Audiences NI hold Media and PR Event for Arts Organisations
Audiences NI held a hugely successful Media and PR event at the UTV studios on 18th January.
Arts and cultural organisations met with members of the Northern Ireland media to encourage discussion on the best practice to use when approaching journalists with press material.
The event was attended by 35 arts organisations from across Northern Ireland and included talks from Peter McVerry, Station Manager at U105, Marie Louise Muir from BBC Arts Extra, Theatre Critic Jane Coyle, Gary McDonald Business Editor at the Irish News and Belfast Telegraph Arts Journalist Matt McCreary. The delegates also had the opportunity to ask questions to individual panel members during the Question and Answer Session.
“I thought the event at UTV was very successful. I have worked in marketing for quite some time but this was a good opportunity to learn how best to approach the media and I will certainly get good value from it! I hope that the journalists thought the same. There is nothing like "putting a face to a name" when it comes to making the approach easier.” said Linda Alexander, Music Events Direct.
“We wanted to provide an opportunity to bring together journalists and arts professionals to discuss how each can work with the others to provide an opportunity to discuss expectations, pressures, constraints and ambitions on both sides, so that we can justly celebrate the successes and achievements of the NI arts sector.” said Steven Hadley, CEO of Audiences NI.
There are few arts organisations within Northern Ireland that have the luxury of a dedicated press role to help promote their events and venues. With many theatre companies and festivals not producing work on a year-round basis, it can also be difficult to maintain regular contact with journalists and to build up relationships.
As the recession progresses, newspapers have seen the need to cut editorial from their pages often resulting in the Arts being left on the cutting room floor. This event has ensured that those with a story to promote are using the correct channels to contact the appropriate person ensuring the best chance for their story to be published.
