People are interacting with,visualising and sharing data. Its again very sticky. The Guardian has done a good

job of creating communities around that data. It might be worth thinking about thedata which your organisation has that you could use.

Live-blogging

Live-blogging up to an event can work well. For example, The Birmingham Post andMail has a very popular live blog on a Friday afternoon leading up to the footballmatches of the weekend.

[Paul Bradshaw then played a video extract trailing live multiplatform electioncoverage on PBS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQrH1OuhPjk#t=42 ]

This demonstrated the different platforms which were to be used in the election

coverage: Twitter, Facebook, Ustream, live blog, iPhone app. Interestingly, they arenot assuming that everyone needs to be brought through to their own page. There isa connection here with the way that arts organisations might think about their ownspace. Do we need to centralise everything?

Everyone can now be a media producer and there might be expertise within artsorganisations which can do this better than some media organisations. Live blogs area good way to show this off. The Old Vic did a really good live blog of one of theiropenings which was on the ground and niche.

Live-blogging is not like live broadcast of an event. Its notabout documentation but about being part of a networkedevent. If you are just repeating what everyone is sayingyoure not adding any value. Instead, it could be aboutaggregating the most interesting things that people aresaying, be analysing the implications, enriching what ishappening with pictures, video, audio etc, using dataanalysis and producing verification of what is happening.


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News production in a networked world

One of the significant things about The Guardians three pigs video trailer is who theyare communicating this message to. It isnt for press circles but to the public as adescription of itself as a news organisation. The traditional idea of a journalist assomeone who knows it all and is at the centre of things is discarded in favour of anetwork of people who are all contributing. Its a good example of the way that theproduction line is being replaced by a network.

Its not just about the overlapping of areas but about what has become a network ofgatherers, producers and distributors.

[Part of the video: Dont flop: Blizzard vs. Mark Gristhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp4wEewrQdU was played]

Mark Grist was a teacher who became a performance poet and then took rap backinto the classroom as a teaching device. At the Dont Flop website there are newsitems collected there which were picked up by Reddit, these then found their wayacross the web, shared on Facebook and viewed on mobile devices. It was picked upby specialist media, then The Guardian and ended up on Channel 4. A relativelyminor cultural event was multiplied with different pieces of information and anglesadded as it went along. It wasnt filmed by Channel 4 news. It was the network whichmade it happen.

Its worth thinking about who is in your network and which are their favourite placesand devices for interacting. This is about going beyond what is currently fashionableto you but thinking from the point of view of your audience. For example, forums are

still popular and useful as are interesting wikis around subject areas.

Jacob Neilsons pyramid (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/participation_inequality.html)shows how there is a pattern that repeats itself, with the community split between the90% who are lurkers who are reading and following but not contributing much, 9%who are intermittent contributors and 1% who are heavy contributors. On YouTube20% of videos are responsible for 80% of views.


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The 10% of contributors are important, and for news media the 1% is especiallyimportant because they will be the people who are active in the early stages of theprocess.

Citizen journalism has become a rather vague and somewhat meaningless termbecause people mean different things by it. Perhaps it is better to think aboutDistributed Journalism as in my diagram based on the pyramid which aims toexplain this better and shows us where our priorities might lie.

At the top we have three types ofcontributors. The brain is the expert,someone in house perhaps, who drawson expertise and connections for theirwriting. The voice talks eloquently andpassionately about a subject. Journalistsare very good at this, taking theinformation and making coherent senseof it. The ear knows and publisheswhats happening.

In the bottom section are a more random collection. The accidental journalist mightbe in the right place at the right time the question is how you can make it easy forthem to publish content or for you to be able to access that content. The value adderwill add a little bit of information such as tagging and bringing it to the forefront of

attention. The crowd is a body of people with diverse interests who can contributefurther material. The technician can build on top of what has been produced, perhapsto make it easier to access or understand.

Finally, the key word is decentralise moving away from thinking about a singlespace where content is produced and distributed and instead to look outwards,playing to different strengths of the network.

There are three key implications to consider

Product from process: the traditional story is just one part of communication.The process of creating, researching etc is interesting in itself so make aproduct out of it. Take pictures, blog, create a variety of media.Value of networks: think about the networks that exist around the events,objects and products the issues, themes and people. What are they sharing?How do we involve people from the start?New assets: data, participants, passion: what do you have in your ownorganisation? Expertise? Participants? Data?

Paul Bradshaws links are at www.delicious.com/paulb/AMA2012


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Martin Belam; lead user experience architect, The Guardian

Martin Belam is Lead User Experience Architect at Guardian News and Media,working across the Guardian website and mobile platforms. He has spent over adecade building digital media products for global brands like the BBC, Sony and

Vodafone, including a three year spell working independently as a consultant basedon the island of Crete. He helps run London IA, a community for IA and UXprofessionals. Martin blogs about user experience, journalism and digital media atcurrybet.net, and can be found on Twitter as @currybet

A collaborative future for arts and the media

Job titles are useful for two reasons. One is to fit on to a business card and the otheris to explain to your mum what you do for a living. My job title does neither, as I amlead user experience architect at Guardian news and media. What I actually do isthink about how people might want to use what we do in the future.

The Guardian is an old institution developing as a local campaigning paper. In 1995The Guardian went on the web and now most months there are 60m readersglobally. There are 1.3m articles on The Guardian. Almost everything that has beenpublished on The Guardian online since 1999 is now freely available on the web.

