I’d just like to flag up a couple of posts within the CultureHive Digital Academy blog – one that I wrote about baking marketing into the production of art, and another one by one of the fellows that I have been mentoring, about developing social media content strategies.
Both are useful insights into the use of digital within the arts đ
Over the six years of NativeHQâs work, weâve been developing our approach to delivering the best social media learning and development process for our clients. We aim to improve our clientsâ own capacity to deliver good quality online social media communications that actively serve their mission.
We have developed a method that helps them to understand relationships with their networks, think through their digital strategic goals and develop skills and knowledge for turning their ideas into reality. We call it our Social Media Insights (SMI) programme. It takes place over a series of half-day sessions, which are scheduled between two weeks and a month apart.
Between 2013 and 2014, we worked with Arts Council Wales to trial this method with five arts companies at different stages in their development, working in a range of art forms across Wales in both English and Welsh. This post is about that project, and the lessons that we learnt through the work.
The SMI process starts by exploring the networks of people and organisations the company works with, who has relationships with them and how those connections impact on work. We then pin down their artistic and business aims within each set of relationships. This is the basis of a creative ideation process that helps us to develop ideas about how specific uses of digital media could improve the effectiveness of the work they do.
From this set of possibilities, we draw up a shortlist of initiatives, and the training and launch processes they need in order to start. The company picks the initiatives they want to prioritise and we plan a bespoke programme for them to take place over the remaining sessions of the programme.
SMI: Arts. Applications
Arts Council Wales was interested in learning about how we support arts organisations in this way and commissioned us to deliver this service to five arts companies in Wales, and to learn from the experience.
We announced the project via social media and our call for applications received 45 applications from a variety of companies all across Wales.
There were many high quality applications and only space for five (MOSTYN, Dawns Powys Dance, Urdd Gobaith Cymru, Hijinx Theatre and Response). We then set about delivering our service to them between October 2013 and June 2014.
Here are a couple of the positive responses to the programme:
âSocial Media Insights came at just the right time for Hijinx. We were in a period of change as a company, so it was the right time to stop and reflect on who are we, what we do, and how digital and social media could help us do that at a foundational level. NativeHQ have helped us to take a holistic approach to digital and social media as a company: to see digitalâs potential for serving the companyâs entire mission, rather than just as part of the marketing strategy.â
Vanessa Morse, Hijinx Theatre
âWhen we embarked on the Social Media Insights I really had not anticipated quite how the project would touch on every aspect of what we do and how we operate. Instead of some glib, generic advice on what to do / what not to do on social media, the project went so much deeper than that and required us to unpack who we are, how we do things and how we want to be and do. It was very, very bespoke and accommodated everyone’s’ skills and needs as well as the organisational needs. As a result of the SMI Arts, we now manage our projects; communicate within the team; manage our time; market ourselves; make and edit films and of course, use social media – much better than before!â
Amanda Griffkin, Dawns Powys Dance
While writing our report to Arts Council Wales, we reflected on some of the lessons we had learnt. We are constantly learning and updating our methods and have now adapted our programme to incorporate them. Here are a few:
Many arts companies, especially those working within the public sector, are struggling to access consumer web services (e.g. Facebook, Google Drive) that are being widely adopted by collaborators and audiences beyond their firewall, often because of IT security concerns. We now work with clients to help them tackle these issues within their company.
Many people are still unclear about why they are using digital media and social media, which is increasingly a normal and central aspect of their networkâs communications landscape. A result, they struggle for clarity about what their learning needs are, or how to manage their competing digital priorities. We start by helping them to think through their strategic priorities before we begin to plan a training programme.
Many people take a broadcast approach to their social media presence, continually pushing information and talking at people. As this approach often fails to develop the potential of the medium, we work through alternative communications patterns, such as listening and conversations, collaborations, research and investigation. We seek to think through the possibilities of these digital patterns within their work objectives.
While many organisations leave the work of social and digital media to the communications manager, digital media impacts on the whole organisation and is best tackled by a group that includes wider leadership and a breadth of team representation. While many organisations are worried by the resourcing requirements of a good social media presence, there are areas where more efficient communication skills can win time for them to make the work more sustainable.
