Local Organisation Boosts Marketing Clout

28 February, 2005

Local Organisation Boosts Marketing Clout For Four Hundred Smes

A long standing obstacle to effective marketing for Christchurch’s creative industry will be overcome this week when the Christchurch Community Arts Council publishes the first ever comprehensive guide to the arts market.

“Marketing resources and expertise consistently rank as one of the greatest issues facing the arts industry, most of which operate as small business”, says Marlene Le Cren, Arts Advisor, Christchurch City Council. ”We’re proud to assist in the launch of this Guide and, thereby, help hundreds of practitioners and service providers address a major barrier to sustainable growth”.

The guide is a centralised catalogue of arts industry providers. Each section of the Guide is broken down by arts discipline and sub-divided into specific categories. Each listing then details the types of participation opportunities that individual or organisation provides. For example Music offerings come under headings such as Jazz, Orchestra and Children. Consumers are then able to decide among a group of practitioners to select tutors, venues and public programmes to suit their individual needs.

The Guide benefits consumers as well as those providing art related services and products. The arts providers listing in the Guide obviously receive positive spin offs by becoming more accessible. Equally, by incorporating all arts disciplines into one resource, consumers will be able to seek smaller, more specialised or complementary offerings that might otherwise be unknown to them. Aden Shillito, Chair, Christchurch Community Arts Council, said the Guide was a remarkable example of cooperation, “The Christchurch Community Arts Council has received tremendous support from both the business and arts communities. We’re excited to bring the first document of its kind to market”.

About Christchurch Community Arts Council Christchurch Community Arts Council has been serving the community for more than 25 years and currently operates as a funding body with advocacy and project development roles.

The organisation is recognised by, and receives significant support from the Christchurch City Council and is represented on the assessment committee of Creative New Zealand’s Creative Communities Funding Scheme.

A voluntary body, made up of 15 elected members of the Christchurch arts community, CCAC was established under the QE II Arts Council of New Zealand (now Creative New Zealand). Projects initiated by the CCAC have included the Christchurch Arts Trail, and artists.co.nz, which are now sustained by private enterprise.

ENDS

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