Art to Change the World

Increase event attendance through targeted and diversified marketing (see Marketing section below).
Consider event scheduling to avoid conflicts with major city events or protests.
Maintain and expand the high level of organization and prep praised by artists and attendees.

Work to increase public turnout, as artists wanted more visitors.
Continue offering early setup times and keeping the strong layout flow.
Possibly involve more artists by allowing for different display sizes (larger than 8×8).

Clarify in marketing that projects are suitable for adults too.
Use signage or volunteers to guide people to different areas to ensure they don’t miss any experiences.
Highlight and promote hands-on creative experiences more in promotions since they were a big hit.

Simplify complex activities: For example, redesign Bingo into something like Tic Tac Toe to increase accessibility.
Balance project time demands: Shorter, quicker activities (like Shrinky Dinks) were more popular; explore more group or collaborative art options rather than time-consuming individual pieces (e.g., mosaics).
Ensure enough space: Pollinator Palaces might have needed more space – revisit layout.
Maintain high-impact and donation-generating stations like Butterfly Baths with ACW volunteer support.

Appoint a dedicated coordinator for this part of the show to improve artist outreach and logistics.
Consider moving the show to a different location (like the Hub) to free up upstairs space for projects and possibly allow larger pieces.
Keep the volunteer artist participation aspect to continue strong engagement. This is a must moving forward and may need to be considered as a membership requirement.

Schedule a pre-event volunteer training session to ensure all understand roles and read their schedules.
Appoint a dedicated volunteer coordinator (not overlapping with project leadership roles).
Keep the goodie bags and schedules – but consider digital or mobile-friendly formats as backup. Emails were sent to each individual, but text would have been more accessible
Use volunteer engagement as an ACW membership recruitment.

Increase local outreach, particularly to nearby neighbors like the Holland Neighborhood Association.
Implement multilingual marketing, including Spanish-language flyers, signage, and day-of interpreters.
Utilize direct marketing strategies like:

- Mailing postcards (requires building a mailing list)
- Distributing postcards on cars or doors
Improve signage at the venue: Hang the Flux banner and consider a permanent Flux sign on the building.
Emphasize partnerships and visibility in local listings like Racket, and possibly explore more digital promotion avenues.

Track and document coordinator hours more clearly (e.g., Layl 40 hours, Liisa about 50 with bee palace material collection and prep. Need Leo’s hrs for others).

We had 14 Volunteers with approximately 40 hours given to the Art Garden Fling. This level of volunteerism needs to continue and was valuable to the overall success of the event.

Evaluate costs vs. revenue (e.g., vendor fees covered venue rental and some advertising).
Consider seeking small grants or sponsorships for snacks/materials to reduce out-of-pocket expenses.

Flux Garden Show Report