Sample Media Alert
Distribute 2 weeks prior to Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month
Use this media advisory to alert the people on your media list about your upcoming events. For maximum effectiveness, you should send it out two weeks before Awareness Month and/or your first special event. Be sure to read Media Tips for information on building a media list, and to see how this advisory fits into your overall media strategy.
[NOTE: Print on your letterhead.]
Contact:
Phone:
E-mail:
For immediate release:
[today's date]
[headline – INSTITUTION joins others across the world in a massive Art Beyond Sight outreach activity]
Blind people in [your town] will join tens of thousands of their peers around the world in experiencing and celebrating their access to art during this October's Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month.
"Everyone has to the right to learn about the shared culture and art of our world and to participate in the thrill of artistic self-expression. Since all the research shows that people who are blind can experience art,” says [staff member of your institution], "museums, schools, parents, and community members are joining together to make universal access to art a reality.”
Coordinated by Art Beyond Sight, Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month is sponsored by the Art Beyond Sight Collaborative, an international group of researchers, blind people, educators, museum professionals, tactile-graphics experts, and people from pretty much every field that is in any way related.
One of the goals of Awareness Month is to make people aware of just how important pictorial literacy, or familiarity with common visual images, is in daily life. Conversation is sprinkled with references to common visual experiences that people who are blind do not commonly have, but which they could have, and which Art Beyond Sight is committed to giving them. In addition, pictorial literacy is essential for children’s understanding of geography and the sciences.
[Now list your special Awareness Month activity, including: Who you are, what you’re doing, where you’re doing it, and time and dates. Also note if this is a free event and if not, the cost, and if it is open to the public or to just a specific group, such as educators, members, parents (if you’re a school), etc.]
Visit www.artbeyondsight.org for the latest information on other Awareness Month celebrations being held around the world.
