A monthly e-newsletter about audiences, arts, culture, and education, from Slover Linett Strategies

 

On some days, you might glance at our blog or news feed and assume we serve only arts & culture clients. But we also specialize in higher education, and these days that sector is hopping.

Cheryl Slover-Linett was in New York earlier this week to present findings from a study we conducted on how colleges and universities use social media for marketing, development, and alumni relations. Her panel was covered thoughtfully by the influential blog Inside Higher Ed, and she and Michael Stoner, one of our partners in the study, are developing a more detailed whitepaper on the results.

It’s not that the findings of this study were so surprising. Rather, the attention at the conference and the subsequent flurry of emails say something about how hungry nonprofit professionals are for benchmarks and insights from their peers in the critical area of social communication.

(By the way, our CultureQ question last month covered similar ground — read our summary of your answers here.)

We just completed multi-audience survey research for Hofstra Law, also in collaboration with our friends at mStoner. We’re in the middle of several studies for the University of Chicago and no fewer than three of its graduate schools. (Our relationship with the U of C dates from the founding of the firm in 1997.) And this month we released an international study of prospective business school applicants.

Our higher ed work is even beginning to overlap with our museum research in exciting ways. One of our newest clients is the Oriental Institute, a world-renowned antiquities museum located on the University of Chicago campus. We’re also designing a national study of the multiple roles and priorities of campus-based art museums, which will be conducted for a consortium of leading university museums and co-authored by museum strategist Tom Shapiro.

So to our colleagues in higher ed who may not see themselves in our blog each week: don’t lose heart. As the song goes, you’re always on our minds.

— Your friends at Slover Linett

P.S. Don’t forget to make your voice heard on this month’s CultureQ: Focus groups, love ’em or hate em?
 

What's New?
July 22, 2010

Arts Engagement Exchange Grants Lead to New Projects

Thanks to a generous new round of grantmaking by the Arts Engagement Exchange here in Chicago, we’ll be conducting additional research for a favorite client, TimeLine Theatre, and beginning to work with two other terrific organizations: The Oriental Inst More »
July 22, 2010

Meet Us in Phoenix at VSA

Slover Linett partner Peter Linett and senior associate Sarah Lee will be in Phoenix next week for the 23rd annual conference of the Visitor Studies Association (VSA). More »
July 19, 2010

Cheryl Slover-Linett Presents Findings on Social Media in Higher Ed

The firm’s founding partner is in New York City this week for the annual CASE Summit For Advancement Leaders. More »

Blog
July 12, 2010

Survey “coaching,” accountability, and dollars: a lesson from healthcare

“It only takes a second to fill out,” the x-ray technician told me cheerfully after an MRI I had yesterday. More »
July 07, 2010

Professionalism in the arts: an eroding beachhead?

I've written a bit here about the downsides of our highly professionalized cultural sector (the lack of passion, personality, and sense of community). More »
June 28, 2010

Participatory art vs. the other kind: Are curators at a fork in the road?

Artists are allowed to make a museum experience anything they want, and many of them are giving visitors an active role. More »


Slover Linett is an audience research firm for the culture and education sectors. From universities to art museums, dance companies to zoos, we help institutions become more successful by understanding their audiences. We do it through rigorous research and evaluation... More »


CultureQ is a professional dialogue about front-burner audience issues in the arts and education.

July 10 CultureQ

As a research method, focus groups are loved and loathed. Has your organization ever used them? What's your opinion?

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