The Arts Insider, a content creator program of the Broadway advertising agency AKA NYC, has named its newest members. The Arts Insider platform comprises influencers who create arts-, culture- and entertainment-related social media content.
Joining the Arts Insider roster are Thiago Vernal (@thiagovernal), Stella Cole (@stellakcole), Crafty Lumberjacks (@craftlumberjacks), Jessica McKay (@jkmckay), Nicholas Safier and the Safier Universe (@nicksafier), Francis Dominic (@francisdominiic), NYC Loves NYC (@nyclovesnyc), Larry Jamel (@larryjamel), spoiled NYC (@spoilednyc), New Jersey 4 Fun (@nj_4_fun), Megan Marod (@themegandaily), Arthur Menezes (@hey.arthur.nyc), Tay Marquise (@taymarquise) and Kéla Walker (@kelawalker).
AKA provides these influencers with access to Broadway shows, as well other arts and cultural institutions. The influencers create content for their respective platforms, which is then posted to Arts Insider’s social media channels on an ongoing basis.
“The more access we give our content creators, the more creative they can be with the content they make and share,” AKA CEO Elizabeth Furze and associate director of influence marketing Grace Aki told Broadway News. “More access usually equates to more content.”
The program, which aims to bring Broadway-related content to audiences that might not typically follow theater accounts, launched in January.
“It has been so exciting to see the community that has been built around the Arts Insider and the individual members support and amplify each other’s content in the digital space, which in turn expands the reach of the content being shared,” Furze and Aki said. “We are excited that so many of the new members of our collective have follower bases that expand beyond traditional theater attendees.”
Collectively, the new cohort, along with the inaugural group of Arts Insiders influencers, reaches over 15 million followers. To qualify, each influencer must have a minimum 10,000 followers on either Instagram or TikTok (or both) and an engagement rate of 3% or higher. Both factors are vital.
“Engagement is as important a metric to consider as follower count,” Furze and Aki explained. “We’ve seen tremendous engagement with content shared by micro (1-10k followers) and nano creators (10-100k followers).”
Since its inception, Arts Insider has tallied nearly two million combined views of video content shared on the program’s Instagram page. This includes content created for “& Juliet,” “Appropriate,” “Ben Platt at the Palace,” “Cabaret,” “Illinoise,” “Swept Away,” “The Heart of Rock and Roll” and “The Wiz,” in addition to Roundabout Theatre Company and the photography museum Fotografiska.
The majority of the inaugural cohort will remain alongside the newly minted Arts Insider influencers, bringing the current number of influencers to 30.
“We will continue to add members and learn from each iteration of the program based on client need and the changing landscape of Instagram and TikTok as social platforms,” said Furze and Aki.
