Venue Guidance 2019
Introduction: Welcome to the Hey Clay! 2019 event guidance pack. We re so glad you re considering running a Hey Clay! event following feedback from venues in previous years, we ve decided to put together a handy pack to support you in delivering a session that will help give the UK public a renewed passion for pottery. In this pack you ll find: A list of key dates Answers to frequently asked questions Accessibility and Health and Safety guidance Your Hey Clay! application form Marketing guidance Photo: Sunken Studios, taken by Joanne Crawford Of course, if you need any further information you can always contact us via email: heyclay@craftscouncil.org.uk Please be advised that we receive a large number of applications and enquiries. We endeavour to respond quickly, but it might take us a day or two to get back to you. 1
About Hey Clay! What is Hey Clay? Hey Clay! is a national celebration of clay, giving everyone the chance to unleash their inner potter. This is done by venues offering free participation events with clay over the course of the weekend. Hey Clay! is part of the Get Creative festival (11th-19th May), a national campaign to support everyday creativity which is run by Crafts Council, Voluntary Arts, Family Arts Campaign, What Next?, Arts Council England, Arts Council Wales, Creative Scotland, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, 64 Million Artists and Creative People and Places. The Get Creative campaign is about encouraging everyone to try something creative. Its aim is to give people the chance to try something for free that they may want to pursue more regularly. When does it run? Hey Clay 2019 will run from the 17th-19th May, at the end of Get Creative festival. If you can t make those exact dates, don t worry you can still run events in the days leading up to and following the event. 2
Meet the team: Nick Kidd, Learning Coordinator Nick will be your main point of contact in the run up to the festival, but you might also hear from: Maria Ingouville, Communications Coordinator Jill Read, Head of Communications Chloe Patrickson, Marketing Officer Nicky Dewar, Head of Learning and Talent Development Zoe Dennington, Learning and Participation Manager 3
Key Dates: 7th of January: Applications open for Hey Clay! 2019 15th of March: We ll start publishing your event listings on our website End of March: You ll be able to submit listings on to the Get Creative website 1st of April: We ll post your printed marketing packs to you, containing posters and leaflets for your event If you haven t received your pack by the 8th of April let us know. Early April: Crafts Council will start promoting Hey Clay! We recommend that you send out your press release for your event around this time, and begin promoting your event on social media. 13th of May: We ll send out an email with any last minute information on the day. If you need a bit of a social media boost from us around this time, get in touch! 17-19 May: Hey Clay! 2019 End of May: We ll send you an email containing a survey for you to give us feedback about the event, as well as a reminder to send us your photos and photo permission forms. 4
Why get involved? Reach new audiences for your workshops and events. In 2017 56% of venues said that the event had attracted a new audience and 38% said that it had attracted a mix of new and existing audience. Connect with local press: Hey Clay! is a great opportunity to promote your venue. Last year a number of venues were featured on their local BBC radio stations. Be part of a national campaign: Get Creative events will be promoted by all Get Creative partners (see above) and the Crafts Council will run a dedicated communications campaign for Hey Clay! Be visible on the Craft s Council s website year-round as one of our partners. We have over 100,000 unique users to our website each month! 5
Who else is involved? In 2018 there were 131 venues, and in 2019 we re aiming for 150 venues! Venues from well-established potteries, healthcare settings, individual makers, to makerspaces have all been involved. How will Crafts Council and Get Creative support my venue? Each Hey Clay! venue will have its own listing on the Crafts Council website and the Get Creative website. Ahead of the event, we ll be sharing listings via all our social media channels which have over 500,000 followers. We will be provide eye-catching flyers and social media assets for you to use. You can put up posters to advertise your event locally and signpost to your venue on the day. The A5 flyers are intended to be distributed at at your session to encourage visitors to share their visit on social media. This pack also contains a template press release and some communications guidelines so that you can promote your event locally. 6 Photo: William Morris Gallery
Photo: Bishopstone Managing Costs Do you provide funding? Unfortunately we are not able to pay venues to run events. We hope that the benefits above make taking part in the fesitval worth it. When we list events on our website, we make it clear to visitors that venues run the events for free, and to please be considerate of this when attending the session. Can we charge participants? While we do advertise Hey Clay! as a festival of free activities for the public, we understand if you need to charge a small amount to cover materials (under 4). Some venues also put out a donations jar on the day. The aim of Hey Clay! is to give members of the public a chance to get their hands on clay, especially those who might have financial barriers to taking part. Get Creative s policy on charging for events is that venues may do so on a cost recovery basis. Many venues choose to provide the workshop and clay for free, but give visitors the option of paying for their item to be fired. Venues have also found that offering a free workshop to the public has meant that attendees go on to book a paid workshop later on. 7