Culture is an important word for us, not just in terms of a culture of openness butalso because we value coverage of culture and the arts. There are a number of e-books being reproduced from The Guardian at the moment, including one about jazz.Its fascinating, because if you look at the coverage from the origins of the artform it

is remarkable about the way it outlines the impending decline of civilization, notdissimilar to the ways in which Hip hop has been described in recent years.

However, theres a very constrained way in which newspapers have traditionallycovered the arts. Before we hit on the word open our editor talked aboutmutualised. If you send along a critic to a performance they cant be the only voiceworth listening to. Surely we need to know what the audience is thinking.

The old model is totally out of synch with digital audiences. The process used to be alinear one of preview night or promo copies and then the press night would happen, areview would be published and everyone would buy the record or go to theperformance.


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This doesnt work for the audience anymore. How do you enable them to haveconversations about things we havent written about yet or ever?

Arts coverage has traditionally been top down. There are a few critics who have thevoice of authority and access to publishing who can write about a small number ofworks and then that goes to the audience. We wanted to look at the way we couldincrease the number of voices, cover more work and hopefully grow biggeraudiences, make that content sticky and engaging and make more money out of it.

Traditionally, if we were reviewing a Goldfrapp album we would write a 400 wordpiece about it, saying what we like or dont like about it, but there is plenty of materialon the internet about Goldfrapp. So, we set our developers a challenge. In a weekthey had to research and make something different about Goldfrapp. They foundcontent from all over the net, combining existing material with The Guardians in adynamic automated page. If we could do this automatically about artists we havewritten about then we could do this about people we havent written about. So, weused this prototype and made it into a Beta programme carried across a range ofareas.

We started with books. The aim was to allow people to discuss any book they werereading at that time. It involved a huge data set based around the ISBN. There is anautomatic page for every title which anyone can review, rate, and interact around.They are interacting around the cultural object, not what The Guardian has writtenabout the object. There is a community organiser who facilitates open threads but thecommunity drives the conversation.

However, we didnt want to lose our authoritative voice. The Guardian spent a dayinterviewing people about this at The South Bank Centre, BFI and The Barbican.Audience members were still very keen on the critical authority of The Guardian inspite of all the conversations that were happening.

Meg Pickard at The Guardian produced this model which showed how the audiencecan contribute before the launch and the media organisations staff afterwards.

The NHS live-blogging in The Guardian has been a reaction to people arguing thatthe issue was being ignored. As part of the process of reacting to and blogging about


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the subject a community of experts have collected around the theme. It seems thatthey, in a different way, have become the authoritative voice of The Guardian.

Journalism is no longer owned by a small group of publications. Sites such asCreated in Birmingham need to be on your media list as well as the Birminghamlocal papers. Sometimes they arent publications at all. It could be a Twitter feedabout arts coverage in Walthamstow (a real example: Walthamstow Scene) withevery possible cultural event being retweeted, so that its possible to find it in a feed.Its an interesting challenge for press officers how do you find out about and servicethese networks?

Theatricalia (theatricalia.com) is a database which is aiming to have every stageproduction ever produced in the UK. Its ambitious, but Mathew Somerville hasscraped data from all sorts of sources. It means that, in some sense, you dont ownyour own data anymore but its potentially very advantageous because the data hasmuch greater reach. Similarly, MusicBrainz ( http://musicbrainz.org/ ) is a crowd-sourced wiki which is aiming to have an id for every artist that has produced music.

The human connection

The arts and culture is about the human connection. A project in Slovenia whichlooked at genocide and a place where people had been killed and buried had startedoff trying to use a huge amount of technology to tell stories to children. However, theapps didnt work very well so they hit on an easier low-tech solution. There werespots in the forest where there was a phone number which the children could call andhear instructions and interesting material as a voice message. It wasnt complicated;

it used the human connection the human voice. The reason that culture movespeople is because it has personal connection with people.

From a PR view, you used to send material to the journalist and they would talk tothe audience on your behalf. The new model enables press officers to talk directly tothe audience much more directly, potentially cutting out the journalist. So we aregoing to have to rethink the way that the relationship works.

Maybe the relationship now has to be about being useful to the journalist rather thansending them a pdf of your press release. This might involve knowing the journalist,following them on Twitter and understanding how they work and what interests them.Can you help them when they need it? It is a redefined relationship.


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Questions for Paul Bradshaw and Martin Belam

Liz Hill, Arts Professional Magazine: One of the things that struck me is a contrast with a publishing expo last week at which the conclusion was that print was not dead,but you seem to be saying that print is dead. Could you comment on that?

PB: I dont think either of us is saying that. Print is under a great deal of commercialpressure and its trying to define its place in the market. The web is taking on a lot ofthe roles that print used to have, just as broadcasting took away the role of breakingnews when that happened. So, the commercial side of publishing is looking at theareas that interest advertisers. The spend is following the eyeballs.

MB: A survey just published in the United States found that for every $1 that is beinggained in online advertising by media organisations they are losing $7 in printrevenue. This is not a sustainable business model. However, paper is a good formatand watching people using a pile of papers at a caf is interesting and you wonder

whether that will be replaced by tablets. The Evening Standard has increased theirreadership since they became a free paper. The big glossy magazines are designedto attract advertising from companies like Rolex but now they have fewer adverts andreaders but the same number of journalists working on them. So there is somethingstructural that needs to be addressed. Will papers disappear? They wont completelygo but they will need to change significantly.

