Bringing Crowds Back to Downtown SF

After pandemic closures and changes in leadership, I joined Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as Director of Marketing and Communications during a pivotal time—helping the iconic cultural institution bring wider audiences back to downtown San Francisco.

Across concerts, dance performances, visual art exhibitions, weekly educational workshops, and more, I’ve refreshed our marketing to reach more people, get them into our spaces, and to keep them coming back.

The first exhibition that I shaped from the outset was Nick Dong: 11 to 88, an immersive solo show by a Taiwanese-American technologist. My marketing approached helped make this the institution’s best-attended show in nearly a decade—at a fraction of prior advertising budgets.

Collaborations with social media influencers helped reach a younger demographic that had heard of YBCA, but never visited. Targeted listings on syndicated ‘local event’ websites and ‘free things to do’ was an efficient way to broaden name recognition among audiences. Persistent resharing of visitor-created content sustained buzz and word-of-mouth (to the extent that new issues around line management, checkin process, and wait times arose—good problems to have).

The result was YBCA’s best-attended show in almost a decade: averaging 3x the weekly attendance of recent shows, at less than 20% of prior advertising budgets.

The exhibition’s success was a case study in clarity and brevity in marketing—as well as tactical resourcefulness in spreading awareness.

Building on the success of Nick Dong: 11 to 88, I led messaging, design, and marketing for Bay Area Then—a group show that captured the energy, vitality, and creative spirit of San Francisco in the ‘90s. From the logo to print ads to outdoor advertising to video, the content and stories reflected the creative resilience of SF’s artistic underground.

The exhibition also included a free monthly concert series (featuring Tommy Guerrero, Tony Molina, AV Linton of Aislers Set, Brontez Purnell, and more) as well as a zine fair co-organized by Barry McGee.

On a compressed timeline with limited budget and little media spend, these events brought thousands of people back to downtown San Francisco through legitimate word-of-mouth, and earned considerable local and national press coverage.

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CREDITS

Strategy, copywriting, and creative direction: Chris Royalty.
Design: MacFadden & Thorpe, Halina Mader, Laura Kunkel.
Photography and Videography: Corey Marsau, Robbie Sweeny.
Social & content: Brooke Vlasich.
Email & web: Amelia Maffin