Event Promotion

Do you have an event to promote? Below are some guidelines that can help us promote your event or program effectively.

If you have an event that requires publicity or promotional materials, we recommend that you let us know as soon as possible so that we can work publicizing your event into our existing workflow. Please understand that proper promotion of your event is contingent upon you providing materials to us in a timely manner and in accordance with the noted deadlines below.

For programs organized within departments

Please contact your department communication/publicity contact:

• All events must first gain approval from the respective department and/or unit executive leadership. Upon confirmed approval, please notify the following persons for further assistance:
  • For Department of Art and Department of Theatre Arts, please contact Dominique Douglas Hendricks: dominique.douglas1@howard.edu
  • For Department of Music, Office of Choirs and Bands and programs organized out of the Dean's Office, please contact Denise Saunders Thompson: denise.s.thompson@howard.edu

How the communications office can help

The College of Fine Arts communications office promotes programs in the following ways:

• Promotional flyer for print or email
  • Content due to communications office at least four weeks in advance for approval
• Calendar listing on COFA website and HU event calendar
  • Content due to communications office at least three weeks in advance for approval
• COFA website homepage graphic (contingent on available space)
  • Content due at least three weeks in advance for approval
• If appropriate, create Facebook event for the program on the Department FB page and promote the program on Department Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with 1-2 posts the week of the program.
  • Content due at least three weeks in advance for approval
• If applicable, issue a press release about the event for local media. (The communications office will make the determination about whether a media advisory is appropriate.)
  • Content due to communications department at least three weeks in advance for approval

How you can promote your program

• For proper event promotion, the event coordinator must provide event details and description in a timely manner to the communications office.
  • For one-off events, please provide information four weeks out for approval.
  • For a series of events or festival-type programming, please provide information six weeks in advance for approval.
• Provide appropriate images for publicity purposes no later than four weeks out
  • For print materials, images should be at least 5×7 inches at 300 dpi
  • For web materials, images can be that dimension at 72 dpi
• While the communications office can assist in arranging photography and videography of programs, the event coordinator is responsible for allocating funds for videography and photography of their program.
• If a flyer is designed, the event coordinator is responsible for budgeting for printing costs associated with the project. The communications office does not have a dedicated budget for this.
  • If a flyer is desired, content for the flyer needs to be provided to the communications department four weeks before the program for approval.
  • If a flyer is created, event coordinator is responsible for distributing flyers to appropriate departments/locations around campus. We recommend distributing flyers at least two-three weeks before the program.
• Outreach to relevant departments and professors to encourage professors to have their students attend the program.
• Outreach through departmental listservs that might be interested in a specific program (this requires a contact who has access to that listserv.)
• Submit event listing to the following online community calendars/local media contacts:
  • Howard University Event Calendar (online submission requires single sign-on)
  • The Hilltop, the University’s student newspaper, Life and Arts editor (www.hilltoponline.com)
  • The Washington Post (online submission at the daily newspaper)
  • The Washington Times (www.washingtontimes.com)
  • The Washington City Paper (www.washingtoncitypaper.com)
  • Washington DC event calendar, city’s promotion of arts and culture events (www.washington.org)
  • The Washingtonian (washingtonian.com)

Other Options

If there are concerns about attendance at a particular program, here are some additional options to consider.

• Occasionally, external funding sources have provided free and/or paid advertising in The Hilltop, WHUR, WHUT, The Washington Informer, The Washington Afro-American, The Washington Post, or other discipline-specific media outlets. Please note that advertising funding must come out of the budget for the program. The dean’s office does not have an advertising budget for programs. The communications office can provide contacts at various outlets for you to request rate sheets.
• We welcome and encourage speakers to share information about their program with any contacts in the DMV (District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia) area.