TFAC CEO Board of Directors Report February 12, 2016

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "TFAC CEO Board of Directors Report February 12, 2016"

Elmer Stevens
5 years ago
Views:

1 TFAC CEO Board of Directors Report February 12, 2016 GENERAL Vote on Business Plan recommendations to take place at March board meeting, special meeting to discuss topic will be held on Wed. Feb. 24 from 6:00-7:00 PM in Room 1101 of City Hall Met with City Manager Mark Jinks and Martin Cohen regarding the report Seeking two new Community At Large board members, candidates will be screened through the Governance Committee and presented to full board in March or April Mural contract with artist Erin Curtis has been signed, proposal will be approved by Arts Commission on Tues. Feb. 16 First Aid/CPR/AED- Cross-organization classes scheduled for Tuesday, March 15 th and Wednesday, March 16 th from 10:00am-1:00pm, all organizations in building have been invited to participate Heather McHahon has been engaged to work the PIF to apply for historic designation for the building Working with TFAA artists to loan work to Mayor Allison Silberberg s office, press event to follow in March PROGRAMS We had a very successful January Second Thursday Art Night. Pat Sargent helped with our progressive printmaking stations, a fun project that encouraged visitors to interact with a DIY station on all three floors. Our February Second Thursday was also well-attended despite the sudden drop in temperature. We featured a collaborative art collage project with contributions from many artists in the building. Guests made their collages on the third floor, and then added their piece to the magnet wall by the Union Street entrance. Special talks at the Alexandria Archaeology Museum focused on the real people and places that inspired the popular PBS Civil War drama Mercy Street. Jazz singer Cat Janice and classical guitarist David Toves provided music for their respective evenings, and both will put me in contact with similar musicians in the area for upcoming Second Thursdays. Despite the snow, Judith Heartsong held her salon on January 21 New Community Partnerships are in development, including a weeklong exhibit with AIA, and a storytelling event with Story District, DC s premier storytelling series. Other possible partnerships include Silent Dance Society, National Symphony Orchestra, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, Hamiltonian, George Mason University, Capital Bop, Baltimore Rock Opera, DC Opera, and Nomadic Jazz. Planning has commenced for new ideas and themes for 2016 Second Thursdays, including possible new partnerships with multicultural organizations, art activist groups, schools, and embassies, and groups like National Museum of Women in the Arts, Your Dog s Best Friend, Sugar Shack, Art Soiree Meet with Convergence on Feb. 1 to evaluate and discuss future of 2016 CRAVE events. FUNDRAISING Working on Feb. 26 and March 1 deadlines for Alexandria Arts Commission and VCA grants Plans are underway to bring in the Factory Society for active involvement with March 150, our annual fundraiser. We successfully secured Society Fair to serve as the caterer/sponsor. 1

2 Met with a contact from Goodworld about how to monetize their fundraising social media tool. Possible ideas would be to tie it in with a Factory Society outreach or Spring to Action. More community partnerships are underway for the 2016 calendar year, with a split of the profits going towards the Torpedo Factory. A recent meeting with Story District could lead the way towards more DC organizations partnering and bringing their audiences and ticket sales to our space. VOLUNTEERS Upcoming Tours Friday, February 12 th at 4:30pm- Girl Scout Troops Friday, March 18 th at 10:00am- J. Michael Lunsford Middle School Day at Work Field Trip Volunteers Info Desk- 7 volunteers regularly Regular Special Events Volunteers- 30 Volunteers Volunteers for Special Events February 2 nd Thursday- 8/8 volunteer slots filled (partnering with Junior League of Washington D.C.) RENTAL EVENTS July 2 Vanessa Esch/Perry, Cory and Leteace Nomadic Jazz August 5 IllMuslims, Kara, Eric/Hallie, Laura/Dave, Leah Woman Investment Seminar (target gallery) September National Arts, Sally, Rebecca and David, Katie, Julie/Nick, Stacy, 8 Megan, Kirk DC Opera October Daniel and Ari, Ryan and Sam, Liz and Harry, Courtney, SSSAS, 6 Ruth November 5 Alex/Doug, Maureen, Gretchen, Glory Days, NFSA December Julia, Promotory holiday party, First Night, Nancy holiday party, 5 Charles Koch Jan Feb 3 Jeff/Meredith, Lily Batmitzvah, Longwood U March 3 16 th Bday party (Elaine), Jackie and Ryan, Mclaughlin Ryder Drumming (Tom) April 4 Alicia & Devin, Seth and Megan, Nicole, Black Opal Gala May 4 Jada, Juliet and Matthew, CRC event, JEsse June Julia/David, West Springfield Prom, Jim and Myra Chris and 5 Emilia, Jenn