PB: An interesting point is that The Guardian has a number of feeds from blogswhich are not paid but there is advertising sold on those pages.

Lyle Bignon, Town Hall and Symphony Hall, Birmingham: Its a point about frustration

with some parts of the media, mostly commissioning and deputy-editors who arent always in line with these exciting ways to present content. Vanessa Thorpe from The Observer at the Press Summit last year was very keen on picking up the phone and doing business that way. How do we, as PRs with content, persuade those

journalists in senior positions to take a risk?

MB: Theres that great saying isnt there, that the future is here its just unevenlydistributed? There are still some very traditional ways of commissioning. In science,it has changed fundamentally, with someone like Ben Goldacre constantlychallenging the traditional way that science articles take the top line of a worthlesssurvey and sensationalise it. Some arts journalism may have some way to go withthe aura around the critic still existing. But if you think about the rap battle, no-onecommissioned it, the publishing mechanisms made it noticeable until it had to bepublished or broadcast. We all have our own websites now and we can publishourselves. We dont need to think if only I can get this one thing commissionedthen my campaign is complete.

PB: There was an interesting announcement today which, if I understood it correctly,is that Channel 4 is launching a new catch up channel broadcasting if there is a lot


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of chatter and interest about a programme. The general gist is very interesting. Aswell as the rap battle, there is the example of Hans Rosling who did a famous talkabout statistics in first world vs. third world countries which had lots of views and gotpicked up by BBC4 for a series on data and statistics. You need a disruptor like BenGoldacre to highlight laziness and you also need a groundswell of interest that

demands attention.

MB: Each technology adds to things we have to do. Its a challenge for both PRs and journalists to be able to cope with what needs to be done, but the idea that you throwthe press release over the fence and hope there will be interest is not going to workanymore.

Tim Wood: Its interesting that the questioner referred to a Sunday paper journalist.Sunday publications have a different editorial position and are more reflective. Does this mean they are affected differently by this?

MB: Its a good question and Im quite outspoken about this. Does anyone here visitSunday Facebook or Sunday Google? I understand that its a slightly differentconcept but I think the Sunday branding will eventually disappear. We have 1.3marticles on the site; no-one cares which day of the week it was published on.

PB: People do use different devices at different points in the day or the week andmedia organisations play to that.

MB: One of the things about the adoption of mobile is that its adoption has beenhigher than anticipated and the content for mobile has to be slightly different.

John Wyver, Illuminations: Can you talk about the potential tensions with notions of control, both traditional ideas of control of a story and quality control?

PB: On the embargo side of things for example, these ideas are based on a paperbeing published at a certain time or based on exclusives between a journalist andpress officer with a relationship which they want to protect. These are going to beharder to control. Its important now to understand that we are working with a wholenetwork of people who have different angles.

MB: Its not as if all the old ways have disappeared but they are changing. If I thinkabout the suicide of Gary Speed, the first I knew about that was when I had a tweetfrom a friend saying Gary Speed RIP and the second tweet was from an organisationthat said if you are going to be writing about Gary Speed here is a link to guidelinesabout suicide reporting. This was how I found out about it one news mediaorganisation probably broke it slightly earlier than others but no-one can rememberwho that was. The embargo thing is interesting because I occasionally receive pressreleases from people Ive never heard of saying that the information is embargoed tillthe next day. Its usually of no interest whatsoever but if I did receive something that Iwas tempted to break the embargo on what would stop me? Its a very print-centric


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view. In the Olympics there will be people taking photos and providing informationbefore the official material comes out. The media organisations are supposed to waitfor the official versions but they will be one step behind the rest of the public.

Mark Shenton, Sunday Express and The Stage: As a critic working for a Sunday publication one of the things Ive noticed is the way that The Guardian undermines The Observer by absorbing all its material into The Guardian website.

MB: Most of the traffic that comes to the website doesnt come through the frontdoor, it comes at the story level. At a global level, it doesnt have much meaningeither as the global audience doesnt know all the ins and outs of the brand.

John Walker, English Touring Opera: One of the previous questioners was asking about control over quality as well as control over exclusives. Whilst I understand that many bloggers are excellent and reputation is important, with the openness of the internet it is possible for someone to publish in a highly visible place undermining the

sense of quality on our own sites.

PB: We have come up with all sorts of ways of ensuring that public spaces are safeand well guarded. Many organisations have made the mistake of allowing anythingon their sites and theres no reason for this. It is important to take a proactiveapproach to moderating content rather than putting up a big blank wall and givingthem a tin of paint. Its like any space you need to show what is acceptable or not.It might also be about inviting people to contribute who you know will be morefavourable.

Felicity Cowie, Wiltshire Music Centre: What is your advice for smallish arts organisations and an audience which is not interested in social media, either because they dont know about it or they are elderly, cant read it and others who are proud that they dont engage with social media?

MB: One of my favourite sets of comments on The Guardian site are peoplecriticising social media saying something to the effect of why should anyone beinterested in what other people think? Also, that older generation is not going to bewith you forever and other generations that do use social media will gradually growup to fill the gap. Its also about the priority for your audience. If youre happy with theway things are then you dont need to change. But what will it be like in two or three

years time?

PB: Many older people are surprisingly active digitally. My mother is on Facebook soshe can follow her grandchildren and enjoys Trip Advisor. Try searching forums tosee who is talking and what they are talking about. Can you engage with them andmake them cheerleaders?


