Tonight (9/20/16) the Santa Clara City Council discussed -- and unanimously approved -- the proposed new International Swim Center complex. One of the elements will be a new 800-seat theater.

Sounds great.
 
But the history of performing arts venues in Santa Clara is that they're controlled by entities with their own agendas -- agendas that aren't performing arts: Parks & Rec Dept (Mello Theater at the CRC),  Wilcox high school (the "Mission City Center for the Performing Arts"), the Senior Center auditorium,  Oracle (Agnews Auditorium), the Convention Center (Betty Hangs Theater).
 
For example, a few years ago two San Jose State tenors requested to give a free concert at the SC Senior Center. They got a rate sheet and were told they would have to pay for the venue as non-residents. These young men were offering a the gift of a free concert to part of our community that has least access to professional performances -- whether because of limited mobility, budgets or transportation. But the Senior Center made it clear that it had zero interest in bringing this to the community.
 
Local performing arts organizations and artists -- outside schools or the Junior Theater -- aren't included in the planning, writing the use contracts and agreements, and and public oversight of these public assest. And they haven't been included in the planning for this current proposal, which started in 2013.
 
Why? Quite simply because the performing arts "community" doesn't fill City Hall with advocates in matching tee shirts when these subjects are discussed.
 
Tonight's Council meeting is packed to overflowing with Santa Clara Swim Club supporters to advocate for restoring Santa Clara to its former fame as a world-class aquatic center, one that gave Santa Clara the title of U.S. #1 swim city this year.
 
That's why the city is talking about a $184 million swim complex - not a $100 million or a $10 million performing arts center, or even a $1 million community theater. The city budgets $12,000 for the Miss Santa Clara pageant, but less than half that for the legacy of community fine arts icon Roberta Jones, the Santa Clara Players.
 
How can you make your priorities known? One way is showing up to Council meetings. This Council's definition of public sentiment is the people who come to Council meetings and speak, do so week after week, and display the kind of solidarity that draws TV cameras and gives Council Members opportunities to enjoy some media visibility. Yes, it does all come down to politics. 
 
The second part is an ongoing effort to build partnerships with organizations that share the desire for a community with a vibrant local community life. But to do that, we have to show that we bring something to the table.
 
The good news is it's not a hard sell. People of good intentions always welcome the invitation, "Let's explore how we can work together."

Last week's Silicon Valley Creates' Engage(dot)Next was one of the productive eight hours anyone could have invested if they're looking for ways to build an audience.

The two main themes of the day were amplifying your social media following by listening and giving, and building audiences by building community bridges.

Everyone's hot on social media marketing (SMM) because they want to get something from it – sell tickets, raise money. Purematter marketing company CEO Bryan Kramer and Yapper Girl blogger Suzanne Oeler say that's putting the cart before the horse. With social media you should be thinking about what can you give your audience through social media.

We call that body language when we're talking face-to-face. Here's what good social body language looks like. 

Start the conversation by listening – not just on your page, but throughout the SMM universe. There are tools to help you do that – both free and paid – and www.socialmediatoday.com has a good list. The list include Sprout Social, OneKube.com, HootSuite, TweetDeck, Radian6 and Mutual Mind. Some will tell you what "share of mind" you have around specific keywords. And social media is always changing. FaceBook and Twitter continue to lead – although young people are losing interest in FaceBook in droves and moving to Instagram. 

Then ask your audience to tell you what's on their minds. Instead of telling them to turn their phones off, ask them to turn them on and post to their groups where they are, and what they think of the show. If picture-taking bothers you, provide a moment where everyone can take a picture. Watch online during performances. Offer something in realtime – give us your email address today for a free ticket to the next performance.

Participate in your followers conversations. Respond to comments and "likes." Ask them to tell you more. Find out what other interests your followers have and participate in those conversations. For example, a Santa Clara Performing Arts Foundation follower was looking for an instrumentalist for a group in Fremont. We re-posted his request on our page. The San Francisco Ballet asks followers: What's your favorite....?  Pictures are important, too, because Facebook gives posts with pictures a higher ranking. When you engage in conversation, your content is amplified. 

Blogging is important, too. You know more than you think. How to get it out of your head? Pretend a friend just asked you a question about your art. How did you come to start your company? What was the best show you ever had? What kinds of questions do reviewers or journalists usually ask? Answer honestly.

And remember that writing is a two-step process: writing and revision. So it doesn't matter what the first go looks like. Put words on paper. The read them and ask yourself: what story did I just tell? Make that your first sentence, organize the rest by topic, tidy it up, and post.

In my next post about Engage(dot)Next I'll talk about the how Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History and San Jose Taiko/Bangerz made arts into community bridging events that, by the way, beat all their audience records and turned MAH's deficit into an endowment.