Press Buzz & Member Quotes

"Here's something to make life even sweeter – the ArtsCard." – Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"New ArtsCard membership definitely has its privileges." – Dallas Morning News

 

Press Buzz

 

Going Out

Helen Holzer, Staff, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Wanna be the Clark Howard of the arts? Get into theater productions and concerts at big discounts? Then you need to get your ArtsCard. 

 

ArtsCard members receive continual updates on shows and discounts, including performances by Actor's Express, the Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Opera, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Aurora Theatre, Dad's Garage, Georgia Shakespeare Festival, Horizon Theater, Neighborhood Playhouse, New Jomandi Productions, Peachtree Playhouse, Shakespeare Tavern, Theater of the Stars, Theatre Gael and Theatrical Outfit. Venue discounts are also available at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, Michael C. Carlos Museum, the Fox Theatre, High Museum of Art, Libby's: A Cabaret and Philips Arena.

You'll receive two-for-one tickets or sharp discounts with your membership at these venues.

Several metro night clubs and visual arts venues also give discounts to ArtsCard members, and cardholders are invited to private parties before some productions.

Jennifer Self, director of ArtsCard, says, "Sales are going great. We've got almost 2,500 members after one year. Now we're trying to involve more businesses, inviting b

usinesses to use ArtsCard as a gift to employees or clients." She said Cornerstone Bank is using ArtsCard as a marketing tool, and Platinum Tower Real Estate and some Harry Norman agents are also using ArtsCard as a client gift. Recently in Asheville the Georgia Realtors Association gave 400 ArtsCards to attendees at its annual convention.

"We send out a weekly e-mail on Wednesdays" to update cardholders, she said. This gives members a monthly arts calendar at a glance.

 

Tom Sime's Top 10 Local Arts Events

Tom Sime, The Dallas Morning News

#6 – The ArtsCard: Started by an Atlanta company, the program came to Dallas offering discounted admission to museums and performing-arts events, passes to film screenings and other benefits. In its first year, the program attracted about 1,000 members.

 

Trek and Treats

Tom Sime, The Dallas Morning News

Branch Out Art Treks, which provides monthly art tours, goes to the growing artists' haven of Denison on Sunday. A portion of the proceeds from this and future Art Treks benefits the Civic League, a nonprofit organization providing fine arts scholarships. Participants will meet at the Marlin Day Spa Boutique, 13545 Webb Chapel, at 8:15 a.m. for continental breakfast. Then they'll board a bus and head for Denison, arriving at 10:30 a.m. About 15 galleries and artists' studios will be open for the tour, which also includes wine and cheese on the ride home at 5 p.m., arriving back in Dallas about 6:30. Tickets are $78, with 15 percent off for ArtsCard members. The first 10 to sign up will get a free ArtsCard membership and the accompanying discount. Call Linda Haddock at  972-523-7103 . 

 

ArtsCard gets off to a good start

Shawn Floyd, staff writer, Plano Star Courier 

It seems ArtsCard is doing well. ArtsCard if you will remember, is the group out of Atlanta providing discounts to the different cultural events around town. They are hoping to add some North Carolina cities to their program. And they will soon approach other cities in Texas, such as Houston and Austin, to join their group. Some of the new venues that have signed on with this group are Lyric Stage, ICT Mainstage, The Dallas Opera, Dallas Children’s Theater, Dallas Chamber Orchestra, and the SMU Meadows School of the Arts. The Plano Symphony Orchestra, Plano Civic Chorus, and The Classics Theatre and Art for Children are local groups that have signed on with ArtsCard. Besides the performing arts groups and the museums that have signed on as ArtsCard members, individuals can also sign up and receive discounts. For example, with ArtsCard members can receive as much as 25 percent off tickets to Texas Ballet Theater’s “Cleopatra” Oct. 22 performance at the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth. Or they can get a 20 percent discount off tickets for The Classics “Peter and the Wolf” production on Oct. 17 at the Eisemann Center in Richardson.

 

ArtsCard Picking Up Steam Locally

Tom Sime, The Dallas Morning News

The ArtsCard program, which offers members discounted admission to museums and performing arts events, passes to film screenings, and other benefits, launched in Dallas-Fort Worth in June. So how's it doing?  

"Pretty well. We've got more venues now," says Jennifer Langley, president of ArtsCard, which was started by Atlanta's Aware House publicity firm in that city.