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Round Tables

During the afternoon, delegates had an opportunity to discuss a variety of differentpress and PR elements in detail at 14 round tables. Each delegate could choose twoexpert hosts. The session was split into two with delegates having the opportunity towork on tables of 7 people with the expert host for 40 minutes.

Many of these discussions focused on the practical implications of the changespresented in the morning, with delegates sharing their own problems and solutions.

Round table hosts

David BloomHead of PR and Deputy Managing Director, Target LiveDavid Bloom is the Head of PR and Deputy Managing Director of Target Live. Davidstarted his career at Guildford's Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. Over the years with TargetLive he has managed the PR for numerous shows in the West End and on nationaltour, as well as those throughout Europe, and handled the publicity for site-specificproductions, dance, operas and arts festivals. Davids current clients include Disney,Andrew Lloyd Webber and Bill Kenwright and this year he has opened the Wizard ofOz, starring Michael Crawford, at the London Palladium, and Dirty Dancing on its firstever UK Tour.

Felicity CowieMarketing, Sales and Box Office Manager, Wiltshire Music Centre and formerBBC Panorama senior staff journalistFelicity Cowie worked as a senior staff journalist for BBC Panorama and BBC News,

winning a Royal Television Society Award, pioneering user generated content on theBBC News Channel and making a film about citizen journalism in 2005 called Have You Got News For Us? for BBC World. She now manages the marketing and boxoffice for Wiltshire Music Centre; a concert hall which attracts Grammy and MercuryAward winners and is a testament to people power and a powerful human desire forthe arts as it started life as the dream of a community. She is passionate aboutengaging with audiences and how to use the whole gamut of communication toolsefficiently. Felicity has also written award-winning short stories, published inanthologies by Harper Collins and Macmillan.

Rgine DebattyBlogger at we-make-money-not-art.comRgine Debatty is a blogger, curator and critic based in London and Turin. She writesabout the intersection between art, science and social issues on her blog we-make-money-not-art.com. She also contributes to several European design and artmagazines and lectures internationally about the way artists, hackers and designersuse science as a critical medium for discussion. She is the co-author of the 'sprint


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book' New Art/Science Affinities Published by: Miller Gallery at Carnegie MellonUniversity and CMU STUDIO for Creative Inquiry.

Caroline FrostEntertainment Editor, The Huffington Post UKCaroline Frost is the Entertainment Editor for The Huffington Post UK, whichlaunched last year. She spent the previous four years working in Australia, based atMelbournes Herald Sun, where she helped to develop the online arm of the NewsLimited titles, working cross-media with print and audio-video teams. Before that, shewas an online producer for BBC News, concentrating on Entertainment, Arts, Profilesand Features.

Nancy GrovesEditor, Guardian Culture Professionals NetworkNancy Groves is a freelance arts and features journalist with a decades experienceboth inside and outside the newsroom. She started out as a local arts reporter atNewsquest South London, turning freelance in 2008, since when she has balancedwriting commitments with a range of online roles at the Guardian. In November 2011,she launched the Guardian Culture Professionals Network, a new online communityfor the arts, culture and heritage sectors, which she also edits. As well as writing forthe Guardian, she contributes regularly to other publications including The Independent , Archants network of London lifestyle magazines and a range ofspecialist arts websites, from Ideas Tap to Whatsonstage.com, previewing, reviewingand interviewing across all arts forms.

Nicola Heywood-Thomas

Presenter, BBC Radio WalesNicola presents Radio Wales' weekly arts show, usually broadcast on Wednesdayevenings. Nicola has been making programmes about the arts for almost twentyyears and is still fascinated by what makes artists tick. Often it's the stories behindthe art form that are just as interesting as the end product and Nicola readily admitsthat she loves talking to performers and artists. She hates the idea that people aresometimes put off the arts because they think it's all too serious and highbrow, and isvery keen to prove that there's something for everyone on the arts scene in Wales.

Liz Hill

Consultant Editor and Director, Arts Professional Liz Hill was a senior lecturer in marketing at Anglia Polytechnic University (nowAnglia Ruskin University) in Cambridge from 1991 to 2001, where she designed andlaunched its MA in Arts Administration. An author of many business books, she is theEditor of ArtsProfessional magazine and, as a qualified market researcher, normallytakes the senior researcher role in the companys many consultancy projects. Shehas recently led a series of seminars for the Arts Marketing Association on thedevelopment of Friends schemes.


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Rebecca JonesArts Correspondent, BBC NewsRebecca Jones is the BBC's Arts Correspondent. She has been in the post since2002. Rebecca first joined the BBC as a News Trainee. During her career there shehas worked as a foreign correspondent, based in Berlin, as the Midlands

correspondent and as a presenter on the BBC News Channel. She has also workedin regional television, presenting the nightly news programme at Anglia.

Phil MillerArts Correspondent, The Herald and Times, ScotlandPhil Miller has been Arts Correspondent for The Herald since 2002. Prior to joiningThe Herald , the Scottish national newspaper based in Glasgow, he was Scottish ArtsCorrespondent for the Sunday Times , Arts Reporter for The Scotsman , and beganhis career as a reporter at The Glaswegian weekly newspaper. He was named ArtsWriter of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards in 2010, and was runner up in 2011.

Born in Kent in 1973, he grew up in Barnard Castle, County Durham, and studiedHistory at the University of Edinburgh, and journalism at the University of Strathclyde.

