Pinterest as an arts & cultural programming tool?

Hey there,

Pinterest...oh Pinterest.

If you are aware of and have kept up with the buzz about Pinterest, at some point you no doubt have heard of its power in the field of wedding planning. Indeed there have been many pieces written about it, like Pinterest Ruined My Wedding Planning, Wedding planning: Pinterest or professionals?, Pinterest changes the way brides plan their weddings, & 7 Tips for Planning a Wedding on Pinterest, to name a few.

There have even been some pieces on Pinterest as an event planning tool in general. In "4 Ways Event Professionals Are Using Pinterest", Mitra Sorrelis lists "Inspiration", "Organization", "Interaction with vendors and clients", and "Marketing". You can read more here.

Monica Carr posted "Event Planning's Latest Trend: Pinterest" in Ideas on Bryan Allen Events:

I quickly realized that not only does Pinterest provide a clean, uncomplicated layout for my crafting inspirations, but also a fantastic way to visually display ideas for event planning.
Read more here

So how might Pinterest be used in the arts?

I hadn't realized it when I started doing it, but...well, at my day job we have a roster of artists. They each have a profile on our site, and I started pinning their profiles on Pinterest. When I was done:

And I realized that this could be a great way for people who contact our organization to get a quick look at our artists. I mean, I suppose it isn't the great revelation it was in my head, but if people used Pinterest to plan weddings, and events in general, then why not arts & cultural events.

P.S. if you would like to go to the board I created at my job of Class Acts Arts' 2012-13 Roster Artists, click here.

I say this keeping in mind that anywhere from 72% to 97% of Pinterest users have been reported to be female (Women are from Pinterest, Men are from Google+?), and most of the arts & cultural programmers we work with tend to be women, for whatever reason.

Granted, a number of times we work with communities who only have the resources to bring in a select few, but for those that plan entire cultural weeks or festivals, this might be useful.

I can't imagine that this was the first time someone at an arts & arts education organization thought to do this, but I'd be curious who else has. So if you know of any, please let me know!!

I am aware of theatres and dance organizations who are using Pinterest to share their content, and it's great. But this post is specifically looking at it as a planning tool. Might it also be a useful tool for development directors or special event coordinators at arts organizations, when they're organizing larger events, galas, or any other similar function?

I realize there's a possibility I'm biased, as at its fundamental level, Pinterest is really just a visually pleasing and stimulating way of bookmarking links (with the opportunity for comments and sharing), so I return the title of this post.

Is there potential for Pinterest to be a useful tool in art & cultural programming? Or is it just another, briefly shiny social media toy that will come and go? OR...it depends?

What do you think?

- JR