"We're still trying to grow the membership. There's around 1,000 members" in Dallas, she says. "In Atlanta, there's about 5,000, but we've been going for five years. It does take time to grow. But I feel pretty good about it so far. And the venues have been really receptive."

The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, for instance, hosted Taste of the Arts in early August. The combination showcase of ArtsCard member institutions and local restaurants drew 250 people, mostly ArtsCard members, says Ms. Langley. A similar event typically draws 500 in Atlanta. "It's sort of a growing event that we started here last year, so I plan to have it as an annual event in Dallas, too," she says.

Newcomers to the roster of participating groups include the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, Dallas Opera, ICT Mainstage, SMU's Meadows School of the Arts, Texas Ballet Theatre and Lyric Stage. Another recent addition is Artcanyon.com, an online art merchant based in Atlanta. They join participating groups including the Amon Carter Museum, Circle Theatre, Classics Theatre and Art for Children, Crow Collection of Asian Art, Dallas Aquarium at Fair Park, Dallas Center for Contemporary Art, Dallas Museum of Natural History, Dallas Summer Musicals, Dallas Theater Center, Dallas Zoo, Kimbell Art Museum, Kitchen Dog Theater, McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, Plano Civic Chorus, Plano Repertory Theatre, Plano Symphony Orchestra, Science Place, Sixth Floor Museum, Theatre Three and WaterTower Theatre.

Now ArtsCard faces its next challenge in Dallas: This month, inaugural members are asked to renew. (A year's membership is $20.) Will they stay in the program?

"Atlanta's renewal rate is approximately 80 percent," says Ms. Langley. In Dallas-Fort Worth, about half the current membership has renewed so far – and that was before Ms. Langley sent out renewal reminders, which she is doing this week. In Atlanta, "we cut everybody off if you don't renew on September 1st." In Dallas, she says she's keeping it "floating." "Since it's a new program, I don't know that people really get it that you're supposed to renew."

Ms. Langley plans to expand the program to other cities, including Nashville, Austin and Houston, in the coming year. Every ArtsCard is good at every member institution. "The goal is that one ArtsCard gets you in, wherever you're going," she says.

 

Taste of the Arts- The Dallas Morning News

 

This "evening of culture, arts, music and edible fare" includes hors d'oeuvres from Greenz, live rhythm and blues with Calhoun Parker, an art exhibit ("Alertness: What Color Are You?") and booths with info about local arts organizations.

The ArtsCard program is designed to "provide promotion for the arts, and to build a stronger public awareness and relationship to the arts." Cardholders pay $20 a year for membership. Benefits include discounted admission to museums and performances, a weekly e-mail newsletter, ticket giveaways, passes to film screenings and other perks.

 

Culture Card: Club concept aims to increase involvement in the arts

Shawn Floyd, staff writer, Plano Star Courier

In order to stay alive, local arts groups must be creative with more than just programming.

No one knows this better than Debbie Mulvenna, executive director for The Classics in Plano.

“Since last winter the Plano school district has stopped all distribution of information going out to parents,” Mulvenna said. “This has seriously impacted the nonprofits in the area.”

While The Classics can no longer supply students in Plano with brochures and other information, she said the Garland and Richardson school districts are still very receptive to handing out information.

She also hastens to add that while the Plano schools have ended the distribution, they will be partially funding a special Classics performance for third-graders.

Mulvenna, who has been on the job a year, said she’s not worried about the faithful who renew their subscriptions every year. She is concerned about people who have never heard of The Classics.

After looking for new ways to attract these people and market The Classics arts and theater children’s programs, the group settled on an ArtsCard membership. A discount club concept, arts groups can join for $375 a year. Individual costs are $20.

Individual members receive discounts and news about the arts in their area. In addition, they are eligible to attend special events in the area, such as the one being held 7-9 p.m. Aug 7 at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary, 3120 McKinney Ave. in Dallas.

Called Taste of the Arts, the cost of this event is the price of an ArtsCard membership for non-members.

Member organizations will be there in force. They include three in Collin County: The Classics, Plano Symphony Orchestra, and Plano Repertory Theatre.

Others are Kimbell Art Museum, Dallas Museum of Natural History, The Sixth Floor Museum, WaterTower Theatre, and the Dallas Zoo.

These organizations will all be on hand at the event to meet arts patrons and let them ill the latest programs and special rates.

Jennifer Self Langley is the orginator of the ArtsCard. A resident of Atlanta, she started the concept four years ago. Since that time, Langley, a former crisis manager for Coca-Cola, has managed to build the Atlanta ArtsCard membership roster to more than 6,000.

