One program called Intersections brings together musicians from around the region and the world to share their art by exploring both cultural musical traditions and avant-garde counterpoints. Previous Intersections performers have included a trio of world renowned pianists and virtuoso tabla player, Samir Chatterjee.

“Since the Intersections Concert series launched in 2023, there have been several sell-out shows as well as several endearing reviews by our local music industry. The community support has been quite rewarding and I look forward to an innovative season ahead!” said Waltz.

There’s also the complementary series, Intersecciones. 

“It’s an exploration of arts and culture through a binational lens,” said Waltz. “The Intersecciones series highlights writers, singers and artists from across Mexico with the goal of presenting the diaspora of Mexican arts, culture, life, and history”

Park & Market is also home to nearly 30 resident partners such as the Burnham Center for Community Advancement, The San Diego Regional Economic Development Council, the County of San Diego Black Chamber of Commerce, World Design Capital, Digital Gym Cinema, and more.

“Part of the mission of Park & Market is to help incubate and amplify great work happening around the community,” Waltz said of the resident partners. 

Furthermore, Park & Market is home to an art gallery that often features exhibitions with a focus on cultural diversity. The building is also the site of educational programs, offering classes and workshops hosted by the UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies in the areas of Arts and Humanities, Business and leadership, Corporate Education and Custom Training, Digital Arts, Education, Engineering, Environment & Sustainability, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Pre-College, and much more.

By connecting with audiences from various backgrounds, the series and its venue hope to contribute to a more informed and engaged society, fostering positive change in the San Diego region and beyond.
 

To learn more about The Helen Edison Lecture Series, visit the UC San Diego Extended Studies Helen Edison Lecture Series page. 

Reserve your tickets for the Helen Edison Lecture Series event featuring Matthew Desmond on December 14.

Learn more about Park & Market: https://parkandmarket.ucsd.edu/ 

Authored by – Sumit Gupta, Founder The Viral Pitch

Businesses now use influencer marketing as an important means to advertise their products and offerings to a larger audience. It is an effective strategy to connect with your target market, increase brand recognition, and boost sales. However, negotiating and knowing how to create win-win agreements is essential to the success of an influencer campaign. Given the continued rise in influencer quotes across the majority of platforms, negotiating skills are more important than ever. Marketers today are required to have a negotiating plan in place before initiating a contract and to be fully informed of every factor that goes into determining pricing that benefits both parties. Negotiating with influencers can be difficult, but with the appropriate strategy, it can be advantageous for everyone involved.

Here’s a look at some suggestions and tips to keep in mind before beginning your next influencer negotiation-

Know Your Goals

It’s critical to define your campaign’s objectives, before connecting with influencers, whether they are enhanced brand recognition, more sales, or increased engagement. Know about your actual budget and have an appropriate number in mind when negotiating a flat charge and stay within it. Additionally, it’s crucial to be open to end the conversation politely if it becomes obvious that coming to a mutually advantageous agreement on budget with your chosen influencer is not possible while keeping your campaign objectives in mind. This strategy, based on understanding your goals, will not only assist you in choosing the appropriate influencers but also provide you the power to forge partnerships that are in line with your campaign objectives.

Matching with the right set of Influencers

Like businesses, influencers have unique purposes, goals & niche as well. Thus, understanding the niche & goal of an influencer and what they hope to gain from the partnership is essential to starting meaningful discussions. Moreover, learning more about their former partnerships has a dual purpose. First, it provides insightful information about their knowledge & reach in the industry. It is possible to judge someone’s competence and credibility by looking at the kinds of projects & content they have worked on, which can help you make a better-informed choice. Second, it reveals how other brands feel about them, demonstrating their capacity to forge fruitful partnerships. With this deep understanding at your fingertips, you can effectively improve your negotiation technique to ensure that their aims and your campaign goals are compatible.

Being Transparent

Transparent communication is essential for creating effective influencer partnerships. It’s important to be upfront about your requirements and possible contributions. If a creator’s price is out of your price range, think about adjusting campaign requirements to reach a solution that works. Additionally, a creator can be open to lowering their cost if you’re prepared to investigate shorter collaborations or fewer deliverables while still fulfilling campaign goals. Especially when a brand’s eager to work with a particular influencer, adjusting deliverables might be a smart move in scenarios with fixed or stringent influencer contracts. This strategy promotes trust, which enhances the negotiation process for a win-win result.

Offer Value

Since multiple firms approach influencers every day, it is critical to provide them with value and some additional perks if you want to stand out. Think about what you can provide the influencer that will be advantageous to them, such as visibility to your audience, a monetary incentive, or complimentary services or products. To provide the influencer with something special and appealing, be creative & logical, and think outside the box. If you’re extremely close to finalizing the partnership but are still struggling to get over the hurdle, a thoughtful gift can be all it requires.

