Journal

Sustaining the arts through smart outreach in a rough economy

An interview with Valley Cultural Center’s President & CEO, Jim Kinsey

by Jen Pennington

2010 marked a new beginning for long-time Rhizome client, the Valley Cultural Center. A non-profit, founded in 1975 to assist the Los Angeles City Department of Recreation & Parks in bringing arts and culture to the San Fernando Valley. The Valley Cultural Center has been at the forefront of culture, arts, and arts education in the community for more than thirty-five years.

Every year the Valley Cultural Center presents free concerts in Warner Park. Featuring rock, classical, jazz, R&B, Latino pop, country, cowboy, Dixieland, folk, and more, their concerts entertain more than 140,000 Valley residents and visitors each year and are the cornerstone of Sunday afternoons in the San Fernando Valley. More recently this has expanded to Saturday evening movie nights.

Though we have worked together for eight years, this was the first year VCC would bring the production of their concert and movie programs in-house. This meant Rhizome had control over how the content in the program was presented in its entirety, not just a few random pages. We brought in Graphics Plus our print partner to help with all the pre-press and ad placements before the job was electronically delivered and printed in California. It also meant revamping the old www.valleycultural.org website. As President, Jim also wanted to green the events as much as possible and figure out a way to reach out to the community more. Even the concert and movie titles changed from Concerts and Movies in the Park, to Concerts and Movies on the Green. Before we knew it, this ambitious project produced some of the best results we had seen.

I had the chance to correspond with Jim in email and asked him a few questions about our recent project together.

This year, you brought the production of your concert program in-house. Were you apprehensive about that or did you see it as an opportunity to do something different?
JK: “Not having a publishing background, we looked to Rhizome for direction on how to plan, manage, and implement the project so everything would be completed in a timely manner. We didn’t want to recreate the entire piece, but we did want to make changes that would make the magazine clean, crisp and easier to read. Additionally, we added a Marketplace section in the program and online that reached out to local businesses and our community.  This created a couple of different types of revenue stream for us. In past years, while we always had “control” of the project, we never looked outside the box for more creative solutions.  Frankly, the status quo was just easier.  Rhizome created a process environment where we could easily make changes but stay true to our mission.  Through adjustments in methods and electronic tools that ensured the project was managed properly, we had the freedom to explore new avenues. Although internal tracking of invoicing, page count and sponsorship placement was new ground for us, this was the ONLY thing we were internally concerned with.”

Q. How did you find the two days you spent up here in Seattle brainstorming new ideas with James and I?
JK: “My time in Seattle was amazing! It was great to meet with the creative team away from phones, faxes, and the daily grind. I haven’t had the opportunity to make such a connection since hiring Rhizome eight years ago. It was an invigorating session and the lively exchange of ideas brought out incredible solutions.   I would like to repeat this at least once a year. The drinks were good, too!”

In this down turn economy did you feel you got your money’s worth from the redesign of the new site, the program and all the related materials?
JK: “Getting our monies worth is the understatement of the year! The new site is not only beautiful, it “sings”! The numbers speak for themselves with a 300% increase in site traffic, along with all of the other amazing stats! Having Facebook and Twitter linked has helped our viral campaign as well.”

How has attendance been at this season’s concerts?
JK: “The new marketing pieces definitely increased our visibility. Overall, we have seen a 20% increase in attendance at our Concerts, Movies and July 4^th celebration. Our average concert attendance is now around 6,000; July 4th is up to 60,000 from 50,000 last year and Movies are up by about 500 each week.”

Do you think your ‘Green Initiative’ surrounding the Concerts and Movies on the Green has helped the Valley Cultural Brand?
JK: “Adding a ‘green’ initiative to our events has been very beneficial to our brand and helps keep us in the public eye.  It was easy to implement and while I don’t think it immediately impacted our attendance, I think it generally makes people feel better about the work that we do.”

Do you think this year’s efforts will yield more sponsors coming on board for next year’s season?
JK: “It’s possible. We did not see an overwhelming reaction to the “green” themed booth sales as anticipated. We still believe our green initiative is the right thing to be doing and that consistency is the key to future success with branding and sponsorship.”

What has been the board’s reaction to all the new materials we’ve created?
JK: “The board is thrilled with our new site! They are mostly happy with the ease of ongoing maintenance and the accessibility of the navigation. We introduced the site with a nice presentation that used James’ traffic stats and gave a full report at the board meeting. It’s one of the few times that each board member asked for a copy.”

Do you think you were able to do more with less funding than you have seen in the past?
JK: “Because of the economy, we are down $50,000 in fundraising.  This was reflected in poor booth sales and reduced sponsorship levels.  We know this is not unique to our organization.  We have reduced our operating expenses as much as possible, including eliminating a key staff position, which is now filled by a volunteer. Our special events will be more important than ever and we hope to exceed budget expectations on both, now that we can sell tickets online. Ad revenue also missed its target revenue goal, but because of the relationship with Rhizome, we were able to reduce print costs even while printing an eco-friendly program book.”

Q. Do you feel people in the Valley have a better understanding of what programs the Valley Cultural Center provides, or how important you are to the community?
JK: “Definitely.  Even with the downturns, we are reaching a broader audience this year. We believe that our new website and viral campaign are the main contributing factor in this increase. Our concert customer is aware of what we do outside of park programs, even if they don’t get involved in our other events or programs.”

Q. Are you happy with the results of this year’s dramatic transformation?
JK: “YES!!! Our relationship with Rhizome is a blessing! We understand the value of creative thinking and the value of what we receive from Rhizome for the pittance we pay you. We thank our lucky stars we have you as a partner!”

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