This fall, Penn State Altoona Sheetz Fellows Tori Acker, Makala Doyle, Amber Friday, and Blayz Shartzer have been working with ArtsAltoona. The group has been working on the marketing aspect of the organization focusing on content marketing through social media and other campaign projects, trying to expand community awareness of ArtsAltoona.
When asked why the Sheetz Fellows chose to work with ArtsAltoona this semester Makala said, “We got the opportunity to work with ArtsAltoona last semester when we teamed up with the organization to plan the stARThere event. That event was very successful and we decided that we would like to continue our work with ArtsAltoona this semester.” The stARThere event was held in the Juniata section of Altoona where there was art, music, food, and handmade items. Many people came out and enjoyed the art, music and the beauty of the local area.
Sheetz Fellows with ArtsAltoona leaders Donna Gority and Gwen Fisher
The group has gotten a lot accomplished this semester and hopes to accomplish even more in the upcoming weeks. So far, the group has worked on growing ArtsAltoona’s social media presence in the community. To do this, the group organized a giveaway with Rob Z where we collected donations from local performing arts organizations along with amazing local artwork and handmade soap items from local businesses. After collecting these donations, we put together a giveaway basket which we gave away on a video that was made with Rob Z for one of his weekly Freebie Fridays. In this video, we discussed the local businesses that have donated, while also informing viewers about ArtsAltoona and what our current goals are for the organization and building downtown. As a result, the giveaway was very successful with over 6000 views, and 500 likes.
The group has also reached out to local community members to write stories about them, and have done a lot of research to try and connect with members of the community on all platforms. These articles have been posted on social media and have grown the number of viewers of the newsletter and followers. In the next few weeks, the group will be working on organizing an editorial calendar and planning on how to engage the community more with the organization and other local artists and shops in the area. The group is working very hard in order to gain followers for ArtsAltoona and to make the community more connected to art in the area.
By Tori Acker