Making Websites Accessible

As Arts Managers we strive to get as many people to see our productions and visit our exhibitions as possible, but have you ever stopped to think about those audience members with disabilities? People with low vision or who are blind often use screen readers to assist them with web content but is your website accessible to these types of software? Below are ten tips to help people with disabilities have better access to your website and e-blasts. For more information look into Section 508, while the law does not apply to non-profit organizations it is a great standard of best practices.

1.) Caption all of your images. While not required on most webhosting programs it is best to caption your image as well as credit the photographer and people featured.

2.) Caption your links, yes you can make a little scroll over bar that will describe for a person with a screen reader where the link will take them, and always underline links on your page.
Example instead of www.bing.com which is what the alt tag will automatically set, change it to: Link to Bing search engine.

3.) Don't use flash to convey text. Screen readers are unable to read text in flash design, ideally it's best not to use any flash on your site.

4.) Use captioning on any video content you have created or provide a transcript.

5.) Provide PDF and Word Document downloads, not all pdfs can be read by a screen reader.

6.) Check the contrast of colors on your site between backgrounds and text black on white is best.

7.) Avoid flickering on screen or flash and video applications that cause the screen to flash.

8.) Provide a link to a text only copy of your website.

9.) Although it is possible to zoom in on small text use font that is size 12 or larger and san serrif.

10.) When possible avoid the use of tables, or ensure lables are titled with row and column information in the alt tags.

Van Gogh Blogging

Located in Amsterdam, the Van Gogh Museum's mission is to present Van Gogh's artwork to a wide an audience for personal enrichment. While the museum currently displays many of his works and does extensive research on the artist, it has started a blog detailing the restoration of Van Gogh's painting "The Bedroom." The blog's authors include the head of conservation, a curator, and the museum's director. According to an article in The Independent, it is the first time that the public will be able to follow the process through online videos, pictures, and documentary. Additionally, the blog also gives some history on the painting and an explanation of the work leading up to restoration. This is a neat project to follow, and everyone should check out the blog.

Hidden Features in Smartphone Apps

I work at Tudor Place Historic House and Garden in DC and we are looking into developing an app for our self-guided garden tour. Currently, for $3, you get a site map with some descriptions of various sections of the garden, are told to "enjoy" and you are on your own. We think we can do better.

We have been talking to a Canadian company called Tristan about developing the app. One of the interesting parts of their proposal for me as the Communications Director was the marketing tools within the app. Tristan's app software allows us at Tudor Place to access a back-end through the Internet and update it ourselves with upcoming events, news etc. This would allow us to keep a direct connection to anyone who downloaded the app as long as it was on their phone. As anyone with an iPhone knows, when there is an update to an app there is a little notification on the apps icon. From a marketing point of view this kind of audience connection is gold! Pricing was pretty on target with the last article posted on this blog about apps for non-profits. The only thing we didn't consider was hosting fees, which are much more expensive than website hosting fees...that is a hurdle we'll have to jump later.

I wonder if I can buy an iPhone and call it a work expense....

Recent article in the NY Times about museums using apps.

Updating Opera

This article talks about how the Florida Grand Opera used digital media to help meet their season's budget. The Opera cut its budget and number of productions in the 2009-2010 season, therefore needing innovative ways to keep production costs low while still producing high-quality performances. Their design team worked with Lava Studio to create a 22 x 40 foot screen to use in place of a built set. By using this technology, they were able to work within their cut budget and also achieve a more modern backdrop by projecting scenery in addition to various accent images on the screen. This has subsequently helped them attract younger audiences and give a tasteful update to an older art form.

