Press Release - The Word
With Heather René Dunaway
June 2023
Press Release… What is that?
It’s the topic of this month’s word, for starters.
Think of a Press Release as an official announcement of something you want to promote. You send it off to your pals in the press, to partners, magazines, buddies in the biz, etc. All so they can help spread the word. As an artist of any genre it’s a useful tool that goes hand in hand with networking. For obvious reasons, if you don’t have anyone in your network, it would be hard to spread the word, right?
That’s been consuming my mind as of late. How to promote all the events and art shows I’m doing both in and outside of work. It can be a lot of work but the reward, when you see so many people excited, is great. Part of that is getting some contacts to share Press Releases with.
The first step would be to collect some emails from your local journalists, news producers, magazine editors, etc. You could do this through cold calling (or emailing) but it definitely helps if they have a face that comes to mind when they see those emails.
Now, if you’re an Arts Council member, grantee or partner you have the perk of sending your Press Release to me (at [email protected]) to publish to our Community News page and forward to RedWolf Advertising to add to our monthly arts news Press Release package. We here at the Arts Council want to help you help yourself toot your horn.
Now, if you are like me, you often find starting something rather difficult. Where to begin?
Well, Rhian Swain at RedWolf really helped make it easy for me and everyone else. She made a downloadable template. Which I used in my most recent press release for my next side project: The Art of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Art Show. I’m actually really excited about this show. It will be 13 local artists plus myself with work inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series. Up at Le Chat Noir from July 1 – Aug. 5, 2023 with a reception on Friday, July 21st from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. If you like LOTR or a good theme or art, come check it out.
For the press release you want to start your first paragraph of body text with the necessary info. What is it? Who is putting it on? Why are they putting it on? When is it? How can they find more info? The second and third paragraphs are deeper details, but keep in mind, Press Releases should always be in third person and stay 1 page of text. This is so press can copy and paste the info without having to do any edits themselves. Since they are very fast paced, the news, magazines, broadcasts, etc. will be more likely to do a piece on your event if they have to do less work for it.
Then at the bottom you want to put your contact info in case they need to reach out to you for interviews, etc. plus any flyers you have and want to share. If you want an example, I have attached my Press Release for the Art of the Rings show here. Of course, if anyone wanted to send me theirs for proof reading… I got you!
Well, that’s the word. So, go spread yours.
-Heather