Rob SharpFreelance arts journalist (former arts correspondent The Independent) Rob Sharp is a freelance arts journalist. Until recently he worked as artscorrespondent of The Independent and i newspapers where he was primarilyresponsible for covering the daily arts news diary for the two newspapers, along withregularly supplying exclusive news content. He worked for The Independent for fouryears, reporting to both the news and features editors. He has previously suppliedregular arts stories to The Observer , and more occasionally The Sunday Telegraph and The Guardian . He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and previouslyshortlisted as young journalist of the year at the British Press Awards.

Mark ShentonTheatre critic Sunday Express and The Stage Mark Shenton is theatre critic of the Sunday Express , writes a daily blog for The Stage (www.thestage.co.uk/shenton) for whom he also regularly writes reviews andfeatures, and is London correspondent for Playbill.com. He is a contributing editor toTheatrevoice.com , for whom he hosts monthly round table audio critical discussions.He has also written liner notes for many albums, and regularly hosts public interviewsat the Donmar Warehouse and National Theatre. He can be followed on Twitter@shentonstage.

John WyverWriter and producer, IlluminationsJohn Wyver is a writer and producer with Illuminations. His recent broadcast workincludes the performance films of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Hamlet (BBC,2009) and Macbeth (BBC, 2010). He is currently preparing a film for television of the


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RSC's Julius Caesar , directed by Gregory Doran. He has been producing arts andmedia documentaries for thirty years, and his broadcast work has been honouredwith a BAFTA, an International Emmy, and a Peabody Award. He has also producedfilms for Illuminations' own DVD publishing initiative, as well as projects for a widerange of cultural organisations and for iPad and other tablets. John is a Senior

Research Fellow at the University of Westminster where he is principal investigator ofthe three-year AHRC-funded research project Screen Plays: Theatre Plays on British Television (2011-14; more details at http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/). He is theauthor of Vision On: Film, Television and the Arts in Britain (2007), and he blogsregularly at www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk.

These hosts were joined by the keynote speakers Paul Bradshaw and MartinBelam and AMA board member Jane Donald accompanied Rob Sharp, feedingback on his behalf at the Plenary.


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Plenary

During the final session, the 14 Round Table hosts came together with Tim Wood aschair to feedback points raised during the round tables and for a final discussion.

Tim Wood (TW) welcomed delegates back to the main theatre and introduced the

round table hosts, inviting each to say something about their round tables.

Rgine Debatty (RD): We were talking about blogs, with many points around theproblem with bloggers. Where do you find the bloggers that matter to yourorganisation, how do we identify the ones who are interested in what you are doingand can write an informed, intelligent or interesting review? And how do we evaluatetheir work or measure their impact?

We had a few answers. We could look at how many people follow them on Twitter, orhow many like their Facebook page. Comments dont seem to be a good measure aspeople dont comment on blogs as much as they used to. One good suggestion wasthat we could ask our audience which blogs they are following. The main challengefor press officers though, is that we have work to do looking at blogs and evaluatingwhich ones are good and have talent. There is a question about how we interact withbloggers, with ideas such as extra value through backstage elements suggestedthough many felt they should be treated no differently from other press contacts.

Caroline Frost (CF): The Huffington Post has a bloggers forum which is a greatopportunity for anyone wanting to blog themselves or get people in their talent field todiscuss their experiences. It is difficult to compete for space though and one of theways of dealing with this is to concentrate on topicality and the personalities involved,having confidence in the story, realising that it can find an audience that so manytrashy things that dont deserve an audience currently do.

Phil Miller (PM): We talked about the value of coverage in traditional newspaperscompared to the digital sphere. It was felt that senior members of staff, directors etcstill preferred piles of press cuttings from a broadsheet such as The Daily Telegraphrather than diffuse digital coverage. We also talked about the difference betweenbloggers and journalists and which we trusted most if we had a difficult story forexample how does each react? The white noise of the digital sphere cansometimes cover up the need for good relationships between press officers and

media. This is where a telephone call can be more impactful than hoping people willpick up our information. The debate about exclusives continued [from the morning].We agreed that newspapers may want something distinctive and unique and beingable to provide this, whether as an exclusive or not could be valuable.

John Wyver (JW): When I wrote down the four ideas of our discussion they spelledDREC but I hope that it was actually better than that. Data is an opportunity. Therewas a heart warming story that came from the Imperial War Museum at Duxfordwhere they discovered that the log books of the Battle of Britain flights worked out as


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Tweets very well. Therefore the museum used Twitter to repeat these logs over thecourse of a summer to great effect. Resources were obviously a key question. Howdo you find the time and energy to extend your activities with all these newopportunities? Related to this was evaluation assessing how well each of theseactivities was working. How are they furthering the strategy of the organisation?

Understanding systems of measurement was crucial.

The most interesting discussion was around control - finding a balance betweenlevels of control and opening up the processes and activities of an organisation. Thiswas especially important related to the sensitivities of artists, actors etc which makesit difficult for us to find the right balance.

David Bloom (DB): It feels like a PR version of Take me out up here. The sessionswith PR officers contained vigorous discussions around issues such as exclusives.Yes, if Usain Bolt breaks his ankle it will be difficult to keep that secret. However,taking the analogy further it could be that there is an interview to be had with UsainBolt and that is the sort of thing we can control. An important unsaid issue was thequestion of whether journalism itself is under threat and therefore PR officersneeding to redefine their roles. It might be about moderating what is happening ratherthan controlling it. There will also be the need to continue working with traditional

journalists like Rebecca and Mark who are the trusted, credible voices. They havevalidity because of the quality of what they write. A challenge over the years will bethe way we work with the core press as well as develop new tools and contacts.

