The Association for Public Art (aPA, formerly the Fairmount Park Art Association) is the nation's first private, nonprofit organization dedicated to integrating public art and urban planning. Founded in 1872, the Association commissions, preserves, promotes and interprets public art in Philadelphia.
Since aPA doesn’t have changing exhibitions or installations, we are always exploring other ways to continue to engage audiences with Philadelphia's rich permanent collection through a series of experiential marketing campaigns both online and on the street. We have hosted a sculpture flashlight mob at Mark di Suvero’s "Iroquois", and a tango dance party at "Swann Memorial Fountain" that reimagined dances that used to take place on the Parkway in the 1920’s. We invited Stone Depot Dance Lab to perform a site-specific improvisation in, around, and inspired by Martin Puryear’s "Pavilion in the Trees", and we partnered with the Greater Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition to host a series of Public Art Bike Tours.
We have also produced Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO – an interpretive audio program for Philadelphia’s collection of public art. In September, aPA launched the second phase of this program, which now has 65 stops featuring over 150 voices connected to the sculptures by knowledge, affiliation, or experience.
The aPA has held a number of photo contests online through Facebook, but we wanted to take this fun low cost, engaging, contest to the next level. In February, just in time for Valentine’s Day, we asked the public to submit their best photos on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter of Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture using the hashtag #LOVEPublicArt. We would then take the photos submitted and create a PhotoMosaic of the artwork. The mosaic would be used to create a free poster that we would hand out at different locations around the city and display them in a select number of bus shelters.
We used a third party platform called Offerpop to run the contest. Participants could either upload their photos on Facebook or submit using the hashtag #LOVEpublicart on Instagram or Twitter. Participants could vote for their favorite photos and the top 3 winners received a prize, but we considered everyone to be a winner because all of the photos were used to create the photo mosaic.
A QR Code was incorporated into the design of the poster which linked back to the Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO program featuring Robert Indiana speaking about his sculpture. There was a large amount of all types of submissions from marriage proposals to wedding portraits as well as nice photographs of the artwork.
The data shows that #LOVEpublicart brought Philadelphians together to celebrate one of the city’s most beloved cultural treasures, while also having a measurable impact on our social media presence.
17. #LOVEpublicart Stats
• 2,500+ unique visitors
- 600 pre-existing fans
• Over 2,000 votes
• 26% increase in Instagram
followers
• 34% increase in Twitter
followers
18. Caitlin Martin, Media & Communications Manager
cmartin@associationforpublicart.org
associationforPublicArt.org
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Search “MWW AUDIO” in the APP Store or Google Play
@assocpublicart
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Notas del editor
Hi! I’m Caitlin Martin and I am the Media & Communications Manager of the Association for Public Art (formerly the Fairmount Park Art Association), and today I’m going to talk about our social media campaignLOVEpublicart.
The Association for Public Art is the nation’s first nonprofit public art organization. Since our founding in 1872, we’ve been commissioning, preserving, interpreting, and promoting public art in Philadelphia. The result of our work is that Philadelphia now has one of the largest collections of public art of any American city.
Our organization doesn’t have changing exhibitions or installations, so we are always exploring other ways to continue to engage audiences with this rich permanent collection. We have recently been working hard to develop a series of experiential marketing campaigns both online and on the street around public art. We have hosted la sculpture flashlight mob at Mark di Suvero’sIroquois.
We threw a tango dance party at Swann Memorial Fountain that reimagined dances that used to take place on the Parkway in the 1920’s. The photo on the left is from an actual news clipping from the 1920s Parkway dances.
We asked Stone Depot Dance Lab to perform a site-specific improvisation in, around, and inspired by Martin Puryear’sPavilion in the Trees.
We partnered with the Greater Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition and hosted a series of Public Art Bike Tours
And many of you might be familiar with our Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO program – an interpretive audio program for Philadelphia’s collection of public art. We just launched the second phase of this program and now have 65 stops featuring over 150 voices connected to the sculptures by knowledge, affiliation, or experience. The first phase included sculptures on the Parkway and Kelly Drive, and we just expanded the program to include sculptures in Center City including City Hall and Rittenhouse Square as well as works in West Fairmount Park specifically the Horticulture Center.
We have also held a number of photo contest online through Facebook, which were really successful. Here you can see we had one for the flashlight mob, the tango dance party, and our most recent commissioned work, OPEN AIR by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, which if you’re unaware is a large scale interactive light installation for the Parkway last fall. But we wanted to take this fun low cost, engaging, contest to the next level.
In February, just in time for Valentine’s Day, we asked the public to submit their best photos on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter of Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture using the hashtag #LOVEPublicArt, We would then take the photos submitted and create a PhotoMosaic of the artwork. The mosaic would be used to create a free poster that we would hand out at different locations around the city and display them in a select number of bus shelters.
We used a third party platform called Offerpop to run the contest. It costs about $200 for a month-long subscription, which was the amount of time that we rant he contest. Participants could either upload their photos on Facebook or submit using the hashtag #LOVEpublicart on Instagram or Twitter. Using the hashtag to submit your photo was a great part of the contest because we were really just starting to use Instagram and Twitter – so this was a great way to introduce our brand to people that used this social media platform.
We also sent out what we like to call our “Public Art Ambassadors” to encourage people to submit their photos. The ambassadors handed out mini moo cards with instructions on how to submit their photo. We know that people everyday go to the LOVE sculpture and post photos of the artwork, so we wanted to be out there to direct the conversation. And also allowing the public to do something “significant” with their images or to partake in something a little bit bigger and fun. We also had matching shirts with the hashtag printed there as well.
People could vote for their favorite photos and the top 3 winners received a prize, but we really saw everyone as a winner because all of the photos were used to create the photo mosaic.
And here is the poster that was created. I also brought some with me if you would like to have one. A QR Code on the poster linked back to the MWW: AUDIO program featuring Robert Indiana speaking about his sculpture. And we had some really fun submissions:
There were a couple of marriage proposals (I actually took the photo on the left)
A few wedding photos. So, people were submitting older photos they had as well as new ones
And overall, just some really nice shots of the sculpture that we can use on future materials and posts online.
We really considered this to be a success for us. We had 2,500 unique visitors to the campaign with only 600 pre-existing fans, so a lot of new people to share our content with. Over 2,000 votes – some of these are repeat customers, which mean they kept visiting our social media pages to vote which is also great. And a huge increase in Instagram and Twitter followers. LOVEpublicart brought Philadelphians together to celebrate one of the city’s most beloved cultural treasures, while also having a measurable impact on our social media presence – all at a very affordable price.
Thank you so much for your time! Here is my contact information if you would like to continue the conversation – and I encourage you to follow us on Twitter or Instagram and Like us on Facebook! And I also have to share with you that with the launch of the second phase of Museum Without Walls™ we also launched a new and improved app, so please download it! Just search MWW AUDIO in the app store or Google play.