Twitter Feed Crossover Edition

The majority of you who receive YCM emails miss out on additional items I post on my Twitter account which don't fit naturally into my themed email editions of You've Cott Mail. Here are some stories and commentary that I've posted on Twitter recently. --Thomas

THE BIG PICTURE

• Get ready for the next big copyright fight...3D Printing
• Jesse Rosen: "Doing more about diversity in America's orchestras"
• WQXR: What Hugo Ch�vez's death means for El Sistema's music schools, youth orchestras
• Wall St Journal analysis: grads with arts degrees have highest student-loan debt.
• Bruce Norris: "The idea that theatre can change anything is optimistic... I'm lazy, selfish, infantile and so are most people."

FINANCIAL / FUNDRAISING

• Howard Sherman: Not-for-profit arts orgs are using the wrong metrics for reporting success
• Spain's microtheatres provide lifeline for actors as public subsidies dry up
• Theaters amp up fundraising auction with online platform or embedding it within performance
• Downsized newspapers re-purpose empty office space for music perfs, film/TV shoots

DIGITAL / SOCIAL / MOBILE

• Erik Gensler: Arts groups, especially those on limited budgets, need to focus marketing efforts further down the "Digital Funnel"
• Scott Matthewman: Social marketing can be a cheap way to promote the arts, but the real expense of a successful campaign is time
• A pioneer of web ads says the best ads ask consumers "How can we help you?" instead of "What can we sell you?"

AUDIENCE / MARKETING / SALES

• Making ballet fashionable: Northern Ballet engages new audiences through local partnerships
• Chad Bauman: Struggling with marketing decisions? "What if you didn't have to guess?"
• From a week-long WESTAF blog discussion among experts on arts research... Day 1: How do the arts compare to other sectors?, Day 2: Merits of centralizing data, Day 3: What's next?

JUST FOR FUN

• Blockbuster filmmaker George Lucas' next act? Opening an art museum.
• To keep piano students practicing: 'gamified' digital keyboard lessons offer feedback in real-time
• San Francisco's Bay Bridge is now home to the world's largest LED light sculpture

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

• "Tell me, and I forget.  Teach me, and I may remember.  Involve me, and I will learn."
  --Benjamin Franklin