Having started with a focus on strategic aims, the training programmes that we delivered to the organisations involved in the Social Media Insights: Arts were unique to each company. Over the programme, we delivered training sessions on a very wide range of topics.
One interesting statistic was that 58% of the training topics we worked on were delivered to just one organisation, and only a minority of topics were prioritised by more than one of them. The lesson from this was that there is limited value in âgeneralâ social media training, because the training needs of organisations are unique to them, if you pay close enough attention.
We have taken encouragement from this finding that our approach of focusing on thinking about strategic priorities first with our clients will result in a bespoke programme that will accurately prioritise their development priorities.
We learnt lessons about the programme, which we delivered as an eight-session programme over eight months. During the strategic development process, we have found value in compressing the sessions so theyâre closer together to concentrate the thinking and creative process. Our training programme remains one in which sessions are spaced out by at least three weeks (preferably a month), so that new learnings have time to be embedded into working practices. Our current Social Media Insight programme is now structured as follows:
In our evaluation of the programme, we asked each company if they had experienced a change in confidence in their ability to:
Across all categories and organisations, there was an increase in confidence of 45%.
If you would like to know more about this programme, our approach, or how we might be able to help enable your organisation, please leave a comment, or question, or get in touch.
I’m currently working for a new project run by the Arts Marketing Association called the CultureHive Digital Academy, which is an initiative aiming to innovate in digital learning. It’s run by Carol Jones, recently of Chapter, who also teaches the RWCMD in Cardiff.
The Academy’s model is to encourage its fellows to learn through rapid innovation, experimentation and reflective learning. They are encouraged to develop initiative ideas, implement and evaluate them, then reflect on their experiences through the Academy blog. This participatory education programme consists of online action learning sets and regular sessions with a mentor, and I was asked to be one of those mentors in the summer of 2014.
From September 2014, I’ve been meeting with fellows via Google Hangouts and Skype, helping them to think through the programme and develop their learning from the programme. Â So far, I’ve been working with; Amy Rushby, who works in digital marketing for the Royal Shakespeare Company; Ruth Catlow, a digital artist and leader at the digital arts collective Furtherfield in Finsbury Park, London and Jamie Eastman and Jamie Wooldridge, who work at Live at Lica, a University based multi arts venue in Lancaster.
The programme leaders have asked me to reflect on my experience as a mentor through the programme’s blog, and today I published my first post, which is about establishing the purposes for setting up a digital media initiative, and ideation, the process of generating and combining ideas for solutions. You can read my post, Thinking through digital innovation before you start creating initiatives on the CultureHive Digital Academy website.
I’m chuffed to have been asked to continue being a part of this exciting initiative when the next batch of fellows join later in 2015, and I’ll continue blogging about my insights into what the fellows have needed to tackle during their mentoring sessions with me over the next year and as long as I’m involved with the programme. You’ll be able to access an archive of my posts into the future. Enjoy!
In recent months we have been working with Music Theatre Wales, the contemporary opera company, for the first time. Our aim has been to help develop the innovative use of digital media by the company: developing audiences, sharing company practice and complementing its existing creative work. In particular we have focused on their currently touring production The Trial, renowned composer Philip Glass’ new adaptation of the Franz Kafka novel.
No two organisations are alike and in the field of social media, no two strategies are alike either. Although we have clear processes for ideation and development of viable initiatives there is no template plan as such. This is particularly true in the performing arts. In working with people we are looking to bring the best of our experience at NativeHQ while being open to learning and collaboration with them as specialists in their own field.
Music Theatre Wales was founded in Cardiff in 1988 from the merger of two companies with roots going back to 1982. They focus on contemporary opera rather than the canon of classic works. I had several eye-opening moments working with the team. Maybe I should say ear-opening moments. One thing I have learned is just how central music is to the experience of opera. Being an art fan with more curiosity than knowledge about opera – and a relative outsider – was an advantage in some ways.
Our work with the company and the production has included designing and running strategy development sessions, co-running the resulting initiatives, bespoke training and coaching. It will culminate in an evaluation of all these activities. It has been very encouraging to see how the company’s use of social media has progressed since we began. This has been a fruitful collaboration between people who specialise in fields which seldom converge. In other words I believe that the opera world’s mastery of social media is at a very early yet promising stage.
