Gallery
“…the theme was fantastic and felt that the break out sessions were highly relevant to the theme...thoroughly enjoyed the whole day as it provided great relevance to the concept of building relationships with audiences and other service providers.”
from 2009
“The little details made a real difference - making it the most memorable, engaging and personalised conferences I've attended - the themed touches all combined to make it feel like a really special event - and made me feel special! Keynotes were excellent.”
from 2009
Culture Sparks Conferences
The Culture Sparks team have hosted four conferences, each time bringing together over one hundred speakers and delegates from across the cultural sector to share intelligence and explore innovations. Working together to highlight the key developments within the sector the conferences offered delegates and speakers alike the opportunity to question the big developments affecting the cultural sector.
Spreading the Love: The Art of Appeal
Platform Easterhouse, Glasgow - 2009
John Holden, of Demos and City University, opened the day by exploring whose remit it is to achieve broad consensus on why the arts have value. The day included keynotes and sessions on understanding and developing appeal for the arts through messaging (David Archibald, University of Glasgow), crm (Roger Tomlinson, international consultant), design (Colin Burns, Martach Associates) and psychological analysis (Karen Thomson, Glasgow Caledonian University). Shai Eilon of Tesco related his commerical experience to the international arts sector, while Matt Lehrman of Alliance for Audiences provided a practical example of audience and programme matchmaking - Showup.com. Uses of social media to generate affilitation came from Mediasnackers’ DK in his 'Love Bug' sessions. Continuing the love theme, the conference ended with The GaGA awards ceremony, a celebration of the best initiatives, leadership and use of intelligence across the arts and cultural sector.
Cultural Connections
The National Piping Centre, Glasgow - 2008
‘Cultural Connections’ in 2008 sought to draw connections and share intelligence between all those engaging the public in arts and cultural activities in Scotland, asking the question “What’s in a Name?” Educationalists offer participation; marketers refer to sales; artistic directors and curators talk of excellence. For tourism chiefs there is a focus on economic impact, to the heritage sector visitors are key while community workers strive for access. We all share a unique advantage in that we enjoy some form of direct access to the ‘audiences’ we seek. Yet the challenge of how to attract more people and find new ways to nurture their curiosity about arts and culture remains an issue for us all. Delegates and speakers from the arts, tourism, design, politics, heritage and education sectors participated to identify ways of working together to excite and engage more of Scotland’s public in cultural activity. Representatives from the Scottish Government, local councils, Napier and Strathclyde Universities, the Scottish Arts Council, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and VisitScotland debated the potential to exploit our combined impact.
Maybe Tomorrow: Extending your Reach, Revenue and Reputation
City Halls, Glasgow - 2007
The conference brought into focus a whole spectrum of initiatives underway at local, national and international level to develop audiences for the arts, including some of those proposed by the Cultural Commission. The day also looked at how e-technology and the latest research tools could be applied to extend our reach, revenue and reputation. With this clarity of vision in mind, our colleagues took us through a light-hearted look at what they want to start, stop and keep doing to build audiences for their organisations in the ‘Chit Chat’ session. It was during this event that The GaGAs – awards presented to individuals and organisations to recognise excellence in audience development – were introduced.
Glasgow 2020: Images of Possibility
City Halls, Glasgow - 2006
Related Information
Connections
Culture Sparks Team
Media
