The Art Marathon

A Proposal for The Arts Partnership

March 10, 2015

Grace Peterson
Kayla Hof
Meghann Kuhlman
Davis Steen
Alivia Juusola

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Current Situation 1
Issues

Needs

Objectives 3
Methods

Qualifications
Budget

Benefits

Appendix A 8
Appendix B 9

CURRENT SITUATION
Since 1970, The Arts Partnerships mission has been to cultivate arts in the
Fargo-Moorhead area. The Arts Partnership is a local non-profit organization that
enriches the art community of the Fargo-Moorhead area through grants and
events. TAP has a growing team of over 140 artists, arts related businesses, and
arts non-profit organizations. TAP is an advocate and benefactor for the arts
community. TAP believes that art in the community provides the people with
expression and a collective identity that is unique to FM area.
This is the second year that TAP has decided to hold the Art Marathon, a twoweek event showcasing arts in and around Fargo-Moorhead leading up to the
widely attended Fargo Marathon. The first year of the Art Marathon was a
moderate success, but TAP believes that the Art Marathon has the potential to be
a rousing success. Last year had a lack of audience and partner participation due
to a shorter planning period. The Art Marathon has a plethora of benefits for local
artists. However, these benefits have not been communicated to them effectively,
resulting in the lack of participation. By creating events that are specifically for
the Art Marathon, local artists have a way to gain exposure and showcase their
art to the local population.
The first Art Marathon in 2014 was successful because people downloaded the
app, attended the events, and competed to win the marathon. Participation was
adequate, but could be increased in a variety of ways. To meet these goals, TAP
would benefit from a more efficient marketing strategy and utilization of their
resources within the community. The college art students, programs, future
professional artists, and art enthusiasts are resources that TAP could benefit
from contacting and attempting to gain participation.
With the use of these marketing strategies and utilization of the local resources,
the issues of the Art Marathon, lack of audience and artist participation, would be
resolved. This would result in a greater advocacy for the fine arts through this
event and more people participating in art in and around Fargo-Moorhead.

ISSUES
The HeARTS Collective met with Dayna and Kris to discuss what the Art
Marathon was and what happened with the event last year. After hearing about
the original Art Marathon, we identified three areas in need of improvement. By
focusing on these three areas, we can help TAP achieve the Art Marathon that
was envisioned from the beginning.
1. How can the events of the Art Marathon be tailored to attract a wider
audience?
2. What different marketing strategies can be used to generate awareness of
the Art Marathon in the FM community?

3. In what ways can the Art Marathon capitalize on the tri-university system
to engage a younger audience?
Upon reflecting on these areas of concern the HeARTS Collective can research
the factors that have led to the current situation. Through a variety of research
strategies, our company plans to address each of these needs in an effective and
efficient way.

NEEDS
The Arts Partnership is in need of a more targeted marketing strategy in order to
increase attendance at the Art Marathon. Also, The Arts Partnership must find a
way to engage a younger audience for the Art Marathon in order to increase
participation and the likelihood of the events survival in future years. There is
also a serious need for the artists within The Arts Partnership to band together
and participate within the Art Marathon.

OBJECTIVES
The HeARTS Collective has developed a campaign to increase both audience
and artist participation. We plan to research to gain more knowledge about the
Art Marathon in order to better help TAP. We will conduct research in a variety of
ways:
Surveys
Interviews & Focus Groups
Research
Each of these methods will give us insight into how we can better serve TAP.
Surveys provide direct feedback from a large sample size and will give us
empirical data. The interviews and focus groups will provide more detailed
explanations from participants. Lastly, research will let us compare the Art
Marathon to other successful events and give us ideas on how to improve.

METHODS
Surveys
The audience or general public are needed for art to thrive. Without them,
art would have no one to view it, would not enrich culture, and would lose
all of its impact. The audience is 50% of what happens with art, the other
50% are the artists. The HeARTS Collective is suggesting for surveys to
be conducted in the FM area, especially for those that come to the Art
Marathon.
The inclusion of surveys will give us a way to research the current
audience base of TAP and the Art Marathon, we will know what can be
changed to ensure we keep that audience base and change things to
create growth. The external influencers for TAP need to be understood
because they are the ones that TAP are trying to affect and reach.
The survey will include anywhere from how the person heard about the
show to how much TAP has influenced them and their participation in the
arts. The survey would be handed out during shows, but could also be
sent to arts organization around the area for them to survey their audience
base about TAP.
Survey questions for existing audiences could include enjoyment of past
events, satisfaction with art marathon, and comments. This could be a
quick, five minute survey, handed out at the shows. Survey questions for
organizations could include how accessible was the art marathon, would
the Art Marathon fill their needs, and what would these needs be if not