There were many ways to approach The Trial and we explored a greater number of exciting ideas than resources could possibly support. A key part of the work has been to commission a social media producer, Helen Griffiths, to investigate the life of the production and capture conversations among the director, composer, writer, performers, crew, office team and audience. These conversations deal with the creative development of the production, the themes raised by the narrative, the music and the roles of cast and crew members.
To watch the videos which Helen has produced, this YouTube playlist is a good starting point.
You can watch, listen and interact with other content produced by Helen via the Storify grid underneath this post. More content across various platforms will be appearing in the next few days.
This work has reminded me of how it’s important to be clear whether an online activity is promotional or conversational (or maybe something else). In our development sessions with Helen and the Music Theatre Wales team we have been careful to distinguish the two categories of purpose. We did spend time helping with a Facebook advertising campaign so that Music Theatre Wales’ page can reach more fans, targetting according to relevant geography and topics.
The bulk of the interesting work has been in the conversational category, in which the guiding principles have been to share the ‘heart and soul’ of the company and stimulate genuine multi-way conversation. We really hope you enjoy engaging with the results!
Yn y misoedd diwethaf rydym wedi bod yn gweithio gyda Music Theatre Wales, y cwmni opera cyfoes, am y tro cyntaf. Ein nod ni oedd helpu datblygu defnydd arloesol o gyfryngau digidol gan y cwmni: datblygu cynulleidfaoedd, rhannu arferion y cwmni a chyfrannu at waith creadigol y cwmni. Rydym yn canolbwyntio ar gynhyrchiad cyfredol The Trial yn enwedig, addasiad newydd sydd ar daith gan y cyfansoddwr amlwg Philip Glass o’r nofel Franz Kafka.
Mae pob dau sefydliad yn wahanol ac ym maes cyfryngau cymdeithasol, mae pob dau strategaeth yn wahanol hefyd. Er bod gyda ni prosesau clir am daflu syniadau a datblygu mentrau dilys, does dim cynllun templed fel y cyfryw. Mae hynny yn wir yn y celfyddydau perfformio yn arbennig. Trwy weithio gyda phobl rydym eisiau dod â’r gorau o’n profiad yn NativeHQ tra bod yn agored i ddysgu a chyd-weithredu gyda nhw fel arbenigwyr yn eu maes nhw.
Sefydlwyd Music Theatre Wales yng Nghaerdydd yn 1988 o gydsoddiad dau gwmni gyda gwreiddiau ers 1982. Maent yn canolbwyntio ar opera cyfoes yn hytrach na’r canon o weithiau clasur. Ces i sawl moment agoriad llygaid wrth weithio gyda’r tĂŽm. Efallai dylwn i ddweud moment agoriad clust. Un peth sydd wedi dod i’r amlwg yw’r pwysigrwydd cerddoriaeth i brofiad opera. Roedd bod yn ffan celf gyda mwy o chwilfrydedd na gwybodaeth am opera – ar y tu allan i ryw raddau – yn fantais mewn ffordd.
Mae ein gwaith gyda’r cwmni a’r cynhyrchiad wedi cynnwys dylunio a rhedeg sesiynau datblygu strategaeth, cyd-redeg y mentrau canlynol a hyfforddiant pwrpasol. Bydd y cyfan yn bennu gyda gwerthusiad o’r gweithgareddau hyn. Mae hi wedi bod yn galonogol iawn i weld sut mae defnydd y cwmni o gyfryngau cymdeithasol wedi cynyddu ers i ni ddechrau. Mae hi wedi bod yn gyd-weithrediad rhwng pobl mewn meysydd sydd ddim yn dod at eu gilydd yn aml ac wedi dwyn ffrwyth. Yn y byd opera ar hyn o bryd mae hi’n gyfnod addawol gyda llawer o botensial i feistroli’r cyfryngau cymdeithasol.
