[FAC] New ArtHop website for FAC on June 1

[Maria Franco]

Dear ArtHop participants,

I hope all is well with you.  The redesign of the ArtHop website has been a
long and challenging process for us because the Fresno Arts Council runs on
a very tight budget (how about the Executive Director and PT Marketing
Director not being on payroll), we had to devise creative ways (think
partnerships) to fund its development.  If you have tried to hire a web
agency or freelancer, you would know what we mean - they are not cheap.  In
the end, we developed a partnership with Socient, a web shop that
exclusively helps non-profit organizations, to produce the new website.
After months of planning, research and development--it's finally here!

Our website will launch on June 1 with it being broadcasted via e-mail
newsletter to more than 1,500 subscribers to prepare for the June ArtHop.
The upcoming website was architected and designed to meet two objectives:

1.	To create a unified marketing platform for artists for promotion,
and 

2.	To integrate arts-related information in one place; presented in an
easy, usable, layout; so that arts enthusiast and supporters know where to
go (one website to look for artists and arts related info).


To fulfill these objectives, we created a website that:



1.	Artists and promoters are able to submit articles, essays, write-ups
and press releases for posting, and  

2.	Artists and arts enthusiasts/supporters are able to interact
together in a social network environment.


As an ArtHop venue, you are in a position to utilize both features where you
could submit press releases and articles for your gallery/art venue, and
participate in an interactive social network so you could discuss in a
forum, post ArtHop photos and images, blog and enter events.

So what do you need to do...

1.  To submit articles, press releases, essays and profiles, follow
insructions below:



*	Visit our staging site URL:  http://www.fresnolife.org, and get
familiar with layout and features.  The tabs on the upper navigation are
sections for article and press releases. 

*	Sign-up (it's at the upper right hand corner of the screen). 

*	Login, then submit an article (multiple articles are ok too). 

*	If the article/essay is ArtHop related, select the section "ArtHop,"
then the appropriate category (location) of your ArtHop venue. 

*	If the article/essay/PR is a general submission (i.e. an arts
exhibition or a concert series), select the appropriate section (i.e. Visual
arts for exhibits, Music & Dance for concert series).


2.  If you want to join the FresnoArts community, follow the instructions
below:



*	Sign-up and join the FresnoArts community at
<http://my.fresnoarts.net> http://my.fresnoarts.net. 

*	Post your events (exhibits, ArtHop event), blog about art, and post
ArtHop photos.


3. To submit both articles and events, you need to sign-up for both (we are
working on a unified sign-up).  The usual format for
     an articles/essays with events component would show:

                                Article title
                                Article photo
                                Article write-up
      -------------------
Related events link (this link from the community website - see No. 2 above)


We need your help to post your information on your site in order to keep
current when ArtHoppers look at your site to learn what's going on at your
venue!   

Although it seems complicated at first, I assure you that the process of
sign-ups, article submissions and social networking has been streamlined.
Also, on June 1, there will only be one website address (URL) for this
project:  FresnoArts.net  (www.fresnoarthop.org will forward to
FresnoArts.net/arthop as it is now).

What lies ahead...

The Fresno Arts Council is working fundraising ideas to do more to raise
awareness for the arts.   We recently got the Fresno County to allocate 1%
of Fresno County building costs placed into Public Arts.   We are working so
that the City of Fresno will have the same Public Arts ordinance as well.

We also recently asked for funding from our community foundation to fund a
part-time coordinator to help you navigate through the technicalities of the
new website.    We are also seeking other alternatives such as sponsorships
to fund the coordinator position and our website production overhead.

We are working on a unified sign-up so that when you sign-up to submit
articles, you are automatically signed-up to the FresnoArts Community.

We are also working on creating a screencast that will explain all of this,
but we have to do the screencast when the website is launched so there will
be no confusion on the URLs.  Subsequently, at this time, please do not
bookmark any of the URLs as they will change.

Please help us create this successful and  wonderful online resource for the
arts community.  This allows us to reach a far broader audience to promote,
promote, and promote arts-related information in a very efficient way.

Thank you in advance!   See you online.

Victor Ramayrat
Marketing Director
Fresno Arts Council

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