Mark Shenton (MS): As a working journalist and theatre critic who multi-tasks andmulti-platforms as never before, so PRs will have to accommodate lots of different

interactions. Its a question of who leads and who follows and who owns the story?Journalists are primary distributors but are no longer the only distributors instead ofthem being the last word on a show they are now the first word. There is so muchnoise out there now that figures like Michael Billington of The Guardian are becomingeven more powerful because they can stand out above the noise.

That conversation needs to be monitored as never before. For example, how do yourespond to negative comments? Theres a danger of being too defensive or givingtoo much of a pr message. Twitter accounts from theatres which are just tweets outrather than an opportunity for conversation will be ignored by journalists.

Rebecca Jones (RJ): The overwhelming message from my two tables was that onesize does not fit all. There is a place for new media, especially for engaging withcurrent audiences but its complementary to not instead of traditional media. There isnothing to beat human personal contact. We discussed a brave new world in whichthere was no journalism, BBC etc, but there was a feeling that there would always beopinion formers and experts who are above the fray who are respected. So its acase of finding a balance between New and Traditional Media.


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Paul Bradshaw (PB): There was an interesting tension on the tables, between fearof what social media could lead to and passion about the way that the arts could becovered. Passion for the arts is a real opportunity compared to areas such aseducation or health. This idea of openness is a key one. It needs to start with thepeople who work in your organisation, ensuring information is shared amongst

everyone. The organisation now goes beyond the walls of your office or venue so itsimportant to include audiences and users. They have a vital role to play.

The issue of print media vs. bloggers/online media was interesting because print isbased on commercial necessity with limited space for mass audiences. On the otherhand bloggers can be unreliable but they have niche strengths and add to thecoverage that traditional print media can provide.

Nancy Groves (NG): Im here because we cover these issues for the GuardianCulture Professionals Network which is also an example of the open journalism wehave been talking about. In our two sessions we discussed control of message andquality and also control of space the realisation that arts organisations might haveto send people away from their website and be confident that theyll come back. Wealso talked about planning and strategy, with a strong call not to throw out long termplans, but leaving space for us to react and be responsive. Its also more importantthan ever to be targeted about who we are talking to because of the number ofpossibilities. This involves connecting with individuals and being personal about it.Connecting with other networks and picking the right ones is vital. Finally, in bothsessions it was thought necessary to change the cultures within our ownorganisations, because some are not so sold on these new approaches.

Jane Donald (JD): Many of the things from our session have already been said,which is probably good as it means there is validity to what we are saying. One thingI would add though is that so many of the key challenges and skills of press officersremain the same. It needs someone to say that the time when you are drunk at thelaunch is not the best time to Tweet about something from the company account. Itcould also be about listening to people audiences, journalists etc or balancing risksand opportunities for the organisation.

Felicity Cowie (FC): Ive worked for a regional newspaper when we had onemachine which could access the internet and we had to book time to use it, Ive also

worked for BBC Panorama and am now marketing manager at a concert hall so it isinteresting to see this from different perspectives. We talked about social media andthe need to be generous not just talking about yourself all the time or advocateothers during the quiet times and then cash in the favours. There was a concernabout how we can add on all these extra things to our already busy schedules. Weneed not to terrify ourselves and introduce small steps that we can follow.

Martin Belam (MB): There was a nice combination of people who were at the shinyend of new technology producing apps that led to an exhibition installation and others


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who were still printing out press releases and putting them in the post because thatswhat journalists wanted. There were some good stories such as the museum thatproduced mysterious paper sculptures, with the photographs arousing a great deal ofinterest. Another debate centred on media going direct to the creatives and missingout the press officer as mediator. An interesting parallel to JDs point about core

competencies of press officers not having changed is also relevant to the peopleworking in the media and their competencies.

Nicola Heywood-Thomas (NHT): What didnt come out of my sessions was anysense of fear about working with social media. There was a strong belief howeverthat it would be a mistake to abandon traditional media. Many of the artsorganisations were very active. The National Theatre of Scotland has extended itspress calls to social media which has been successful. The National Museum ofScotland has been successful targeting young people with Twitter for their late nightevents. On the other hand, one organisation told of bloggers responding why are you

inviting us to this rubbish you patronising bastards? when invited to a press eventTwitter accounts should be personalised. If it comes from a pr or marketingdepartment it could be a bit too salesy. The Wales Millennium Centre has a dailymeeting when they work out what they will be putting out that day. There were alsointeresting points about the necessity for transparency to the audience which socialmedia provides. In some circles there is also still the need for the expert critic.

Liz Hill (LH): Many basics still exist. A relationship with a journalist is important, agood story is key, as is timing and good writing. I will tell a story of my own, since Iam at the end of the line and it shows the way in which a story can snowball. My 12

year old son hit the headlines last year because he decided to wear a skirt to school,in protest at not being allowed to wear shorts. He phoned up the Cambridge Newsand got his picture on the front page. This brought in the local television, followed bynational TV, it was picked up on Twitter and 24 hours later he was trending globally.This in turn interested international TV and by the end of the week the story had beenon When Have I Got News For You and the Radio 4 News Quiz. We thought thatwould be the end of it, but bloggers then picked up on it and made it a human rightsstory. By the end of the year he had been nominated for a human rights award and itwas again in the reviews of the year. It seems to have calmed down now, but itshows how a story can snowball.

