What is usually understood as
“advertising” among cultural institutions is an ad in a newspaper or a magazine
based on an exhibition or performance poster and informing on what – where
- when. Sometimes, this concept is
transported into a TV spot, where the poster gets to have some kind of
“animation”, using the image and letters of the poster, and where the
information on what – where – when is also transmitted orally. In other words,
facts.
Last year, I saw on You Tube the
advertising spot of an exhibition at the Czech National Museum in Prague and it
got me thinking. It related to the 2008 exhibition of the original document of
the “Munich agreement”, which had been signed 70 years earlier, in 1938. This
was an agreement between Britain, Germany, Italy and France which
allowed for Czechoslovakia’s
German-speaking territories to be sliced off and handed to Hitler.
This was definitely not the
usual what - where – when tv spot. This was a museum transmitting a message and
addressing an invitation with a clear knowledge of the
social-political-cultural context in which it operates and with a sense of
humour. Short, intriguing and rather bold, considering what museums in general
have got us used to. It speaks to the citizens of the Czech Republic and to the
rest of us, although no words are needed.
More recently, I was very
pleasantly surprised with a “Made in Portugal” ad. The 3rd edition of the
Montemor-o-Novo Theatre Festival was organized by the Municipality of
Montemor-o-Novo together with a number of local theatre groups, in spite of the
financial difficulties felt in the cultural sector, presented all over the town
and with the objective – among others - to involve the local population,
independent of age, education, previous knowledge or habits of attending
theatre performances.
The sense of humour in this
spot won my heart once again. The second thing that came to mind was how true
it felt, considering the festival´s mission and objective, especially the
concern to involve the local community, which becomes the protagonist.
The third example I would
like to discuss is also “Made in Portugal” and it´s more than an ad, it´s what
one may call a campaign. “Maria & Luiz” is the joint effort of Lisbon´s two
municipal theatres (Maria Matos and São Luiz) to work together in forging a relationship
with people, through the creation of a card that costs €10 to purchase and
offers 50% discount for a year. The campaign is made of seven short films (with english subtitles).
Seven short films, seven
stories of romance, vanguarde, drama, music, expression, charm, phantasy. The
ingredients of the the everyday life of very diverse people reflected back to
us once we find ourselves in a theatre room.
The objective of advertising
is to build messages that may influence attitudes towards a product or an idea.
Now that I put the three examples together, I realize that one thing they have
in common, apart from a sense of humour, is that they are centred on the people
they wish to communicate with. Not facts, people. The story is not just the
document or the festival or the discount card; the story is not told by the
curator, the artist or the manager. Common people become the protagonists and
narrators. Common people is what cultural institutions are about. This is the
idea I see behind the concept, this is the message. Being part of a sector that
is used to communicating with “its own” – with those who are already part, with
those who “understand” – I am happy to see that some of us have chosen a
different way, a different relationship.
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