She said she launched the program after obtaining data on a study by the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts and Culture Coalition. She said the study concluded that 84 percent of the respondents “strongly agree” that the arts contribute to the education and development of children and that many of the residents visit museums, galleries and art exhibits almost as often as they attended sports events.

Langley said the fact that 63 percent of those queried “strongly agree” that arts and culture attract and keep business in the metro area has also provided encouragement for local arts groups.

Reached by phone at her home in Georgia, Langley said she selected the Dallas/Fort Worth area to expand her business because Dallas and Fort Worth, like Atlanta, are “really open to the arts.”

Additionally, she said members traveling to those cities can take advantage of any specials offered.

Langley, whose husband Bill Langley is from Plano, said other Texas cities receptive to the ArtsCard concept are Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. She’s also contemplating launching the product in Nashville and some of the cities around Atlanta.

It didn’t take long for Dallas groups like the Plano Symphony Orchestra to sign up.

“It’s not a real high fee, and it’s another way for our name to get out,” said PSO executive director, Alice Hobbs, who like Mulvenna, said, “It was an opportunity to market our orchestra to a broader arts audience. It gives us an entrée to people throughout the Metroplex.”

Hobbs said the orchestra still has to work to sell tickets.

“We’re just starting our fall campaign in August,” she said. “In August we’re doing a push for new subscriptions, and we’re having a Plano Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours party at our office on Preston Road.

“We’re also sending out about 50,000 brochures, so August is really the month to do a big push for new subscriptiongs. In the spring we work on our renewals.”

Volunteers at The Classics are also busy sending out season brochures. Hopeful for a surge in patrons, Mulvenna said of the group’s ArtsCard membership, “We’re looking forward to being more visible.”

Is this a new era in the world of arts and culture? Maybe so, according to Mulvenna, who said, “I do think we are all having to be much more savvy to publish our events. We’re in the same boat as everyone else. Higher budgets, along with lower audience counts and having to be creative in getting those people all factor into it.”

 

Playing the Card – 6/12

Dallas Observer

Dallas has an undeniably rich art scene. Do ticket prices keep patrons from flooding museums and theaters? When disposable funds are at a real low point – speaking from experience – the ArtsCard program offers a solution. For $20, ArtsCard members can get discounts and benefits at cultural venues such as the Science Place, Dallas Theater Center, Crow Collection of Asian Art and more than 20 others. ArtsCard and the Crow Collection offer a reception Saturday from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. with complimentary eats and drinks. The party is free, and the Crow is located at 2010 Flora St.

 

New ArtsCard Membership Definitely Has Its Privileges

Tom Sime, The Dallas Morning News

Just what you need - another plastic card fattening up your wallet. But this one's something special. The ArtsCard is the emblem of a new program conferring cooperative membership in arts institutions and access to special events. The program was a hit in Atlanta, and Dallas-Fort Worth is its next destination.

The ArtsCard program, designed to "provide promotion for the arts, and to build a stronger public awareness and relationship to the arts," has 5,500 members in Atlanta, where more than 50 museums and performing arts venues participate.

In Dallas, more than 20 institutions signed up. You can become one of the first area cardholders at a reception Saturday at the Crow Collection of Asian Arts 2010 Flora St.  Cardholders pay $20 a year for membership. Benefits include discounted admission to museums and performances, a weekly e-mail newsletter, ticket giveaways, passes to film screenings and other perks.

 

CITYSCAPE: AROUND INTOWN

ArtsCard Offer

Laura Raines, for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

If you moved into the city to be closer to Atlanta's cultural attractions, here's something to make life even sweeter – the ArtsCard. A $15 annual membership fee allows you to take advantage of ticket discounts, special offers and weekly giveaways from about 45 Atlanta theaters, museums, concert halls, tourist attractions and sports arenas. You can get 2-for-1 tickets to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on Fridays, or 20 percent off Arts at Emory or Atlanta Opera tickets and see the Thrashers for less.

In arts and marketing, Jennifer Self, owner of Aware House PR, began the organization two years ago. "I wanted to be more involved in the arts myself, and I wanted people to know about all the great things that are going on in this city," she said. There are about 4,000 members, and WSB-TV has become a sponsor.

Members receive a weekly newsletter by e-mail and invitations to monthly ArtsCard events. About a hundred ArtsCard holders recently bought discounted tickets to the Shakespeare Tavern and attended a free reception afterward. "We started the events so that those interested in the arts could meet like-minded people," said Self.