Lynsey Martenstyn, Churchill Theatre: What if there arent enough credible journalists in your region, if youre working regionally as I am?

MS: There are huge pressures on regional journalists. Frequently, there will beseveral openings on the same night which doesnt help perhaps arts organisationscould talk to each other. Also, many critics arent paid travel expenses anymore. Soconsider the implications. You could find your own critics / bloggers as wevediscussed, cultivating them and encouraging them to submit their material to the local


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press. And remember that Lyn Gardner turning up might not be the answer to yourproblems she might hate your show.

DB: Its not always as simple as there being no credible critics out there. It may bebeyond the responsibility of the press officer. It could be a wider issue with yourtheatre/venue itself and you might need to talk about the programmer/director aboutdealing with this in a holistic way.

NG: One of the unspoken points about theatres in the outer ring of London (asChurchill Theatre is) is that they are treated as regional venues and dont get thecoverage that Inner London venues have. A possible answer might be to collaboratewith other arts organisations, working together and pooling resources.

TW: Its interesting that we are talking about a lack of authoritative voices at thesame time as we are looking at the explosion of online work.

RJ: Youve got to have good news and you need to be realistic about what willactually be covered. For example, The Today Programme is a political programmewith very little space/time for coverage of the arts. Theres nothing wrong with goodlocal coverage.

Charli Hill, Mac: One of the things that has come out of today is thinking more about mobile and looking a few years ahead. What are your tips for staying ahead of the curve? What is next on the horizon?

MB: Some people find it really dull, but technology blogs are useful. I met someonewho used to be a futurologist and when asked about what would happen in 5 years

time used to say I dont do short term predictions. Its quite difficult think aboutwhere things were 5 years ago and imagine the sort of developments that havehappened. Data connectivity will soon be so fast well find it bizarre that it ever wasntthat way and likewise that you wouldnt have a hand held device that connected tothe internet instantly. Also, I think any area where there are middle people is going tostruggle because it will be much easier to go direct (for example Estate Agents). Itsfascinating and terrifying.

Deirdre Figaro, Craftspace: I feel encouraged that social media platforms need the multiplicity of authorities, because some parts of the arts have been stuck with the

same people of reputation having a big influence for many years so I welcome the democratisation which will bring through a new generation of opinion formers.

TW: Im going to turn this into a question for CF is this something which TheHuffington Post does is this where new opinion formers can be found?

CF: It acknowledges itself to be a curator of content rather than just a provider so itsquite visionary in that sense. My position in entertainment and arts is quite


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straitjacketed in that I am neither a critic nor a sycophantic genuflector. It leaves thefield wide open for new voices wide ranging diverse outside of London.

MS: One of the interesting things is that the Huffington Post is based on a businessmodel of not paying contributors, which is free journalism and is undermining

journalism, period.

TW: There is an issue in this for all of us where is the money coming from?

MS: Ariana Huffington made $315m from selling the site and she hasnt paid any ofthe contributors to write the blog content that fuelled that site. Well be all out ofbusiness because no-one will pay us and what well be left with is a load of wellmeaning amateurs. Those who are blogging for free are only able to do it becausethey are being paid for other work they are doing. You dont have people turning upat accountancy firms and offering to do that work for free. We are being destroyedand it is organisations like the Huffington Post that are doing it.

TW: Will the money come from the best stories though? Are you being paid for beingan authoritative voice?

PM: I dont think any newspaper has worked out how to make money from theinternet yet. I do worry about the truth of what is being said by commentators some ofthe time. The pyramid that we looked at this morning with verification at the top beingvery small worried me.

PB: The reason that verification is small and at the top is that it is built on all the otherthings below it documentation etc. Its where the greatest value is and its

something to aim for. I agree with some of the points made about free journalism, butI think its unfair to blame the Huffington Post because it is to do with wider pointsabout the media industry. Whilst some writers dont get paid, they may receive otherbenefits such as gaining coverage for the arts. I also take issue with the idea that itis only people who are paid who have the only or best contribution to make.Journalism is still healthy but the industry of publishing is in a crisis and we do needto find a way of supporting good journalism.

TW: A lot of what we have spoken about is the speed. Is there a danger that we arelosing the capacity to reflect and take time?

PM: We have to be quick but there is a risk of getting it wrong. People read the newsinstantly so why does anyone buy the paper the next morning? They want theanalysis and deeper elements, background and explanation but whether this issustainable in the long term is another question.

NHT: No-one is going to expect something very deep from a Tweet this isunderstood.


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NG: Sometimes MS will tweet about something as he comes out of a show and thenwrite a blog or deeper article and review later. Its just that there are morepossibilities now.

MS: All the different elements can fit together they have various different roles.

NG: While its necessary for journalists to have a distance, it is important to show thepassion for what we are doing.

FC: This role of journalists handing down the news has changed because everyoneis their own editor using Google to find the story we want.

DB: An important word that is missing here is accountability its relevant for manyof the things we have talked about in the last few minutes. The people on the tablesall have accountability to their organisations. MS has accountability to his paper andonline portal. Who is the person putting out a Tweet which is inaccurate, even if it isdeleted, accountable to?

FC: There is always someone in the village that we respect and Im not sure that thathas changed. We respect their opinion.

DB: I disagree slightly because people can be influenced by some things onlinewithout really understanding where it comes from.

MS: You could sue a blogger for libel but they wont do so because they arent a bigorganisation with money. They will go after a paper but not an individual (eventhough thats possible) because that is the only thing that makes commercial sense.

