Working in Membership means my job is to get people excited about and involved with the Museum. In that way, my job is just as much community-builder as it is fundraiser. Though our Membership base is sizable and diverse, I’ve always felt that there is a large group of Brooklyn Museum visitors that would like to be more involved with the Museum but do not view the traditional Membership structure and benefits as appealing. I wouldn’t be following the Museum’s mission if I didn’t make an effort to reach out to this group. The bottom-line part of my job (monthly income goals, budget projections, cost/benefit analysis) is important, but not as important—or as fun, I might add—as growing our Museum community and making personal connections with our Members. It is with the Museum’s community in mind that we are pleased to introduce a new Membership program at the Brooklyn Museum: 1stfans.
What is 1stfans? a 1stfans Membership is an interactive relationship with the Museum that will happen in the building and online. We call it a “socially networked” Museum Membership, but what does that mean? The word has two meanings, which is why we picked it: it means developing face-to-face relationship with Museum staff and other Museum Members (literal social networking), and a strong, exclusive online relationship through social networking sites (you know them as Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter).
What do 1stfans get? Firstly (pun intended), exclusive events at monthly Target First Saturdays, where you’ll be able to interact with other 1stfans, Museum staff, and contemporary artists. Oh, and you can skip the ticket line for movies, which is pretty sweet. Secondly (no pun there), we will send updates to 1stfans via Facebook, Flickr, or e-newsletter, whichever you prefer. These will tell you what’s going on at 1stfans events, give you behind-the-scenes insight from Museum staff, and provide you with links to other cool stuff going on in the art world. Finally, 1stfans will be the only ones with access to the Museum’s new Twitter Art Feed, an extremely awesome way of engaging contemporary artists that Shelley will describe in greater detail on this blog soon. All of this for a tax-deductible $20 per-year. Not bad, right?
Who is 1stfans for? You, for one. With 1stfans, people who enjoy the Museum on-site and online now have an appealing (and did I mention inexpensive?) way to join the Museum as Members. If you come to our monthly First Saturdays and want a way to learn more about the Museum while interacting with Museum staff and making new friends, then you’ll enjoy 1stfans. If you like the Museum and have an account on Facebook, Flickr, or Twitter, 1stfans is also for you. Not only will we keep you updated via those sites, but we’ll also provide you with cool content and give you a shoutout when you post your own cool stuff.
An installation piece by Swoon in the Brooklyn Museum’s collection. Photograph by Sam Horine via Flickr. All Rights Reserved.
1stfans will launch formally at the January Target First Saturday on Saturday, January 3 with help from the artist Swoon (18,000+ Flickr pics here). Swoon’s studio has very generously agreed to do a live printing event for 1stfans Members, so anyone who signs up for 1stfans between now and January 3 can come with their own piece of paper and walk out with a Swoon print. Stay tuned to this blog for details, which will be coming soon.
The artist for the Twitter Art Feed will be announced in the middle of each month for the following month, so keep a close eye on this blog in the next two weeks for the announcement of the January artist. If you’re a fan of contemporary art, you won’t be disappointed….
If you have any questions about 1stfans, please e-mail me.
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You all did it again, and continue to blow me away with your ingenuity! Congrats on this exciting program. Sign me up!
Great idea! Can’t wait to join!
Will – the museum is lucky to have you and your creative ideas – can’t wait for some of these events!
This sounds awesome. I hope this is the first step towards museums thinking of members as participants (as churches and most advocacy groups do) rather than just yearly pass holders. I’ll be interested to see how this evolves and whether this can help you have more meaningful relationships with members.
I must admit that I’m not quite sure I understand the concept. Is the$20 in addition to current membership fees ($55 and up)? Or is it a separate membership that’s cheaper and seems to provide even more benefits than standard memberships? Or is the 1stFans program only open to current members? I’ve read all three posts and watched both videos, but the benefits and limitations of the program aren’t entirely clear to me.
Hi Jeff,
The $20 can be in an add-on to your current Membership dues, but 1stfans is otherwise a separate Membership category targeted at people in our community who are not currently Museum Members. The benefit of 1stfans is that you can attend exclusive events at First Saturday (when the Museum is already open for free) and receive all of these separate online benefits, including the Twitter Art Feed. Only 1stfans Members receive those, and anyone can join 1stfans.
What 1stfans does NOT offer are free admission, invitations to Membership Previews and Receptions, a regular discount in the Museum Store, or free parking during Membership events. Those are benefits that only Members beginning at the Individual ($55) level receive. 1stfans does not offer as many benefits as regular Museum Membership, which is why it is priced less.
-Will
Thanks for the clarification Will – now it all makes sense!
I love the idea that it’s about face-to-face as well as online interaction, and priced well for younger people. I’d venture to say it’s positioned to be for those who typically feel membership is not for them –? I’ll be very interested to know about the artists involved in the twitter stream.
I love this idea, Will! Good luck on the launch – I’ll look forward to joining:)
this sounds cool. thanks for setting it up.
Glad you like it, Ash! Hope we see you on January 3rd…
Why isn’t Myspace included in this? It seems rather pretentious of you to only offer this service to people who use Facebook.
Hi Richard,
Thanks for your question, and it’s a valid one. Logistically, MySpace is a little tougher platform for us to manage an exclusive group. Not impossible, just a little difficult. I think if we have more people who join 1stfans and want to receive updates via MySpace, we’re open to setting it up. You’re the first to mention it, though.
-Will
What about you full membership, as far as I can tell they do not get at the present any on-line benefits or premium on-line content – aren’t you bypassing your most committed supporters? Is it because the 2 memberships are provided via 2 different, incompatible technologies (BlackBaud NetSolutions vs. in-house)?
Hi Adrian,
Thanks for your comment. Our regular Members receive an e-newsletter every month that is produced by our department just for them. 1stfans don’t receive that.
On a larger scale, though, we had seen that our regular Members did not take advantage of online content or opportunities when we provided them. For example, we had a Members-only flickr group for a while but it only had 12 Members and was not very active. 1stfans are more apt to take advantage of that content because they are active on flickr, as well as facebook and twitter.
We’ve also found that Members who are particularly active on those sites have joined 1stfans, which they can do as a $20 add-on to their regular Membership. Hope this answers your question.
-Will