In the past the Arts Council has ordered postcards for most or all of our arts events ranging from concerts to fundraising galas to gallery exhibits and receptions. Those postcards are then mailed out to curated selection of our database, taking into account the patron's interests. We also distribute postcards in other ways, for example, giving a stack of them to exhibiting artists to give to their friends and family to promote their exhibits. Additionally, all remaining postcards are distributed throughout our facilities, area galleries, and local businesses and visitors centers so patrons and visitors can learn about upcoming events and take a card to keep the key information on hand.

We have also printed brochures for local music festivals. We design the brochures so they can be mailed and distributed the same as our postcards, but also include day-of information such a festival maps and distribute the brochures throughout the event.

Also, we print rack cards for long-term programs such as our yearly gallery calendar and annual membership drive. The rack cards are included in solicitation letters as well as distributed and available to be picked up at all local visitors centers, arts centers, and hotels.

The Arts Council of York County plans to continue utilizing postcards, brochures, and rack cards, as well as begin to add in new elements such as booklets. This year, we are planning to print and distribute physical copies of our annual literary magazine, the Cotton Alley Writers' Review. This magazine is typically only available digitally, highlights all of the adult and youth winners in our poetry and short story competitions. We hope that offering physical copies will help promote and spread the literary arts throughout the region, as well as promote and encourage submissions to next year's competition.

Through the years, the marketing team at the Arts Council of York County has seen time and time again how integral printed promotions and direct mailings are to the success of an arts event, and thus our organization and the arts community in our county. There are several target demographics which we have found to have a far greater response to physical promotions than digital promotions.

Two of those demographics are are individuals are locals who are not yet involved in the arts in York County, and travelers interested in arts related activities. Those groups are difficult to reach digitally since they are not signed up for our newsletter or connected to us on social media. Print marketing allows us to meet those audiences where they are, whether that is a local brewery who has a stack of our festival brochures, a hotel that has our yearly gallery calendar in their display, or the home of a family member who received a postcard in the mail and hung it on their refrigerator.

We are excited and ready to return to fostering the arts in our community, but are faced with the added challenge of a significantly reduced marketing budget due to decreased funding and lack of event revenue. Renewing our printing grant will help us at the Arts Council to continue to promote our arts events off-line, and therefore help us uplift local artists, support our arts economy, and provide arts focused activities for students and adults in York County.

Learn More About This Organization:

The Arts Council of York County connects people through art, culture, dance, drama, film & music. Founded in 1977, the Arts Council of York County strives to serve York County, South Carolina and the surrounding area. The Arts Council of York County's mission is to create arts programming that encourages education, economic development and arts advocacy through unique art experiences that engage the community to make York County a regional arts destination. The vision is to create and support a thriving, diverse and vibrant arts community in York County.

One of the many ways that we at the Arts Council strive to achieve the goals of our mission and vision is to create arts focused community programs for local and regional artists and everyone else living in York County, SC. The Arts Council of York County's programming covers a diverse range of art forms and includes programs and events such as monthly artist vendor markets, an international short film festival, concerts featuring local and regional bands, art classes for beginners, poetry and short story writing competitions, visual art competitions, speed drawing tournaments, and much more!

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