- Organization Name:
- New England Foundation for the Arts
- Describe your creative piece – what is it and what has it been used for, and why is it innovative?
- We used Adobe InDesign to create a postcard that promotes CultureCount, NEFA’s free, searchable directory of the New England creative economy, used by policymakers, economic development officials, cultural organizations, and the general public. Together, artists, cultural nonprofits, and creative businesses produce and distribute cultural goods and services that impact the economy by generating jobs, revenue, and quality of life. Through CultureCount, users can access financial and demographic information about the creative economy, analyze the economic impact of the arts in a specific geographic area, and explore over 30,000 current directory listings. This visually streamlined, engaging postcard was mailed to over 28,000 cultural nonprofits, creative businesses, and artists throughout New England to encourage them to add or update their information.
- What issue or problem were you working to address with this piece?
- Keeping data current and adding new users is key to maintaining CultureCount’s relevance and accuracy. In addition to continually adding new data from NEFA’s annual nonprofit financial survey, nonprofit organizations’ IRS filings, census data, and other sources, CultureCount relies on user-added data to keep the tool fresh and relevant. The postcard’s image, which features a NEFA grant-supported artist, and tag line “your strength… in numbers" simplify a fairly complex idea (the creative economy) and tool (CultureCount). On the reverse side, clear bullet points describing CultureCount encourage participants in the creative economy to make sure they count by adding their information.
- How has your submission successfully impacted your organization’s ability to solve this issue/problem?
- The mailing resulted in a 300% increase in user registrations, a 122% increase in overall site traffic, and nearly 400 emails from users -- the most user-drive data updates we’ve had since CultureCount’s launch in 2008. The new data added as a result of the mailing help CultureCount paint a clearer picture of the creative economy in New England, ultimately enhancing public understanding of how the arts contribute to the vitality of communities across our region. To learn more, please visit www.culturecount.org. Thanks to Tech Soup and Adobe for getting us up-to-date on our software and contributing to our success!
- Creative Submission - Files
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