One of the best things about living in the DC Metro Area is the unlimited access to cultural activities and the performing arts. There is no shortage of events that appeal to families and that is definitely the case in Montgomery County. Over the years, my family and I have frequented places like Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo, Imagination Stage in Bethesda, and the Olney Theater Center. My love for the performing arts and desire to ensure rich experiences for my kids made me all the more excited when I was asked to participate on a parent blogger panel alongside Amy Mascott of Teach Mama, Leticia Barr of Tech Savvy Mama, Sandie Chen of Urban Mama and Monica Sakala of Wired Momma – all moderated by Jessica McFadden of A Parent In Silver Spring.
Amy Mascott, Leticia Barr, Stacey Ferguson, Sandie Angulo Chen, Monica Sakala
(Not Pictured: Jessica McFadden)
The brunch was a wonderful opportunity for arts organizations in MoCo and parent bloggers from the community to network with one another and come up with ways to partner together in the future. The panelists shared best practices for how arts organizations can work with bloggers. Some takeaways were:
- Encouraging arts organizations to send bloggers short, descriptive emails describing their events (including photos of the venue and performance) that might inspire a blog post or tweets
- Exploring the idea of arts organizations creating a media page on their websites that offer press-ready images, pertinent details and other info that would make it easy for a blogger to write a post
- Emphasizing that arts organizations should not be shy to launch their own blogs to give readers a peek into the personality of the organization
A service of the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Do & Go is an online calendar for cultural events in Montgomery County. Festivals, camps, classes, museums, historical sites and performances — it’s all here! It aims to make it easier for Montgomery County’s cultural organizations to publicize their events and to make it easier for the Montgomery County community to find them. Do & Go membership is open to all Montgomery County cultural non-profits and cultural for-profits.