As the weather cools and we break out our jean jackets and the pumpkin spice latte has made its grand emergence at Starbucks, the arrival of fall is clearly imminent.  Here at The Spark Mill office, these are all signs that October, and accordingly, #artoberVA are not very far away! 

We are in the depths of the implementation phase of our work on artoberVA, an initiative of CultureWorks and it’s super exciting to see all of our work start coming to fruition.  I remember when the sidewalk stencil was just a mention on the Trello “collateral” board back in March…now we are decorating the sidewalks at CultureWorks! This got me thinking about all of the pieces and parts of this project over the last year…here is a breakdown, so far…

By the Numbers

• 8 months partnering with CultureWorks and Campfire & Co to design and implement artoberVA 2017’s campaign
• 7 people on this truly collaborative team making the magic happen
• 1 brand new marketing strategy focusing on 4 key areas: collaborations, family friendly, pop-ups, and finding art and events in new locations
• 10 cards on 1 very busy Trello Board where all of the dreams, questions, and answers live
• 3 spreadsheets organizing media, budget, contacts, deadlines
• 1 awesome new website with a great interactive calendar that is the hub for all things artoberVA
• 5 sidewalk stencils that will eventually color the metro area
• Thousands of pieces of fun stuff for little kids and us big kids to acquire throughout the month as we visit arts and culture performances, exhibits, pop-ups, and events
• Hundreds of events and activities are starting to populate the calendar as arts and culture organizations begin to solidify their October plans

We look forward to a more extensive recap in November once we are done with our work and have taken a breath to get out and celebrate all the ways arts and culture live here!  Be on the lookout for the fun things happening around town, check out the calendar as it continues to fill up so you don’t miss anything, and use the hashtag #artoberVA to join the conversation!