Audiences Who are Hey Clay! events for? Hey Clay! is for everyone who fancies having a go at pottery. Some venues run sessions exclusively for adults, young people or children, but many venues run sessions that families can attend together. In 2018 we saw an increase in wellbeing-focussed venues, for instance healthcare venues or those that cater to older people, or people with complex needs, or who are disabled. We would love to work with venues to run events for a diverse range of participants, and would be happy to advise you about how to tailor your event to these audiences. If that s your venue, get in touch. How should I manage bookings? Should they be drop in or ticketed? If you are running workshops or taster sessions for limited numbers then we suggest that you ask people to book. We recommend using Eventbrite or Obby as a simple way to take and manage your bookings. If you would like support setting up your sessions on Eventbrite then please let us know. If your sessions become fully booked, please let us know so that we can update your listing on the website. Booked or drop-in sessions both have pros and cons: Offering bookable sessions allows you to manage participants numbers, but does bring a risk that people may book a place on not show up. One solution is to allocate a certain number of bookable spaces, but also to advertise a small number of spaces for people to turn up on the day, which can cover any no-shows! 8 Photo: Venture Arts
Accessibility We want every potential pottery fan in the UK to be able to join in with Hey Clay!, so please make sure you fill in as much accessibility information as you can on your application form. As important as it is for visitors to know if they can access your venue, it s even more important for them to know if they can t imagine how frustrating it is if you are a wheelchair-user to turn up to a session you ve been looking forward to, only to find it s up three flights of stairs. It s also helpful for visitors if accessibility information is clearly listed on venue s websites. If you have services or facilities tailored to disabled visitors, such as height adjustable throwing wheels, autism-friendly sessions or sign-language interpretation, that s really handy to know too, as it means more visitors feel welcomed and included. If you d like to read more about good accessibiity practise, both Unlimited and Scope have some fantastic resources: Guide to Accessible Marketing Disability Confident Etiquette The Purple Pound 9
Health and Safety Organisations holding Hey Clay! events must take into account the health and safety of their visitors: Child Safeguarding: Hey Clay! events are aimed at adult and/or family audiences. Under 16s should in all cases be accompanied by the adult they are attending the event with. If your events will involve unaccompanied children or young people please let us know so that we can assist you in taking the necessary precautions. In general some good guidelines when hosting events with children and young people are: Ensure the persons who are responsible for the children (teachers, parents, guardians, etc) are present during the activities or that there is always more than one adult present. First Aid should not be administered without the permission of the child s parent, teacher or accompanying adult. Any physical intervention (putting on aprons, guiding use of equipment, etc.) should only be undertaken when requested by the child and/or upon permission of the parent or guardian with them. Insurance: If you do not currently have public liability insurance at your venue then it is up to you to decide whether insurance is necessary for your event. Crafts Council can offer advice on insurance if you are unsure what cover you need. 10
Marketing Guidance We have created these communication guidelines to support you in making Hey Clay! a great success as we get everyone potty for pottery! Press Release A template press release will be sent to after registering your event. Please complete it and send to your networks ahead of the Hey Clay! weekend. A Crafts Council press release will be sent to national and regional press in the run up to the festival. Contact with the press: We kindly ask all venues to include the following in their correspondence with journalists regarding Hey Clay!: The Crafts Council s Hey Clay! returns from 17-19 May, as part of the Get Creative campaign. Hey Clay! offers people free opportunities to celebrate everything clay, have some fun, and unleash their inner potter! We are a Hey Clay! venue and will be running an event/events on [state the date of your event] For further press enquiries please contact media@craftscouncil.org.uk 11
Press Coverage Please keep us updated by sharing any press coverage you may receive as a Hey Clay! venue by sending links or photoraphs of articles directly to media@craftscouncil.org.uk Crafts Council & Partner Logos Please include the Crafts Council logo and the Get Creative logo on all marketing and press information for your event. You will recieve these files when you have registered your event. On all comminications: Please use the press release and all logos, as well as a link to our web address: www.craftscouncil.org.uk/hey-clay on your website and in any correspondence with media that you may have about Hey Clay!. Social Media We want everyone to hear about your experience as part of Hey Clay! It would be great for you to be active on all social media platforms. Please use the hashtag #HeyClay and where possible tag in the Crafts Council on any posts about Hey Clay! we ll be sharing as many posts as possible over the weekend. Make sure to follow us on Facebook Twitter and Instagram. If you re new to social media, it s a great tool to promote your event here are some handy resources to get you started. 12
Connect to us Please follow us on Facebook (102,000 followers), Twitter (over 103,000 followers) Instagram (over 86,000 followers) and Pinterest (over 13,000 followers) and if you want to hear more about events like Hey Clay! then please sign up to our newsletter. The Hey Clay! weekend Please photograph and film your events and share them on social media over the weekend. Again please tag #HeyClay and @CraftsCouncilUK If you are collecting email data during the event, we would love if you could share that data with us so that we can inform interested parties about future events when collecting email addresses, please ask visitors to opt to receive the Crafts Council newsletter and share that data with us. In accordance with GDPR regulations please only share contact information with us from people who have definitely opted in! We will provide you with a email sign up sheet after registering your event. After Hey Clay! Please share your images, film, audience data and any feedback with us. We will ask you to submit feedback in the form of numbers of attendees, quotes from participants and your organisation s thoughts on how the events were organised. 13
Have fun! Most imporantly have fun at your Hey Clay! event. We can t wait to hear all about your ideas. If there s anything you need help with please feel free to get in touch. If you want to be a part of Hey Clay! 2019, download our application form here and email it to heyclay@craftscouncil.org.uk.