The Umbrella Arts Organization : an analysis of how the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County manages and markets itself

• Main Author: Stover, Shannon Page
• Format: Others
• Published: ScholarWorks@UNO 1998
• Online Access: http://scholarworks.uno.edu/aa_rpts/82; http://scholarworks.uno.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1081&context=aa_rpts

This paper is the result of a three-month internship experience with the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County in North Carolina. The purpose of the internship was to gain experience in marketing and managing a nonprofit umbrella arts organization. During the three-month period much time was focused on special event planning and implementation. A significant amount of time was also spent on advocacy for a proposed multi-discipline arts complex to be located in downtown Fayetteville by 2003. This paper began as an analysis of how umbrella arts organizations --in particular the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County --market themselves to their given publics. As the course of the internship progressed, the recurring theme that emerged was not how arts organizations market themselves, but why they choose not to focus much attention on marketing. With money tight, and mission fulfilling programs of utmost importance, marketing initiatives were often left aside as a luxury that could not be afforded. It can be noted in Appendix I that no money was budgeted for marketing in the 1997-98 fiscal year. As Libby McNeill Seymore, President of the Arts Council said "Marketing falls low on the totem pole as far as where we are going to spend our money." What follows is an analysis of the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County; from how a board meeting is run, to how the staff interacts with one another, to the programs that make the Arts Council what it is. From the analysis, coupled with past history it will become apparent why programs and activities of the Arts Council are given priority over marketing initiatives. That is not to say that a lack of marketing hinders the growth of the organization. Rather, this paper will give individuals a basis for understanding why these choices are made and why, without a concerted effort within the organization to place marketing as a priority, things are not likely to change.