3 July 4 Tara/Jeff, Ben/Susan, Aaron/ Danielle, Bess August 3 Sona, Kate, Tina September 5 Alli, Leah, Sam and Eric, Lamiya, Kelly October 5 Martha, Laura, SSSAS, Heidi, Lisa December 2 First Night, Amy and Andy January 1 Hana/Rob Feb March April May June Total 20 Total Inquiries: 36 Tours: 9 MARKETING ATTENDANCE (from Richard) Door Counts January See below WEBSITE (Google Analytics) Total Sessions (new & 15,716 returning) Sitewide Pageviews (new & 49,298 repeat) Pageviews 1 (new & repeat) Home % Pageviews 2 (new & repeat) Artist List % Pageviews 3 (new & repeat) TAL Classes % Pageviews 4 (new & repeat) Artist Search % Pageviews 5 (new & repeat) Event Rentals % Referral Site 1 & session count visitalexandria.com % Referral Site 2 & session count lm.facebook.com % Referral Site 3 & session count facebook.com % Referral Site 4 & session count pinterest.com % Referral Site 5 & session count m.facebook.com % FACEBOOK (Facebook Insights) Facebook Likes (end of 13,155 Total Daily Check-ins 360 Post Likes 1,511 Post Comments 60 Post Shares 62 3

4 TWITTER (SumAll) Twitter Followers (end of 2,475 Retweets 11,700 Retweet Reach 582 Mentions 60 INSTAGRAM (SumAll) Instagram followers (end of 1,035 Likes 398 Mentions via hashtag #torpedofactory Location tags for Torpedo Factory PINTEREST (Pinterest Analytics) Pinterest Followers (end of Original Pins Created from torpedofactory.org Repins of Content Created from torpedofactory.org Average Daily Impressions of Pins from torpedofactory.org , KLOUT SCORE (end of the E-NEWSLETTER Subscribers Open Rate (Industry Average 24.5%) Clicks (Industry Average 3.7%) ONLINE REVIEWS 9, % 1.0% Yelp Review Count 1 Average Yelp Stars 5 Trip Advisor Review Count 26 Average Trip Advisor Stars 4.2 January

5 Yelp Review Quotes Positive It is wonderful to find a center that is actually a full on artists center. The Torpedo Factory Art Center features dozens of independent artists, ranging from wood block prints, to pottery, paintings, photography and more. Most of the stores have the actual artists in them for a change and most of them are quite friendly. Too many places that call themselves art centers are full of chain driven junk, not a inch of this in the Torpedo Factory. Well worth the visit. Trip Advisor Review Quotes Positive This is a rehabilitated old munitions factory that is being put to good use as a working and gallery space for artists of all ilks. We saw beautiful art in the form of sculpture, jewelry, canvas painting of all types, and other art and design forms. Very nice way of getting a sense for local artists. Turning a WWII-era munitions factory into art space was brilliant, and the Torpedo Factory has been the center of waterside Old Town Alexandria for decades. Some of the art is awful; some is pretty good. But all is done with a seriousness of purpose and dedication that is a pleasure to see and the artists are usually very happy to show you around and answer questions. Now a wonderful art center for the greater Washington, DC area, the Torpedo Factory is located at the foot of King Street in Old Town Alexandria. History lovers and art lovers combine to make this a visit that can last for half an hour or all day. I am not a connoisseur of art, either I like it or I don't, I will say however that there is every art medium you could think of and I think there is something for everyone in this place. It is located on the waterfront, and the artists are sometimes working on new works as you tour the galleries. A great place for anyone. The Art Center is really nice and it's great to go in, walk through the many floors of galleries, have some coffee, and take in all the original artwork sculptures, and creativity. I just love many of the artists painting and sculptures and I especially like the artist that does the small table top aquariums, which I first saw in the lobby of Hotel Monaco in Old Town. The prices for the original pieces I think are pretty fair and when you get hungry you can walk to any of the many restaurants nearby. You can also rent the Art Center for private events and I've been to several there, all good. This place is such a neat idea. There are many many small artists studios in an old torpedo factory right on the water in Alexandria. Although we did not have money in our budget to purchase any of the art, we spend a couple of hours looking through each studio, and even talking with a few of the artists. Most studios had business cards, and we took cards from the studios were were particularly interested in, so that we can hopefully order some of their work at a future date. The prices were really out of my price range...but it was fun to window shop. We found the artists very friendly. One of the potters answered my four-year-old granddaughters questions. He told her he'd give her a job when she turned 14. She was thrilled! We didn't realize what this was but this was quite cool. It used to be an old Torpedo Factory so you can see some of the Torpedo's they built and that history of Alexandria. Also there are artisans with little galleries you can view and purchase items. On top of that one of the rooms have some artifacts and history also of Alexandria. It was very nice to stumble upon. Not-So Positive Was very disappointed. Most shops were open but "artists" were not engaged or interested in conversation if you weren't buying. A bit more interaction would have potentially generated some interest to buy. It is (probably) a creative way to utilize an old torpedo factory, but it is not an attraction I would return to see (truthfully, I'm not certain why I went in the first place). 5

