Backbone Youth Arts took a risk when it staged the 2high Festival in the face of demand outstripping its financial resources. It knew it needed to give the festival a higher profile within the arts sector and to target potential stakeholders and supporters.
Trent Barton, creative director of interactive design consultancy Zero Hour & Co, heard about the festival in 2008 and offered his time as a photographer. He was hooked by the passion of the new wave of arts practitioners and registered his interest in Zero Hour & Co partnering with Backbone.
Zero Hour & Co is led by two young entrepreneurs, Trent Barton and online director Scott Mackenzie, who aimed to develop a strong brand and communications strategy to increase the festival’s appeal to emerging artists and potential funders.
2high Festival began 17 years ago as a professional development model, providing resources, support and mentoring for up to 14 people aged 18 to 26 to coordinate the festival – a multi-artform event that showcases the skills of young and emerging artists in an atmosphere of creativity, experimentation and excellence.
In 2009, Zero Hour & Co developed a state-of-the-art website to increase the sophistication and raise the profile of the festival’s online presence. Trent and Scott gave 13 young people extensive training in event management and the development of marketing strategy, branding and creating a vision for the festival. Zero Hour & Co produced the visual identity and marketing collateral and an interactive installation work for inclusion in the festival, allowing participants to control their onstage visuals during performances using a wireless mouse.
Festival attendances grew from just under 4,000 in 2008 to more than 5,000 in 2009. Website traffic to the festival almost doubled to 10,838 in 2009.
The improved quality and professional identity that Zero Hour & Co developed for the festival supported Backbone’s successful application to Arts Queensland for funding for the 2010 festival. This grant has allowed 2high to continue to work with Zero Hour & Co on a paid basis in 2010.
Trent and Scott credit the experience as deepening their understanding of delivering an end-to-end strategic planning, branding, marketing and web development project.
Backbone Youth Arts and Trent Barton and Scott Mackenzie of Zero Hour & Co were state winners of the Woodside Better Business Award at the AbaF Awards 2010 in Queensland.
Image: Zero Hour & Co’s interactive installation. Photo: J.P. Robertson