Monitor and Evaluate the Outcomes

For future collaborations to be shaped, careful evaluation of influencer content performance is essential in the final stage. In accordance with your marketing standards and objectives, this means carefully reviewing reach, engagement, conversions, and ROI. To identify success reasons and areas for improvement, it is equally important to ask for feedback from influencers as well. Additionally, this step includes encouraging collaboration by talking with influencers about potential execution ideas that are founded in their individual styles. This strategy allows for developing relationships that successfully utilize influencer creativity while also assessing prior performance. To ensure that future collaborations are not just transactions but instead value-rich, co-creative endeavours, these careful evaluations serve as the basis for decisions about whether to move forward with them.

Mastering the Art of Negotiation!

It takes a personalized approach, willingness to listen as well as compromise, and experience to negotiate with influencers. Negotiating influencer quotes might be intimidating, but if you have a plan in place and the appropriate resources at your fingertips, you should be able to close the deal. Furthermore, it is essential to be transparent, provide value, know the objectives, and comprehend those of the influencer, then negotiate. Additionally, stick to your spending plan and don’t be shy about doing a little negotiating. Be self-assured, first and foremost, in your brand. Thus, with a well-thought-out plan and a firm belief in your brand, you can form connections that not only help your company but also the influencers you work with, resulting in a win-win situation for all parties.

“Old Blue Truck” by Carol Hilleary will be among the pieces on display at the West Virginia Watercolor Society show at the Parkersburg Art Center where an opening reception will be held 1-3 p.m. Sunday. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG — The Parkersburg Art Center will celebrate the exhibit of the West Virginia Watercolor Society with an opening reception on 1-3 p.m. Sunday.

The show will be on display during regular hours through Dec. 22 and by appointment the week of Dec. 26-29.

The biennial exhibit at the Art Center brings together the works of the most talented watercolorists in West Virginia.

Theme of the show is Anything Goes as artists can use any painted surface and any soluble media. The idea is to have fun and get creative!” Debbie Lester, exhibits director at the Watercolor Society, said.

Watercolor is difficult, according to Abby Hayhurst, artistic director of the Parkersburg Art Center.

“Daybreak” by Kristen Colebank, the Best of Show, 2022 All Member Exhibit, at the West Virginia Watercolor Society exhibition, is among the work to be on display at the 2023 show opening Sunday at the Parkersburg Art Center. (Photo Provided)

“I have nothing but admiration for the artists who produced the work that was accepted for this exhibit,” Hayhurst said.

“When you touch brush to paper, you have to be right the first time. Unlike oils or acrylics, you can’t scrape it off and hope for steadier hands tomorrow,” Hayhurst said. “Precise detail is hard to achieve when your paint wants to go for a stroll.”

Many of these pieces are for sale and several of the artists have made prints of their work that will be available for sale for the duration of the exhibit. A selection of greeting cards also will be available.

Items can be purchased at the reception desk. Original works will be available on Dec. 22 and prints and cards are cash and carry.

The West Virginia Watercolor Society was organized in 1984 to guide and inspire watercolor artists, highlight the broad scope of watercolor painting and promote high standards of the art in the state of West Virginia.

The society holds workshops, publishes a newsletter and hosts both juried and non-juried exhibitions. For more information, go to http://www.wvwatercolorsociety.org.

The opening reception is free for members of the Art Center, children under 12 and artists plus one guest. Otherwise, admission to the opening reception is $10.

Appetizers and beverages will be available.

Hours for the Art Center, 725 Market St., at the corner of Market and Eighth streets, are 10-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission to the exhibit is free from Nov. 21-Dec. 22 thanks to the sponsorship of WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center.

For more information about the Art Center, go to its page Facebook, Instagram or www.parkersburgartcenter.org.

Melbourne-based upcycling clothing project Not Sew Fast is hosting a slow fashion and art market over the coming weekend in Brunswick. With a plethora of labels like Clingy Bags, Pebble Gems, Spiraro and more, you can browse slow fashion pieces while enjoying music and art provided by local talent. For more information, head here.

Want to be notified of new fashion sales weekly? Sign up to FJ Sales here.

NORMAN – The Native American Law Student Association at the University of Oklahoma College of Law will host a Native Roundtable and Art Market on Friday, Nov. 17, to coincide with national Native American Heritage Month.

The NALSA Native American Heritage Month event will take place from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the OU College of Law, 300 Timberdell Road, in Norman.

The roundtable will feature tribal leaders, including Chad Harsha, Cherokee Nation attorney general; Richard Phillips, Muscogee Nation chief of Lighthorse Police; and Carol Chapman, secretary of the Pawnee Nation Business Council.

“This is an opportunity for law students and the general public to listen to the issues and concerns that face indigenous populations in Oklahoma and throughout the country,” Savannah Francis, president of NALSA, said. “It’s also an opportunity for everyone to come together and appreciate Native art and culture.”

In addition to the roundtable and events for law students, nearly a dozen Native artists will be exhibiting their work, the college will be hosting a drum group from O Ho Mah Lodge, and the Sam Noble Museum’s Native American Languages collection manager, William Madison, will talk about the museum’s collection and the importance of language preservation as cultural preservation.

OU Law has a long and rich tradition in American Indian and Indigenous Peoples Law, led by world-class faculty members. Almost half of OU Law students take at least one American Indian or Indigenous Peoples’ Rights course during their time of study.