Last Sunday marked the first edition of Dancers Dealings! Our new business program made especially for dancers. A group of lovely ladies braved storm Ciara and had a day packed with workshops. The program was a little bit different than previously announced, but the experts really shared all the knowledge needed for a successful business!
The day started with a workshop about the basics of business. Indirah Tauwenaar from House of Urban Arts (previously known as Future in Dance) gave some insight into her own business story and learned the participants all about the Dream, Chase, Become method.
The second workshop by Jolanda Keurentjes was all about the money! Jolanda has a gigantic background in the cultural field and she knows the fundraising process from both sides. Where can I find the best fund for my project? What to mention in my project plan and where can I find a model budget? We learned it all! Oh and, the tip of the day: sponsoring is overrated. Do you agree?
After a delicious lunch, we continued with an exercise to define our target audiences. There are a lot of ways to look at your different audiences and just as many theories about it. With a special exercise sheet and help from the other participants, we made a beginning on an audience strategy to develop at home.
Frank van der Schaar, who worked for a lot of cultural organizations since the ’80s decided to go back to old-school marketing and start his own business in 2016. Frank told us all about writing and PR. How to write the most amazing text and the importance of relevant images. In his workshop, Frank used a mistake car manufacturer DAF made: while presenting their new hip and futureproof car they gave the first one to the major of Eindhoven: an elderly woman who had some problems getting herself in the car smoothly. For years DAF struggled with the image of their cars only being for elderly people with walking difficulties. So always think about the image you sent out!
The last workshop of the day was about the world of social media. Terya Sarrucco from Social Valkyrie collected the questions and ambitions of all participants and adjusted her workshop accordingly. In an intensive hour and a half, we got to go in-depth with different various challenges that social media present us. We closed off the day with some tips and tricks to increase the visibility of your messages on social media, and to grow the number of followers on your pages.
Dancers Dealings is the new business program from Shimmy Shake, made especially for dancers. The first edition was a great success! Want to know if there will be a second edition in the future? Sign up for our newsletter, follow our social media pages and visit the website regularly so you won’t miss a thing!