O ran The Trial roedd sawl ffordd i fynd ati ac edrychon ni at nifer fawr o syniadau cyffroes, mwy nag sy’n bosib i’w gynnal ar yr adnoddiau ar gael. Rhan allweddol o’r gwaith oedd comisiynu cynhyrchydd cyfryngau cymdeithasol, Helen Griffiths, i ymchwilio bywyd y cynhyrchiad a chipio sgyrsiau ymhlith y cyfarwyddwr, cyfansoddwr, ysgrifennwr, perfformwyr, criw, tĂŽm swyddfa a chynulleidfa. Roedd y sgyrsiau hyn yn delio gyda datblygiad creadigol y cynhyrchiad, y themau a godwyd gan y adroddiant, y gerddoriaeth a rhannu’r cast ac aelodau’r criw.
Er mwyn gwylio’r fideos a gynhyrchwyd gan Helen, mae’r rhestr YouTube yn fan cychwyn da.
Gallech wylio, gwrando a rhyngweithio gyda’r cynnwys eraill a gynhyrchwyd gan Helen trwy’r grid Storify o dan y cofnod hwn. Bydd mwy o gynnwys ar draws platfformau amrywiol yn ymddangos yn ystod y dyddiau nesaf.
Mae’r gwaith hwn wedi fy atgoffa bod hi’n bwysig i fod yn glir os yw gweithgaredd ar-lein yn hyrwyddo neu sgyrsiol (neu rywbeth arall efallai). Yn ein sesiynau datblygu gyda Helen a thĂŽm Music Theatre Wales rydym wedi bod yn ofalus i wahaniaethu rhwng y ddau gategori o bwrpas. Treulion ni amser i helpu gydag ymgyrch hysbysebu ar Facebook er mwyn i dudalen Music Theatre Wales gyrraedd mwy o ffans trwy dargedu ar sail daearyddiaeth a diddordebau.
Ond mae’r rhan fwyaf o waith diddorol wedi bod yn y categori sgyrsiol ac rydym wedi dilyn egwyddorion o rannu âcalon ac enaid’ y cwmni ac ysgogi sgyrsiau aml-ffordd go iawn. Rydym yn gobeithio eich bod yn mwynhau rhyngweithio gyda’r canlyniadau!
Fersiwn Cymraeg o’r cofnod hwn
NativeHQ and Nico Translation are beginning a large project called WordPress i Bawb (WordPress for Everyone) in which we will release useful components of the WordPress content management system in the Welsh language over several months.
Although the main WordPress system has been available in Welsh for many years (thanks to Rhos Prys, Iwan Standley and others) there remain swathes of good plugins and themes which are not.
There are hundreds of such plugins and themes for WordPress, authored by professionals around the world. Our main question is, which ones are the most useful for website managers who wish to provide content and services in Welsh? Obviously we have a good idea of what we’d like to see from our experience of building and running websites and of training people in how to use them.
But now we are giving the opportunity for you to influence our decisions and suggest plugins and themes for the final list. We are asking publicly in order to learn, and help others learn, about useful WordPress functionality.
We are focusing on the following four types of website:
We’ll also consider the following criteria:
Do you run, or are you looking to run, a Welsh-language or multilingual website in one of these categories? Which plugins and themes would you like to see translated into Welsh? Why? Please leave a comment below. If you really don’t want to comment, you can email carl@nativehq.com instead.
All work will be released under the GPL licence to support and encourage freedom of re-use. There is the potential that wordpress.com and other blogging services will use our translations too.
Please note that we cannot promise to accept your suggestions.
This work is supported by a grant from Welsh Government’s Welsh Language Technology and Digital Media Fund.
The above photo is of the WordCamp Cardiff 2009 t-shirt.
English language version of this post
Mae NativeHQ a chwmni Nico yn dechrau ar brosiect mawr o’r enw WordPress i Bawb lle byddwn yn rhyddhau cydrannau defnyddiol ar gyfer system rheoli cynnwys WordPress yn Gymraeg dros gyfnod o sawl mis.
Er bod prif system WordPress ar gael yn Gymraeg ers blynyddoedd (diolch i Rhos Prys, Iwan Standley ac eraill) mae dal i fod llwythi o ategion a themâu da sydd ddim ar gael yn Gymraeg eto.
Mae cannoedd o ategion a themâu ar gyfer WordPress, a ddatblygwyd gan arbenigwyr o gwmpas y byd. Y prif gwestiwn yw, pa rai sydd fwyaf defnyddiol i reolwyr gwefannau sydd eisiau darparu cynnwys a gwasanaethau yn Gymraeg? Yn amlwg rydym yn gwybod eisoes pa rai rydym eisiau eu gweld o’n profiad ni o adeiladu a rhedeg gwefannau a hyfforddi pobl i’w defnyddio nhw.
