Every exhibition happens in a distinct place with its own community and specific characteristics. The location of an exhibition influences the way the work will be received, who will know about it and who will attend. It's important to work with the venue to maximise their existing audience but also explore ways to expand and attach other people to the venue. Here, we will look working with local community groups, educational institutions and cultural organisations, as well as key individuals in the area in order to create visibility for your project.

Creating visibility

With any exhibition, think about the visibility and validity of what it is you are showing. You are making a proposal with any screening or exhibition - for a certain artists' work; for an area of practice or a way of looking at work - so you need to make your argument and presentation as strong as possible. Think about what distinguished your exhibition or screening from other events. What is good and or distinct about your event that is not offered elsewhere? What are the unique characteristics of the project? What will the audience gain access to or experience that is distinct about your project?

Distinguishing your project from others will help to turn it into an event, something special and unique to participate in. This is essential when presenting work that people might not know. Often the strongest factor is not the name of the artists or curator (which are often not known despite their achievements) but the concept behind the artists' work or the show. To create visibility for a show you need to argue for the relevance of the artists / the work / the concept, etc. You need to work to inform people about why this is worth attending and part of this can be achieved by creating a profile for the project. Think strategically about your activities and how you can maximise the visibility with the resources available to you.

Artists' film has historically been exhibited with modest means and for small close groups of people that have grown and expanded through word of mouth rather than big marketing or press strategies. The key to developing visibility is to concentrate on quality, and making sure audiences respond to the work that is being shown. A small audience who really enjoy an exhibition is the best way to spread good word of mouth about a project and build an audience.

Creating a dedicated, regular and recognisable space or time for artists' work within a venue or area is a key way to develop audiences. Having regular events even if they are relatively modest will allow you to develop and build a following for your project through the social networks of the people who attend. Regular events will allow you to build up relationships with your audience and get a good idea of how best to communicate with audiences in the area.

Working with local/national advocates

A key way of generating support for a project is through local and national advocates who are positioned within a community and can influence organisations and community groups as well as individuals. Advocates can be within the press, with various outlets including websites, TV or radio, but also people in influential positions within organisations, groups and communities as well as artists or educators. To develop your project's roots in an area and engage with your potential audiences, work closely with various individuals and keep them informed about the project and its development. You could develop an advisory panel for a project to actively engage a broader group of people in your project and tap into their respective professional and social networks.

Engaging with different communities and audiences

Similarly think about how your project could relate to different audience groups and communities in your area. People come to see work and take interest in it for many different reasons so be aware of your project's potential to appeal to people with different interests or backgrounds to yourself.

Cinema and art are often marketed to specific social and cultural groups. Most cities have a wide range of community groups which could range from Ethnic or Religious groups to the Women's Institute to musicians' or artists' collectives and political groups. But no audience, group or community is guaranteed to attend. Think about ways to engage with local groups and find ways to include them in your project. This could simply be from meeting with a group and keeping them informed about your project. Or you could actively find ways to collaborate with a group to present a special event with them or invite a representative to speak at an event. Strong contacts with local groups are key ways to engage with different social networks and provide events specific to your locality.

Working with Educational Institutions

Educational institutions are key partners for cultural organisations and support projects in a range of ways, from arranging educational visits to faculty staff or departments directly contributing to an exhibition or screening project. As most universities do not have exhibition space or ability to present work, they often collaborate with local cultural organisations and some universities directly tie in their course with a local exhibition programme.

In order to work with educational institutions you'll need to build relationships with relevant members of staff. Most collaborations will be with art schools but there are many opportunities to present work with academic staff that links to a wide variety of areas of study. Collaborations are often driven by committed members of staff but it can take time due to the many commitments of educational timetables. If you are starting a collaboration think about small ways to form relationships; this could be as simple as arranging a special tour or talk related to an exhibition or screening for a local college or university. If you have artists attending, or if a local art school does, there may be opportunities to work together to present a screening or talk at the gallery or have the artist give a special talk at the art school. There are many options for working together, crucial to which are good relationships and correct timing between your exhibition projection and their academic commitments.

Getting to know your audience

As well as meeting with organised community groups, it's just as important to make ways to engage and communicate with all the people who attend or might attend your event. This could simply be from hosting discussions or question and answer sessions following a screening or in a nearby venue, or just talking to people following a screening. It is not always appropriate to introduce a screening or talk at an exhibition but a simple introduction will help to humanise the event and identify you as an organiser, so if people have comments they'll be able to direct them directly to you. Finding out what works or which ideas people respond to and the disucssions that come out from showing work is one of the key reasons and pleasures for any exhibition and is a fundamental way to develop your exhibition projects in the future.