"Members tell me that they plan their week around our newsletter," she said. "They say it's a great way to know what's going on and that the discounts inspire them to try new things. The card is also a great gift for someone new to Atlanta."

 

BEST SITE OF THE WEEK: ARTS

Time to Renew Discount Card

Tom Sabulis, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sunday, August 26, 2001

Twofer, anyone? The ArtsCard was created last year to help build audiences around town by offering deep ticket discounts. During its first season, it was purchased by about 2,500 people, who thus became eligible for special savings, such as two-for-one tickets at various theaters. Cardholders have until Saturday to renew their cards for the year for $10. After that, the cost is $15, the same as for newcomers. In either case, you can recoup your money in one evening out, but the discounts last all year. Renew your card --- or become a first-time cardholder --- on the ArtsCard Web site, which also features a list of the nearly 40 participating organizations and a schedule of offerings.

One event worth underlining: ArtsCard is celebrating its one-year anniversary at this year's ArtParty, the annual fund-raising bash at the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center. The party Sept. 8 will feature performances by Atlanta Opera, Dad's Garage, Horizon Theatre and Theatre Gael. 

 

ArtsCard Offers Incentive

Tom Sabulis, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Need a break on opera tickets? Want a reason, besides the beer and bard, to check out the Shakespeare Tavern? Feeling cheap?

The ArtsCard, with its new Web site, is your answer. Go to the site... and get a card that gets you discounts for a year on tickets to shows at participating arts organizations. (Two-for-one deals to the Alliance Theatre, Aurora Theatre, ART Station and Theatrical Outfit; 25 percent off Atlanta Ballet tickets; $3 off Georgia Shakespeare Festival admission. Tickets and seat location are subject to availability.) On the Web site you can learn about the card's history --- it's inspired by Showcard, a discount program sponsored by now-defunct radio station WGKA, the old "Voice of the Arts." They've sold "hundreds" of cards already, said ArtsCard spokeswoman Jennifer Self. And the sponsors are hoping to provide links to the arts groups, so folks can check out program schedules. ArtsCard also will sponsor special events and offer perks like free movie passes.

 

Aware House revives WGKA's Showcard

J. Kristin Stultz, Staff Writer, Gwinnett Daily Post

Mike Rose has changed careers. The one-time general manager of a Buckhead radio station is now the vice president of an Atlanta-based marketing firm. But a big part of his job has stayed the same.

Before the station's April sale to Salem Broadcasting, Rose worked for WGKA-1190AM, Atlanta's Voice of the Arts. The eclectic playlist of the station attracted arts lovers from across Atlanta. So did their Showcard, which offered holders cheap tickets to metro-area arts organizations. When WGKA went off the air, so did the Show Card. Rose wasn't the only one who was upset.

"What happened was the station developed a hard core following for the Showcard," he said. "[When I joined Jennifer Self, president of Aware House Marketing], I talked with her about reviving the ArtsCard. We felt strongly that there are enough people out there that are hungry to go to arts events." So did Schroder Publishing, the house that prints the periodicals Atlanta Intown, Atlanta Buckhead and Atlanta North. They joined Rose, Self, and Aware House as media sponsors, and a star was born– or re-born, as it were.

All involved – from card holders to member organizations – were thrilled to hear of the reincarnation of the $10 per person per year card. "The Arts Card makes it accessible for people who go to the theater all the time for people to see more shows," said Ann Carol Pence, resident music director of Duluth's Aurora Theatre, where the Showcard was and the Arts Card will be accepted. "Unfortunately, not everybody, all the time, can afford the price of season tickets. The Art Card, though, makes it possible for more people to see more live theater."

Live theater. Live music. Live opera. The Card brings all genres of the Arts to life at Atlanta organizations like the County Seat Players, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Atlanta Opera. Membership privileges vary from company to company but often include discounts and two-for-one ticket offers. Nearly 5,000 WGKA listeners benefited from the Show Card, and it seems likely that most will renew that subscription with the ArtsCard.

According to Rose, it's a revival that audiences have been waiting for all season. "I do meet people whenever I'm out and about," he said. "They ask about the Showcard. There is a demand for it. This is obviously not a revival of WGKA. But maybe it's a revival of the good feelings of the station and the support of the arts."

"It's just a win-win all the way around, because for the venues, it draws people in," said Self. "It also helps people be able to afford the arts."

"It makes the arts more accessible," Rose said. "And that's what it's all about."