6 Wasn't sure what to expect when we went inside. It's basically many art studios under one roof. Cool to walk around but not a museum. Would be nice if they had a little more Torpedo stuff. Unless you're freaky into weird (poor) art, you will probably enjoy your time doing other things near here. And from the outside, you might expect this place to have snack shacks and restaurants inside. Nope. TARGET GALLERY Visitation December 9, 2015 January 12, 2016: 1,949 Visitation for FY16 to date: 19,510 Sales (1/1 2/10) - $2,448 Printed Matter - $ (total commission) March150 (panel sales) - $1, Trending Catalogs - $77.00 Press Trending: Contemporary Art Now: Pinkline Project e-newsletter listing with image Modern Luxury Magazine article with image WETA press release with image Exhibitions Current Exhibition Target Gallery & WCA present Trending: Contemporary Art Now Exhibition Dates: January 23 February 28, 2016 Reception: Friday, February 5 6-8pm Gallery talk at 7pm Target Gallery is pleased to partner with the Women s Caucus for Art to present Trending: Contemporary Art Now! This all-media exhibition shows works by self-identified women artists that are visually compelling, conceptually exciting and driving the direction of contemporary art. The juror for this exhibition was Elizabeth K. Garvey, founder and Director of Garvey Simon Art Access in New York. Upcoming Exhibition March150: 6 th Annual Exhibition Fundraiser Exhibition Dates: March 5-20, 2016 Art Party: Friday, March pm Tickets: $15 advance / $20 door Target Gallery and the Factory Society are raising money for special exhibitions and outreach programming with the 6th Annual Exhibition Fundraiser, March150! The exhibition includes 200+ pieces of original artwork on 10 square panels created by local and regional artists. All of the artwork is $150 each, until the night of the Art Party on March 18 when the work is discounted to only $100! Upcoming Projects We are continuing to work on planning calendars and prospectus for 2016 exhibitions. Calls will run all year long with targeted marketing pushes 6 weeks out from the deadline. It s our hope that this will generate an increase in entries. We are also discussing our entry fees and assessing if it might be beneficial to lower them in order to broaden our pool of applicants. March150 panels are still on sale and we have less than 100 left. We have 25 Torpedo Factory artists participating this year and plan to highlight them and provide information about where to see more of their work. We ve also partnered 6

7 with the Factory Society to promote the fundraiser as an opportunity for young collectors and Society members will be volunteering at the event. Society Fair has come on as a food sponsor and will be providing heavy appetizers for the event. We re continuing to work on securing a beer and wine sponsor, and hope to have all sponsors confirmed in the next few weeks. FACILITY Jan Jan Visitation 29,302 34,361 Gift Shop Sales $6, $6, Repairs: one light fixture in studio 7, sink in 3rd floor mensroom (cleanup sink), emergency light outside of 321 7

TFAC CEO Board of Directors Report January 15, 2016

TFAC CEO Board of Directors Report January 15, 2016 Update on Business Plan The report from consultants Martin Cohen and Mark Anderson (Cultural Planning Group) has been completed and distributed to the