Ond nawr rydym yn rhoi’r cyfle i chi ddylanwadu ar ein penderfyniadau ac awgrymu ategion a themâu ar gyfer y rhestr derfynol. Rydym yn gofyn yn gyhoeddus er mwyn dysgu, a hwyluso dysgu ymhlith eraill, am nodweddion WordPress defnyddiol.
Rydym yn canolbwyntio ar y pedwar math o wefan isod:
Rydym yn ystyried y meini prawf isod:
Ydych chi’n rhedeg, neu’n bwriadu rhedeg, gwefan Gymraeg neu amlieithog o dan un o’r categorĂŻau? Pa ategion a themâu yr hoffech chi eu gweld yn cael eu cyfieithu i’r Gymraeg? Pam? Gadewch sylw isod os gwelwch yn dda. Os nad ydych chi eisiau gadael sylw, gallech e-bostio carl@nativehq.com yn lle.
Byddwn ni’n rhyddhau popeth o dan drwydded GPL er mwyn cefnogi ac annog ailddefnyddio rhydd. Mae potensial y bydd wordpress.com a gwasanaethau blogio eraill yn defnyddio ein cyfieithiadau hefyd.
Nodir nad oes modd addo y byddwn ni’n derbyn eich awgrymiadau.
Cefnogir y gwaith trwy grant oddi wrth Gronfa Technoleg a Chyfryngau Digidol Cymraeg Llywodraeth Cymru.
Llun o’r crys-t WordCamp Caerdydd 2009
Company of Angels is a theatre company based in London, England which produces plays for and about young people. I received a phone call from them a few months ago asking if NativeHQ could build a custom website for Theatre CafĂŠ, a pan-European festival where new texts and their translations are performed script-in-hand.
This website is now live at www.theatrecafe.eu.
There were several aims for this website. It had last for years to come and be extensible enough to serve events in Leeds, Berlin, Frankfurt and Amsterdam in 2014 and 2015 as well as subsequent events. An event is an opportunity for anybody to preview the work of new emerging playwrights and translators. Theatre practitioners use it to find collaborators and texts for future productions. Hence an events calendar was vital. Perhaps the most distinctive feature is a Texts Library for browsing the available scripts, navigable by title, country, languages in which the text is available, and number of cast members. On top of all this the interface had to be available in four languages: English, German, Dutch and Norwegian although the variety of languages represented by the texts is far greater.
Like many of our projects Theatre CafĂŠ’s website was built in WordPress, which continues to be a reliable and flexible content management system capable of handling these unorthodox features. Importantly the client retains freedom to maintain the website in the future in any way they choose, without software licence fees. This could be regarded as the ‘If you love somebody set them free’ principle of free and open source software.
If you’re wondering how the Texts Library was achieved, it makes heavy use of custom post types which is a very useful WordPress feature for when posts or pages are insufficient. On the dashboard there are now dedicated post types for texts and for authors. Texts can be viewed singly. Alternatively the text library, an author or language is then automatically rendered to the visitor according to a template using user search criteria and interface language choice. We are very pleased with the result and would like to credit Marc Heatley Design for partnering with NativeHQ on this unusual project.
Company of Angels ydy cwmni theatr yn Llundain, Lloegr sydd yn cynhyrchu dramâu am ac i bobl ifanc. Derbyniais alwad ffĂ´n oddi wrthynt ychydig fisoedd yn Ă´l yn gofyn os allai NativeHQ adeiladu gwefan ar gyfer Theatre CafĂŠ, gĹľyl ar draws Ewrop lle mae testunau newydd a’i cyfieithiadau yn cael eu perfformio sgript-mewn-llaw.
Mae’r wefan bellach yn fyw ar www.theatrecafe.eu.
