How do you say thank you?

Hey there,

First, a slightly belated Happy Thanksgiving!! Hope you and yours had a happy and safe one.

And on that note, this post is about how we say thank you, as artists and arts organizations. Yesterday was a great opportunity for that which many took up.

Here's one of my faves:

Happy Thanksgiving!! #85ROX instagr.am/p/SVhsAhyNNt/
— Rockettes (@Rockettes) November 22, 2012

Well done, Rockettes!!

But I bring up this topic because there are so many opportunities to say thank you throughout the year, to audiences, volunteers, donors, and every other stakeholder that's a part of your community and your art.

With my work at Dance Place, and the performances we have almost every weekend from a different company, it's been standard practice to say thank you to everyone who made it out to support the dancers, on Facebook and Twitter.. But I had an idea, and it's not the first time anyone's done this ever I'm sure, but at least at Dance Place, to add a photo to that thank you.

And because every company tech's before their performance weekend, I definitely couldn't think of a better chance to get a photo of the dancers and choreographers, to save for after the show. The cherry on top is that I had the idea of having "Thank You" written out on two large pieces of poster board or something, for some to hold up in the pic. This, as I discovered via google, is apparently really popular to do for wedding photos...I had no idea. Really, just google "thank you signs".

I personally think the poster board is a nice low-tech media touch to this new media piece

Anyway, just thought I'd share. Speaking of sharing, do you already implement some way to say thank you, involving images with you or your organization's social media? Any favorite examples, either yours or someone else's? And if not, do you have an idea now?

Obviously, this is all very particular to what your own programming is, and galleries will have different opportunities than theatres, individual arts than organizations. But saying thank you, right next to listening, is probably one of the simplest and easiest things you can do, and should be doing, with your social media.

Thoughts?

- JR