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/article/778620--digital-comes-to-florida-grand-opera-s-rescue

Dance and Technology

Post by Debra Kramer on March 7, 2010:

As funds run out to hire dancers a solution is here. We may soon become managers of a Virtual Dance Company where dancers and dances are created by software programs. Think of the funding we would not have to raise if a few companies partnered to share computer programs that allow the choreographer to create dances without dancers. Audiences are raised on high tech communication, so I believe we will sell tickets without having to convince a prospective patron that he can enjoy an artistic experience with human beings. In fact, we will not have to worry about booking theatre or raising money to build and maintain them when we can sell theatrical dance productions over the Internet. Enjoy the article on the expanding world of computer-based virtual dance. Virtual dance will expand the definition of dance by utilizing the graphic design capabilities of the computer. Even the choreographer can relax because the software-based algorithmic processes will decide how to get from point A to point B. Read this excellent article entitled: Dance and Technology: A Pas de Deux for Post-Humans by Kent de Spain from Dance Research Journal, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Summer, 2000), pp. 2-17 published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of Congress on Research in Dance

AAAE Conference GMU and American University Arts Management Collaboration

Conference 2010: Making Connections
Join your colleagues in arts administration education in America's capital city June 3-6, 2010, for Making Connections: Preparing Cultural Leaders for Future Challenges. The American University Arts Management Program and George Mason University's Arts Management Program will co-host this year's event.

The location will provide an ideal backdrop for intensive networking, teaching, and learning, and a wealth of extraordinary speakers to inform our work and advance our vision.

The AAAE annual conference is a unique opportunity to share, to listen, to grow as educators, and to connect to international trends and issues that impact our work.

We'll begin an exciting three days as we have the past several years, with an intriguing pre-conference offering: a bus tour of the innovative Cultural Development Corporation projects in DC. Executive Director Anne Corbett will be on board to give us a first-hand account of the important work of this exciting cultural and economic development organization.

Join us later that evening at The Phillips Collection for opening remarks by Michael Kaiser, President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, fresh from his 50-state Arts in Crisis tour.

Many more special guests, fascinating keynotes, relevant workshops and peer panel presentations await you in Washington, DC. Don't miss it - register today!

11:30 am - 1:00 pm AAAE Board Meeting
.
1:00 - 2:00 pm Registration Conference Orientation: Especially, but not exclusively, for first-time attendees
.
2:00 - 5:30 pm Pre-Conference Program – Washington DC Tour, with Anne Corbett, Executive Director, Cultural Development Corporation. Includes a backstage tour at the Kennedy Center with Robert Pullen. Strictly limited to 27 participants. (Extra fee required)
.
6:00 - 6:45 pm Opening Plenary: Michael Kaiser, President, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, LOCATION: The Phillips Collection
.
6:45 - 8:00 pm Opening Reception: Sponsored by George Mason University and Succession
.
Evening On your own.
.
FRIDAY, JUNE 4
.
8:30 - 9:00 am Registration and Continental Breakfast
.
9:00 - 9:30 am Welcome and Orientation: Andrew Taylor, President, AAAE
.
9:30 - 11:00 am Concurrent Sessions
.
LEARNING FROM ONLINE EDUCATION
Rachel Shane, Jean Brody, Rose Ginther
RESEARCH IN ARTS MANAGEMENT
Antonio Cuyler, Mike Wilkerson, Carole Rosenstein
ARTS INCUBATORS & ARTS ENTERPRISE INITIATIVE
Anthony S.R. Lake, Nate Zeisler

. 11:00 - 11:15 am Break
.
11:15 am - 12:30 pm Working Groups/Roundtables: Potential topics: Continuing the Undergraduate Standards Process (Helwig & Borwick), Member Field Study (Pope), Syllabus Sharing (Brody), Toward a More International AAAE (Poole, Huijsmans), Arts Entrepreneurship (Booth), Today’s students and Pop Culture (Rosewall & McGowan)
.
12:30 - 2:00 pm Lunch & Program
.
Emerging Leaders – What Do They Have to Tell Us? With Stephanie Evans (AFTA), Edward Clapp (20Under40), Michael Bigley (The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation), Alison Dornheggen (Chair, AU EALS)
.
2:00 - 3:30 pm Concurrent Sessions
.
CASE METHOD STUDY and NEW EDUCATION FOR FUTURE ARTS ADMINISTRATORS
Rosemary Polegato, Angela Branneman
ARTS MANAGEMENT RESEARCH: THREE RECENT STUDIES
Richard Maloney, Patricia Dewey, Carole Rosenstein
EXTERNAL INTERNSHIPS
Larry Epstein, Todd Alan Price, Kay Osborne, Rick Lester (CEO, Target Resource Group)
.
3:30 - 4:00 pm Break
.
4:00 - 5:30 pm Plenary: Ben Cameron, Program Director of Arts, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation


7:00 - 9:00 pm Catered Dinner, Katzen Arts Center Rotunda
.
9:00 pm - ? AAAE After Hours: sing, dance, perform with and for your peers, cabaret-style. Details coming soon!
.
SATURDAY, JUNE 5
.
8:30 - 10:00 am Annual Membership Meeting: Full members gather, discuss, and vote on essential issues of the association. Coffee, tea, and continental breakfast
.
10:00 - 11:30 am Concurrent Sessions
.
SCHOLARSHIP OF TEACHING & LEARNING PROJECT
Susan Badger Booth
NEW MODELS FOR ARTS ORGANIZATIONS
Laura Zucker, Jim Undercofler
COMMUNITY THEATRE: MANAGING A STATE OF MIND
Angela Branneman, Maryo Gard Ewell
.
11:30 am - 12:15 pm Lunch
.
12:15 - 1:15 pm ASSESSING THE ROLE OF FORMAL EDUCATION IN ARTS ADMINISTRATION
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: REVISITING THE CONDITIONS 15 YEARS LATER
J. Dennis Rich, Dan Martin

. 1:30 - 3:00 pm Concurrent Sessions
.
PRESERVING THE LEGACY OF AMERICA’S AGING ARTISTS – AN INTERDISCIPLINARY, INTERGENERATIONAL COURSE ACROSS THE UNIVERSITY
Joan Jeffri
CONTEXTS IN CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Ximena Varela, Constance DeVereaux, Richard Maloney, Sherri Helwig
.
3:00 - 3:30 pm Break
.
3:30 - 5:00 pm Plenary: CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS AND DIPLOMACY
Kimber Craine, Director of Program Initiatives, President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities

.
5:00 - 6:00 pm Closing Reception: Kreeger Lobby – American University Art Museum
.
6:30 - 7:30 pm AAAE Board Meeting
.
Evening On your own

The Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE) is an international organization incorporated as a nonprofit institution within the United States. Its mission is to represent college and university graduate and undergraduate programs in arts administration, encompassing training in the management of visual, performing, literary, media, cultural and arts service organizations. Founded in 1975, the AAAE was created to provide a forum for communication among its members and advocate formal training and high standards of education for arts administrators. The Association, moreover, encourages its members to pursue, publish, present and disseminate research in arts management and administration to strengthen the understanding of arts management issues in the academic and professional fields.

Recognition of arts administration as a profession is a recent development. Because formal education was not begun until the mid-1960's, the profession is still in its adolescence, even as arts institutions are demanding higher levels of sophistication from their administrators.

The Association believes that higher education remains the appropriate response to these demands and to the present and future management needs of the arts. Information is available on each member program's history, purpose, background, administration, degree(s), curriculum and application procedure through this web site.

http://www.artsmanagement.net/

Distance Learning

The New World Symphony (NWS) implemented the use of Internet2 in 2000, and it was recently highlighted at the end of January during a symposium held at the Lincoln Theater in South Beach, FL. Internet2 is similar in function to technology like Skype, providing live audio and visual screening over distances, but it is much faster therefore giving it clearer audio quality that is useful for artists trying to perform live over the Internet. NWS has been using this technology to allow for distance learning among its musicians and conductors, including giving lessons, masterclasses, and holding auditions. It has become a very successful that other arts institutions have begun to use as well. In addition, if you look on the NWS website, you will see that using Internet2 to connect with artists has become part of the orchestra's statement of purpose.

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/02/silicon_beach_new_world_sympho.php

http://www.nws.edu/AboutMission.asp