After going through the summary of the meeting we went on to discuss our proposed strategy.
We came to our proposal by means of creating a 18 month plan for Artstation - They had mentioned to us their philosophy for the youth was to excite, engage and empower. Our mentor Vicky was really pragmatic with this and made the comment that before you can empower or engage you need to EXCITE. Therefore, with our strategic planning we broke it down into three segments:
1) Tactile
2) Strategic
3) Visionary
Appropriately the words ‘excite’ ‘engage’ and ‘empower’ fit respectively with these steps.
I have attached the file where we really nutted out the steps for achieving the ultimate goal of strong youth involvement at Artstation.
We have to remember to have a really pragmatic approach to this. With the restrictions of websites (Auckland City Council regulations) etc being so strict the reality of the situation is that in 8 weeks the “visionary” things (such as a youth dedicated stand alone website) are not reachable and therefore the things that we put in place will need to be steps TOWARDS this final goal but but just as efficient in their effectiveness for communication.
Artstation was really happy with the way we had broken down this plan and I think that after we acknowledged the timeframe in which in would realistically take to get to achieving the visionary goals the task at hand seemed a lot more manageable.
Therefore, after discussing our ideas were have made 3 definite deliverables for this challenge and a 4th that we are hoping to put in place for the start of August however it may fall out of the timeline of the challenge dates but nonetheless it is something we will work towards regardless.
Our first proposed idea is we will create a blog that is an extension of Artstation.
The presentation of the blog will be in the format something like “Artstation presents.. The Art Eater - Auckland’s online guide to the Arts”
The blog itself will be a promotional online space for Artstation however it will become, as we have been calling it, a ‘gig guide’ for the arts. Based on the notion that people who are looking for information online about the arts are also likely to be people that are interested in furthering their own artistic endeavors if we use Arstation’s name in conjunction with supplying this information a connection is made between the two and all the contact information and classes will also be at hand on the same page.
Second to this is the student committee. The blog will be run by a student committee that will be made up from students and uni students. The information supplied on the blog will be mainly aimed at the youth demographic. The incentive for students to be part of this committee is based on a similar principle to YMedia. Students who are interested in the arts/design understand the importance of networking and being as immersed as possible in opportunities to be involved in the arts. Therefore being associated with Artstation and the events that go on there and the people who are involved with it will be a huge advantage to students while Artstation will also have a maintenance system for their digital promotions and blog/website.
The last project that we will undertake for the challenge will be the creation of a promo video about Artstation that is directed at the youth. This will be a great means of communicating with schools, universities and as a permanent fixture of The Art Eater. Within this video we aim to create a crafty, designed, well executed and fun style of video that sells the spirit of Artstation and speaks to the youth.
The three mentioned tasks above are what we are will be putting into action over the next 4 weeks. The fourth idea that we discussed with Artstation was based around the idea that young people who are studying art or interested in it gain a lot from exposure to industry professionals. One of the visionary ideas was that Artstation would be a facility for artist seminars or discussion evenings where people from the industry would come and talk to students about their work, history, industry etc (similar to an intimate AG Ideas or Semi Permanent). It is the idea that getting people physically through the doors of Artstation is going to be a way of promotion via conversation and feedback - there are so few people out there who actually know what goes on inside the Artstation building that facilitating an event that appeals to the youth will be a really good way of introducing on to the other.
So with these ideas in mind we are currently working on the design of the blog and a theme that will be fun and youthful. Will post some of our initial ideas first. Making our video to finalise our proposal currently so that will be up soon too.
We have also created an officially formatted professional design proposal so will pop that up here too.
-Frith
