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Tour Publicity Packet
TRACES offers several forms of help to hosts in publicizing
a given up-coming exhibit showing—including interviews
and press releases, a downloadable
poster to hang in high-traffic public places, exhibit-specific teaching
materials and tips for more effective showings. Tips relate to more
effectively reaching and teaching school groups (as well as attracting
other kinds of learners), planning larger events
in which to imbed the exhibit, where to most effectively hang posters
and on what cycles to undertake primary publicity efforts.
Tips
School Groups
First, contact
local public as well as private school teachers—especially middle
and high school teachers, in particular those who teach social studies,
civics or related topics. Inform them and their administrators of the exact date,
time and place of the exhibit showing. Also, draw their attention to TRACES’
web site, to the downloadable exhibit-related teaching materials, and
to the exhibit narratives available there: explain that besides doing
the tailored lessons, actually having their students—on-line or
via print outs—read the exhibit’s narrative text before the
showing enables students to derive much more from the overall exhibit,
especially as they then can focus on the ten illustrated exhibit panels,
period props, documents and artwork from the camps, as well as the videos,
BBC radio and Power Point programs, Community Conversation, etc.
Ask teachers to indicate whether
or not they plan on bringing their students to the exhibit. If so, it
is highly advisable to specifically schedule and balance (!)
school groups’ visits: the BUS-eum 2
comfortably
can accommodate 20-30 kids at a time, but two teachers or staff must be
on the BUS at all times—one in the front,
the other in the BUS theater. (Note that a mob of students converging on the
BUS usually clears any senior citizens lingering over
the exhibit in mere seconds…) On average, a 15-20 minute visit to
the BUS' exhibit panels suffices for most students,
whereas the films each last about 15-20 minutes; Advanced Placement
or other special-focus classes will gain from longer visits. Should busing
needs dictate that, say, two classes come at once, one class can be addressed
in front of the first display panel, outside, to the left of the BUS
entrance, and given instruction while the other class tours the BUS’
interior: after an appointed time, the two groups can switch places, or
one can view the films, while the second views the exhibit panels--or some
other configuration thereof.
If teachers are unable to bring
their students during school hours, consider inviting them to award Extra
Credit for an after-school or weekend visit to the BUS:
a host representative simply needs to have a sign-in sheet available,
to submit to the teacher(s) after the exhibit showing, to document which
students did tour the BUS. In this event, it is recommendable
that teachers send a Worksheet with the students to the BUS,
as that makes for a more personally meaningful and pedagogically effective
visit.
Other Kinds of Learners
Contact any local colleges,
universities or senior-citizen education programs (e.g. Elder Hostel)
and be sure they know the exhibit is coming, as often it complements instructors’
courses in, for example, history, Holocaust studies, ethics, politics,
etc. TRACES-generated teaching materials will be of little
use to such groups, but if given enough warning, instructors can design
their own materials, if desired, or give background information before
the date of the exhibit. Other groups will also be interested in seeing
the exhibit: civic and fraternal societies, church circles, youth clubs,
veterans, etc.
Events
Some previous exhibit-host communities
have made a BUS-eum 2 stop in their town part
of a larger event or even series of social or cultural events. A BUS-eum
visit is an auspicious occasion to honor local veterans—for example—or
to focus on wider issues involving war and peace: many libraries have
displayed related in-house books or even pertinent artifacts (borrowed
from local individuals or historical organizations) in their buildings
for a week or more before the exhibit date. Some book clubs have read
related works prior to the exhibit showing, and libraries as well as museums
have made a BUS visit one in a series of guest speakers
or presentations. TRACES’ books make ideal foci for
either your local public-library/historical-society collections or book-club
readings; they can be ordered for pre-exhibit-showing use at http://www.traces.org/shop.html.
Where local print or electronic
media sources (including community-access/cable TV) work well with exhibit
hosts, VANISHED has been one in a series of feature
articles or TV/radio spots about local or world [WWII] history, etc. Related
newspaper series that run for some time prior to the BUS-eum’s
visit are an invaluable contribution to community life and culture in
any town. Especially effective are printed or taped interviews with local
residents either who have
other WWII stories to tell or (best of all) have a personal internment
story to tell, appearing over a period of time preceding
the BUS’ visit. (Should you wish, and are prepared
to arrange the connection, Michael Luick-Thrams is willing to be interviewed—live
or taped—by your local media for pre-exhibit release.)
Some hosts have coordinated
a BUS stop with local festivals, fairs or anniversaries
(of the local library’s founding, the town itself, etc.). Some have
built Veterans Appreciation Breakfasts, community barbeques or ice cream
socials around a BUS visit, or held assorted fundraisers
during the showing to attract donations to various charities. Speech contests
have been held in conjunction with the exhibit, as well as History Day
(or other scholastic) events, school dramas, Memorial Day services, award
ceremonies and the like.
A BUS-eum
visit is a perfect time to record local history. If the host cannot undertake
such a project directly, often it can find others in the community (individuals
or organizations, community-access/cable TV, etc.) who will. Have an audio
or (better yet) video recorder at hand, and pre-arrange a quiet corner
where project members might record willing senior citizens’ reminiscences
of their experiences during WWII. The resulting tapes should be at least
duplicated if not triplicated, with a copy going to a state or local historical
society, another to a secure [second] local repository, etc. Let community
members know in advance that, as the exhibit’s local host, your
organization welcomes the donation of WWII-related documents, photos,
artwork or artifacts. Any recordings and artifacts gathered on the day
of an expanded exhibit “event” will prove invaluable community
assets far into the future.
Posters
The downloadable poster is formulated to fit standard 8.5 x 11-inch paper
(the heavier the stock the better, to resist winds and water). After you
have inserted your institution’s relevant information, make as many
copies as you wish (color or black and white, but we find color really
does attract much more notice) and hang them in places your community
members most frequent, for example: grocery stores, gas stations, post
offices, cafes, video shops, feed stores/grain elevators, gyms, churches,
bus stops, senior citizen and veterans’ centers, civic clubs’
meeting sites, under the checkout counter of your library, museum(s),
etc.
In the past, a successful sequence has been for exhibit hosts to work
as closely with local media representatives as the reps are willing to
cooperate (which varies, based on reps’ personalities, your past
relationship with them, etc.). Ideally, a “large article”
about the coming BUS visit should appear in the week
before the actual showing, with a smaller “reminder”
appearing in the week or even day of the showing. Don’t
forget to inform the various Community Calendars available in your community:
they, too, will require adequate lead time.
We encourage a local host’s representative, who’s been organizing
the visit, to offer interviews to newspaper, television or radio reporters
in their community or region. Any interview spot is helpful, but live
(even better, call-in) interviews are the most attention-catching. If
desired, Michael Luick-Thrams is available for pre-visit
phone interviews, but only if the local hosts contact the reporters
themselves and give them Michael’s cell number of 651.373.9587. Usually, the optimal time range for a live
interview seems to be three to five days prior to a showing and not
earlier, as people forget…
Press Releases for use by exhibit hosts, the media or other potential
users come in three versions. The first is a Newspaper/TV
Release, intended
(intact or excerpted) for use in local newspapers, newsletters, email
list serves, etc. The second is a Radio Release. Individual hosts can decide which variation they
prefer to use, for which audience(s). Each should be tailored to a specific
host by inserting the place, time, date and contact information of the
local showing. |