fulfilled. Compensation for completion of the surveys could include putting

their company name in the Art Marathon program. These would be
distributed using partner organizations of TAP.
Interviews & Focus Groups
We will also collect information by interviewing two separate groups of
people in the Fargo-Moorhead community. First, we will contact and
interview participants from last years art marathon. We will ask them
questions about how they found out about the marathon, why they
participated in the events, what they enjoyed, and what they think could be
done differently. This information will be helpful in planning for this years
marathon because it will give us insight as to what marketing strategies
were successful and what motivated people to compete.
Secondly, we will interview students at the local college campuses that did
not participate in the marathon last year. For this group of people, our
interviews will focus on why they chose not to compete last year and what
would make them more inclined to participate in the future. For those
students who were not aware of the marathon last year, we will ask them
how they would most likely hear about it. We will use this information to
determine what marketing strategies would be most effective in reaching
out to the local college students. To contact college students, TAP would
talk to college art professors and art club advisors. These students would
be compensated for their time by being a part of the Art Marathon.
In addition to the interviews, we will also reach out to art focused student
groups and organizations on the local college campuses. We will ask for
their help in participating in and promoting the art marathon. Their
promotions could be as simple as just talking about the marathon with
their peers. Their participation will be beneficial to TAP because they might
be the current and future artists contributing to the marathon. Additionally,
their participation will be profitable for them because this could give them
the opportunity to reach out to TAP and get their work out to the public.
Research
One way to find out how to improve an event is to look at similar events in
the area operate. Because of The HeARTS Collectives ties to the tri-state
area, we will be able to use our contacts to our advantage and find out
what changes need to be made to the Art Marathon in order for it to be a
success. The research we conduct will be fairly straightforward. We will
talk to our previous clients and research similar events to analyze their
advertising strategies, events, and local communities in order to expand

the Art Marathon so it becomes a touchstone of the Fargo-Moorhead arts

scene.
The surveys, interviews, and focus groups are all forms of external
research we will conduct. External factors are the types of factors that are
not directly under TAPs control. A better understanding of external factors
will help Tap and the Art Marathon to strengthen their audience base,
partner participation, and overall success.
Internal research deals with TAP itself. The HeARTS Collective has used
internal research to better companies that we have worked with prior to
TAP. After meeting with Dayna and TAP, we conducted our own internal
research based upon the information given during that meeting. We found
that better marketing strategies could be used and utilization of community
resources for example area colleges and university systems. With the
utilization of both internal and external research, TAP will be able to better
both sides of the Art Marathon ensuring greater participation.

QUALIFICATIONS
The HeARTS Collective recently celebrated its fifth anniversary working for the
Tri-State Community. Throughout these years, our company has worked to
develop communities within North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. Each
of our staff members have a personal passion for the arts, which shows in our
work for non-profit organizations in the Midwest. Our goal is to help The Arts
Partnership create an Art Marathon reflects the high grade of art found
exclusively within the Fargo-Moorhead community.
In the past five years, the HeARTS Collective has worked with a variety of nonprofit organizations within North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. With our
mutual passion for the arts, our collective has worked to build a strong foundation
for many artistic communities. We can guarantee that you will have a personal
relationship with each member of our staff, but also see the impact you would
expect to see of a large company.
Grace Peterson Management
Grace Peterson, a North Dakota native, received two degrees in Business
Administration and Art History from Pennsylvania State University. After
working for some larger corporations she realized that, although she
enjoyed the work, there was something missing from her work: art. Her
desire to live closer to her family brought her back to Fargo where she
connected with others in the area who wanted to use their unique skill sets
to help nourish artistic communities in North Dakota, South Dakota, and
Minnesota. Grace lives for the work she does and hopes to inspire people
of all ages and backgrounds to take interest in the world of the arts and of
non-profits.
Kayla Hoff Director of Human Resources
Kayla Hoff was born and raised in the Moorhead, Minnesota. She is a
recent graduate of North Dakota State University, earning a BS in Human
Development and Family Science. While growing up, she was involved in
theater. During college Kayla attended many theater and other arts
events. After traveling to San Francisco and Chicago, and various cities in
France and Italy, she developed a passion to bring arts and culture to the
tri-state area. Kayla joined The HeARTS Collective as the Director of
Human Resources to find the best team to help nonprofits engage
communities in culture and arts.