Rebecca Willett, Sheffield Theatres Trust: Liz, did your son get to wear shorts? LH: Its still up for debate. It will be a democratic decision made between parents,pupils and teachers!

TW: That seems to be a good place to stop. Its been a fascinating day looking athow the arts and media can work together. Ten years or so ago if there had been agroup of mainly press officers on the floor and mainly media people on the stage thedebate would have been around how do we get more coverage? But it hasnt beenabout this and it seems that this is partly because the arts and the media are nowworking together, facing similar challenges and trying to do many of the same things.


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Delegate List

Anna Cook, ArtichokeChloe Barker, Arts Council EnglandHelen Draper, artsdepot

Liz Hill, ArtsProfessionalFrances Richens, ArtsProfessionalKeith Motson, Association of British OrchestrasGerry Wall, Audiences UKRebecca Jones, BBC NewsNicola Heywood-Thomas, BBC Radio WalesRuth Saunders, Belgrade TheatreHenning Maalsnes, Bergen Philharmonic OrchestraMandy Rose, Birmingham HippodromeSally Pennington, Birmingham Hippodrome

Clare Jepson-Homer, Birmingham Repertory TheatreEleanor Miles, Birmingham Repertory TheatreSimon Harper, Birmingham Royal BalletLiz Cartwright, Cartwright CommunicationsSabina Maharjan, Cartwright CommunicationsLynsey Martenstyn, Churchill TheatreCat McNaught, Citizens TheatreYasmin Khan, Clore Leadership ProgrammeJill Read, Crafts CouncilLisa Falaschi, Craftspace

Louise Booth, ElementasJohn Walker, English Touring OperaStuart Mackenzie, EventScotlandRebecca Byers, Festival City Theatres TrustRob Sharp, Freelance arts journalistMartin Belam, Guardian Media GroupNancy Groves, Guardian Media GroupJonathan Goodacre, Gusto Arts ManagementSandra Reynolds, Heart n SoulAndrew Willshire, Horniman MuseumShuk Kwan Liu, Horniman MuseumJohn Wyver, IlluminationsSimon Drysdale, ImpactAlex Knight, Imperial War Museum NorthTim Woodall, IntermusicaEsther Blaine, IWM DuxfordKitty Greenleaf, Jo Allan PRSofia Nazar-Chadwick, Lakeside Arts Centre


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Jenny Morgan, Liverpool EmpirePippa Lea, Liverpool Everyman & PlayhouseDominic Beaumont, Liverpool Everyman & PlayhouseTom Hunter, London Calling Arts LtdTom Butler, London Calling Arts Ltd

Anita Mistry, London Calling Arts LtdCharli Hill, MacPaul Bradshaw, Media consultant, author and trainerKatharine Sorensen, Milton Keynes GalleryJustine Watkins, Motionhouse Dance TheatreSusan Gray, National Museums ScotlandEmma Schad, National Theatre of ScotlandAndrew Neilson, National Theatre of ScotlandCatrin Rogers, National Theatre WalesJan Singleton, NESTA

Nayo Hunt, New Art ExchangeStacey Pedder, New Wimbledon Theatre & StudioAmanda Howson, Northampton Arts Management TrustRuth Burke-Kennedy, Northern BalletLynn Hanna, Nottingham ContemporaryLindsey Porter, Opera NorthVicki Foster, Orchard TheatreNatasha Stehr, Orchestra of the Age of EnlightenmentMadeleine Woolgar, Oxford PlayhouseKate Stirrup, Palace & Opera HouseFrances Moran, People UnitedJoanna Savage, Royal Academy of DanceVronique Van Passel, Royal Museum of Fine Arts AntwerpJane Donald, Royal Scottish National OrchestraHelen Dunning, Royal Welsh College of Music and DramaAbigail Desch, Sadler's WellsKingsley Jayasekera, Sadler's WellsSuzanne Bull, School of Media and PerformanceAnn Nugent, Scottish BalletRebecca Storey, Shakespeare's GlobeRebecca Willett, Sheffield Theatres TrustStephanie Lilley, Somerset House TrustGary Andrews, SpotlightMark Shenton, Sunday Express and The StageDavid Bloom, Target LiveMarika Player, Target LiveJames Lever, Target LiveGuy Chapman, Target Live


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Amanda Stucklin, The Goldsmiths' CompanyPhil Miller, The Herald and Times Group, ScotlandCaroline Frost, The Huffington Post UKMel Hide, The National ArchivesAngela Owusu, The National Archives

Tim Wood, The PlaceMarta Bogna, The PlaceRachel Williams, The PlaceBeckie Smith, The Roses TheatreRachel Knowles, Theatre Royal BrightonKate Raines, Theatre Royal WinchesterCaroline Durbin, ThinkTank TrustLyle Bignon, Town Hall & Symphony HallSarah Dee, Traverse TheatreJane Richardson, UK Centre for Carnival Arts

Nia Jones, Wales Millennium CentreRegine Debatty, we-make-money-not-art.comPaula Rabbitt, West Yorkshire PlayhouseAmanda Trickett, West Yorkshire PlayhouseFelicity Cowie, Wiltshire Music CentreGemma Nethersole, Worthing TheatresEsther Currie, YDanceLaura Butler, Yvonne Arnaud TheatreJulie Aldridge, AMAIsky Roberts, AMAAli Gannage-Stewart, AMANeil Parker, AMAHelen Bolt, AMA

Documents

AMA PR Summit Report2012