Spotlight Program: Beginning Street Art

Banksy 28 October installment from "Better Out Than In" New York City residency

I love to see art and art programs in the library – and this one looked really interesting! Check out this report by By Lisa Fipps, Director of Marketing and Community Engagement, Kokomo-Howard County Public Library, Ind.

“Beginning Street Art was an active companion program to Banksy Booked @KHPCL, the theme for a number of active and passive programs to coincide with a six-week exhibit of Banksy’s “Haight Street Rat” street art.

YA author Shannon Lee Alexander’s work-in-progress is about a character from an abusive home in a stagnant, some would even say dying, Appalachian town. She’s done a lot of research about street art for the novel, and it’s now become one of her passions. I asked her if she would lead teens in a workshop to explain graffiti and give participants an opportunity to try the various types of street art.

I assumed only teens would be interested, but quickly realized that adults wanted to know more and try it, too. So I opened up the program to both audiences. The program was informational and skill-building. It also brought generations together. I worked with Shannon to make it a two-fer by asking her to talk about her two published books, and sell and sign them at the event as well….

Just having a Banksy piece helped draw a lot of attention to KHCPL and, therefore, I received a lot of word-of-mouth marketing for Beginning Street Art and all the programs associated with the exhibit.

I emailed the flier to all the art teachers at the five high schools in the county. I met with the Visitor’s Bureau to market Banksy Booked @KHCPL and the passive and active programs associated with it to cities in Indiana and beyond. That marketing led to a listing in the Visit Indiana’s August Festivals & Events newsletter and travelindiana.com, with an audience of at least 50,000. The Visitor’s Bureau also paid for social marketing ads.

I also created paid social media ads. I pay for monthly radio advertising and included information about Beginning Street Art in the month leading up to Banksy Booked @KHCPL. I sent out press releases to all three local newspapers, which published stories about it. Since the Banksy Booked @KHCPL story was picked up by the Associated Press, it further marketed Beginning Street Art.

I worked with graphics to get a sign up near the Banksy that provided the history of the “Haight Street Rat” and explained the various companion active and passive programs, including Beginning Street Art. I included information about Beginning Street Art in our newsletter that is mailed to 40,000 homes in our taxing district. I wrote about it in our enewsletter, which goes out to about 5,000 subscribers. I asked the graphic artist to create fliers for all three locations and our two bookmobiles. ”