Meghann Kuhlman Community Director

As a community director, Meghann Kuhlman has dedicated her life to
creating an inclusive and culturally rich experience for the citizens of the
Fargo-Moorhead area. With her 10 years of experience working in the
non-profit world, she has the ability and the connections to make the Art
Marathon successful.Through her participation in the HeARTS collective,
Meghann works to build up non-profit businesses to reach their full impact
and potential. Having a bachelors degree in communications with a minor
in art, she is fully equipped to meet the artistic needs and abilities of The
Arts Partnership. With her dedication to building up the fine arts in the
Fargo-Moorhead area, Meghann will transform the Art Marathon into
something bigger and notorious. She is also an amateur painter.
Davis Steen Director of Marketing and Social Media
Davis Steen is a recent grad from North Dakota State University. He got
his degree in Marketing and Communications. Throughout his years in
college, he was constantly involved in performing arts, whether it be
through acting in plays, being an audience member in tons of
performances, or by creating marketing and advertising strategies for
different ventures that organization on campus were trying to achieve.
Davis was born and raised in the FM community and has been involved in
the arts in and around the area. He has developed relationships with the
various college art organizations, private arts groups, and individual artists
in his time in Fargo. Culture is huge to Davis and he understands just what
arts and culture can do to both enjoyment of life and progress of society.
ALivia Juusola Director of Accounting
Alivia Juusola joined The HeARTS Collective as the primary accounting
manager. She was raised in a very small community outside of Duluth, MN
and carries those small town values around with her while exploring more
diverse populations. She graduated from North Dakota State University
with a Bachelor of Science in accounting and later graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts in music. Alivia is very responsible and values time and
money management, but she also loves spending time indulging on the
wonderful history of the music world. She has traveled all around the world
in pursuit of finding the best artists. Alivia works with The HeARTS as the
primary accountant, but also uses her music appreciation to help connect
with the many organizations that this company works with.
With our combined qualifications and experiences, the HeARTS Collective will
work to meet your needs. We are a company that is small enough to care, but big
enough to help.

BUDGET
Our team of capable experts have worked hard to create a budget that takes into
account the financial needs of The Arts Partnership and ensures the desired
results. To examine our proposed budget, please see Appendix B.

BENEFITS
Throughout the past 5 years, the HeARTS Collective has worked with several
non-profit organizations to help them thrive and grow. The Bismarck Art
Collective, an event that was previously facing the possibility of shutting down
after being a part of the Bismarck community for over 20 years, reached out to
our program. With our research, marketing plan, and tenacity, we are proud to
say that this situation has been reversed. With The Arts Partnership being such a
strong staple in the FM community, we believe that we can make the Art
Marathon grow stronger with every year.
Exposure
By following our marketing and promotion plan, the Art Marathon will get
the exposure that is needed in order to make an impact in the FargoMoorhead community and the tri-state area. You will also have full access
to all of our data from our research to use in future years. Our marketing
strategies will put the Art Marathon in citizens minds as the date draws
closer. We will boost attendance numbers and overall participation.
Reaching Out to the College Community
One of the best ways to gain exposure will be networking with the TriCollege system location in the Fargo-Moorhead area. With many of our
members being alumni or currently employees of various universities, we
will use our connections to increase the demographics of participation in
the Art Marathon. By networking with North Dakota State University,
Minnesota State University-Moorhead and Concordia College, the college
student population will gain interest in the Art Marathon and participate in
various events.
Investing in Future Artists
Because The Arts Partnership is so invested within the art community, the
HeARTS Collective will also build relationships with the budding artists of
the Fargo-Moorhead Area. Our company will work to invest in the work of
the Tri-College art departments, which holds the future of the arts
community for the area. By making these young artists familiar with The

Arts Partnership and the Art Marathon, TAP can invest in the future of the
arts community, thus keeping the arts alive for future generations.
Through the utilization of this proposal and its methods and objectives, the Art
Marathon will be a bigger success than the previous year. The HeARTS
Collective is a group of passionate, artistic people who know of arts within the
community.

APPENDIX A
Survey
s
8-Mar
Participants
Organizations
Audience
Interviews
Past Participants
College Students
Focus Groups
College Students
Research
Internal
External
Art Marathon
Set-Up
Events

22-Mar
5-Apr
19-Apr
3-May
15-Mar
29-Mar
12-Apr
26-Apr
10-May

APPENDIX B
This is where the budget outline would be included.