“Kalgoorlie, The Arts and Aliens, Tigers and Cows!”

Combining fun, laughs and performance with Internet savvy to engage our community!

How a passion for promoting arts and events to a broader audience resulted in giving Arts a “voice” on a grand scale

In the beginning…..

Diversity in arts, culture and performance was certainly there – and had been for some time – but the artistes weren’t succeeding in reaching their target audiences. A small, but dedicated, few would purchase tickets to shows, attend gallery openings, or roll up and audition for a play.

The guys at “Art at the Heart” in Alice springs 2008

Since 2001, Lisa van Oyen had been sending a regular email update to friends, colleagues and interested enthusiasts who were keen to know what shows were coming up and where and when. Painstakingly typing out the info week after week, Lisa would do her utmost to spread the word. The list kept growing, the word kept spreading, but still there were people saying “I never knew that show was on, otherwise I would have gone”
Ticket sales for shows at the Goldfields Arts Centre were struggling. Some shows were even cancelled due to lack of sufficient support, or ran at a loss.

In 2006, Lisa teamed with Kevin Blair to develop an idea to take the “WOW” email to its next level. Utilising new and exciting/innovative ideas, Websites and electronic calendar support – and then developing this to suit the Kalgoorlie-Boulder market, Kevin and Lisa launched the new look WOWKAL – What’s on Where in Kal.

Lise and Kev promote Impro Theatre games – to not stay sane!

Spreading the word using hi-tech innovation and in an easy, friendly, palatable format has proven successful beyond anyone’s imagination.
Community groups and Arts bodies now have a “voice” – a means to spread the word about what they have on offer for the Kalgoorlie-Boulder population.
People on the distribution list now receive an email every Thursday morning with the upcoming week’s events – art gallery openings, theatre and music performances, sports events, health and wellbeing workshops, playgroup activities, service club meeting times, guest speakers – and so much more!

There are now over 1500 subscribers to the weekly e-newsletter and it’s still growing! As the word spreads, the list grows bigger. The website has been overhauled, revamped and revitalised – the services keep improving thanks to the generosity of local businesses who have come on board to provide funding to keep the services running. This keeps the email free to the people we want to reach!

…and then there was light.
www.wowkal.com