Roedd sawl amcan ar gyfer y wefan. Roedd rhaid iddi hi barhau am flynyddoedd i ddod a bod yn ddigon estynadwy er mwyn gwasanaethu digwyddiadau yn Leeds, Berlin, Frankfurt ac Amsterdam yn 2014 a 2015 yn ogystal â digwyddiadau wedyn. Digwyddiad ydy cyfle i unrhyw un i ragweld gwaith dramodwyr a chyfieithwyr newydd. Mae ymarferwyr theatr yn ei ddefnyddio er mwyn canfod cyd-weithwyr a thestunau ar gyfer cynhyrchiadau yn y dyfodol. Felly roedd calendr o ddigwyddiadau yn hanfodol. Y nodwedd fwyaf trawiadol efallai yw’r Llyfrgell Destunau ar gyfer pori’r sgriptiau sydd ar gael, sy’n chwiliadwy ar sail teitl, gwlad, ieithoedd sydd ar gael a nifer o aelodau o’r cast. Yn ogystal roedd rhaid i ni gynnig y rhyngwyneb mewn pedair iaith: Saesneg, Almaeneg, Iseldireg a Norwyeg ond mae amrywiaeth ehangach o ieithoedd yn y testunau.
Fel llawer o ein prosiectau adeiladwyd gwefan Theatre CafĂŠ yn WordPress sydd dal yn ddibynadwy a hygyrch fel system rheoli cynnwys sy’n ddigon galluog i ddarparu’r nodweddion arferol yma. Mae’n bwysig bod y client yn cadw’r rhyddid i gynnal a chadw’r wefan yn y dyfodol mewn unrhyw ffordd maent yn ei ddewis, heb ffioedd trwydded meddalwedd. Gall ddweud taw hynny yw’r egwyddor ‘Os ydych chi’n caru rhywun gadewch iddo fod yn rhydd’ yn y maes meddalwedd rydd a chod agored.
Os ydych chi’n pendroni sut wnaethon ni adeiladu’r Llyfrgell Destunau, mae hi’n defnyddio mathau o gofnodion wedi’i addasu (byddai term gwell yn handi) – nodwedd WordPress defnyddio pan mae cofnodion neu dudalennau yn anaddas. Ar y bwrdd gwaith mae mathau penodol o gofnod ar gyfer testunau ac awduron. Gall weld unrhyw destun penodol. Fel arall mae’r Llyfrgell, awdur neu iaith yn cael ei rendro yn awtomatig i’r ymwelydd yn Ă´l templed ar sail meini prawf chwilio a dewis iaith ryngwyneb. Rydym yn hapus iawn gyda’r canlyniad ac eisiau cydnabod Marc Heatley Design am bartneru gyda NativeHQ ar y prosiect anarferol hwn.
Mae’n anodd credu bod blwyddyn lawn wedi mynd heibio ers cynhyrchiad Y Bont yn Aberystwyth. Roedd y ddrama yn nodi hanner ganrif ers y protest iaith torfol enwog ar bont Trefechan yn 1963. Mae Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru yn lansio archif o’r cynhyrchiad ddydd Sul yma (2il Chwefror 2014). Bydd e’n cyfle i bobl a fynychodd y ddrama weld safbwyntiau eraill yn ogystal a chynnig cyfle i’w wylio i bobl a fethodd y digwyddiad. Ewch i gyfrif Twitter Theatr Genedlaethol am ragor o fanylion cyn hir.
Mae NativeHQ a Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru newydd dderbyn gwobr am waith ar Y Bont oddi wrth Gwobrau Theatr Cymru, sef Defnydd Gorau o Gynnwys Digidol/Ar-lein. W00p!
Fel y dwedais ar y llwyfan nos Sadwrn, y stwff digidol yma ydy cyfrwng. Fydd ddim llawer i wneud ar ein pennau ein hunain ac rydym yn hollol ddibynnol ar bobl eraill er mwyn i ni ddogfennu, dehongli, rhannu, recordio Vines fel yr un uchod (platfform yr oedd yn newydd sbon ar y pryd) – ac ati.
Rydym fel cwmni eisiau cymryd y cyfle i ddweud diolch i’r bobl ganlynol.
This post is about our Wales Theatre Award: Best Use of Digital/Online Content for our work on Y Bont with Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru. There isn’t enough room on the slate for the names of the digital team who are sharing in this award with us plus the others we want to thank, so we’ve credited them here. Congratulations to the other nominees in our category too!