River City Writer

If this is your first time here, I suggest you read the first part of this series Reason to Leave Edmonton - Part 1.

While I’m not normally one to suggest that people move away from Edmonton, the people who do often have good reasons for doing so. This week, I’ll be talking about some of these reasons, as well as ways to solve the issues in question without leaving the city.

Yesterday, I talked about Edmonton’s lengthy winters. Today, the focus will be on the cultural scene or, to hear certain critics speak of it, the lack thereof.

Edmonton has no cultural scene

If you believe some people, Edmonton has no cultural scene. We have no art, no theatre, no music scene. What little we do have, the critics claim, is not worth sticking around for. And, even among artists, there is a feeling that in order to be a success, you must leave River City for Toronto or Vancouver.

While it is, unfortunately, often true that artists must move to one of the country’s cultural capitals in order to advance their careers, I think this has more to do with the national arts scene as a whole, than it does with Edmonton’s scene specifically.

However, I will admit that, despite a glut of theatres and theatre companies in Edmonton, and a surprising number of galleries, the cultural scene can be somewhat elusive at times.

With the exception of the big festivals like the Fringe and the Works, the Edmonton arts scene is often very insular, and doesn’t reach out to the public as often as it should. This, I think, is the main reason that a lot of people—from inside and outside of Edmonton—think that the city has no cultural scene.

Increase public awareness of the local arts scene

The solution is fairly obvious: the Edmonton arts community has to reach out to the public and increase awareness about the city’s cultural scene.

Now, I know right now that a lot of local artists who read this will want to call me an idiot. They’ll say that they already do reach out. They hold shows in galleries. They perform at open mic nights. I’m not denying this.

I’m an artist myself, and I perform at open mic nights. I certainly don’t want to imply that Edmonton’s artists aren’t making their work available to the public. What I’m suggesting is that making it available means nothing is no one knows that it’s available.

Part of this may be the fault of the media. I know of a few artists who have complained that their press releases have been completely ignored (however, it’s likely that their press releases sucked. I’m in marketing, and I know from experience that most press releases suck and don’t get read, but I’m not going to get into that here). However, I do think that the local media—especially the alt-weeklies—have really improved in their coverage of the local scene in the last few years, so blaming the media isn’t really fair.

However, even if the media helped to publicize every single event happening in town, that wouldn’t make as much of a difference as people might thing.

See, the news is supposed to be new. The media likes to publish things that are timely. This is why they often don’t talk about a concert until the day before (or, more often, the day after, when they publish a review). If people don’t know about your event until the day before it occurs, most of them won’t show up.

You need to generate a buzz, well in advance of the actual event, if you want people to show up to your gallery showing, or your open mic night.

How do you generate buzz? That’s my question to the readers. But, I will get things rolling with a few suggestions.

How to Generate Buzz

• Inform the mainstream media (press releases aren’t as effective as they used to be, though, so you’ll have to get creative).
• Talk to bloggers who write about the city, or about your type of art, and see if they’ll write a post about your event. Mainstream journalists often read blogs for story leads, so if you can get written-up on the right blogs, you might get a call from a mainstream news source.
• Blog about it yourself. If you don’t have a blog already, start one. Used effectively, it’ll be an invaluable promotional tool.
• Put up posters, especially downtown, on Whyte Avenue, and on the U of A campus.
• Tell your friends and fans, and ask them to spread the news—word-of-mouth is still the best form of advertising.