Below are some handy tools to help you promote your event and make the most of being part of River of Art.
You’ll find Social Media Templates and ideas, the River of Art Logo , Art Prize Finalist Tile and promotional resources, plus the all-important Event Record Sheet.
Please remember to complete your record sheet during your event and to invite visitors to fill out the very quick Visitor Experience Survey (QR Code link or printable version).
The information you provide helps us understand the Festival’s reach and impact, support future funding applications, and keep River of Art rolling!
Art Trail tally Sheets – recording your visitors
Help us measure the Festival’s impact
Visitor data is essential to River of Art’s future. It helps us understand our reach, demonstrate the Festival’s value to the region, plan future programs, and strengthen applications for grants, sponsorship and other support.
Please help by recording visitor numbers and where your visitors have travelled from throughout the Festival. Every visitor counted helps us build a stronger picture of River of Art’s impact.
Visitor Experience Survey
Help us build a picture of our visitors
Please encourage your visitors to complete our quick 90-second Visitor Survey during the Festival.
Their responses help River of Art understand who is visiting, where they’ve come from and the Festival’s impact on our region – providing valuable evidence for future funding, grants and support.
The survey can be completed anonymously, or visitors can leave their contact details to go into the participant prize draw.
Every response helps us tell the River of Art story – and strengthen the Festival’s future.
How to share
• Print QR Poster for visitors to scan
• Print out Visitor Experience Forms
• Save the QR code to your device & get visitors to scan & fill from their own devices
Social media
Canva Templates for Instagram and Facebook
To help us promote your upcoming exhibitions and events during the River of Art festival, we have created a ready-to-use Canva templates for you to showcase your work!
Canva is a free*, online design tool that lets anyone create professional graphics without any prior design experience. It replaces complicated software with a simple “click, drag, and drop” system that works directly in your internet browser or mobile app.
Create your free Canva account HERE.
*note paid premium feature plans available.
Tip: Canva works both on desktops and mobile devices but a desktop is always easier to use. All elements in Canva can be selected separately.
Upload your image – select the upload panel on the left – size to fit the fame – to see all layers click on any element – select “position’ from the menu bar above the image and from the pop up panel on the left then select the layers view. Move your image to the bottom.
What format to post?
- Standard Landscape Post: 1200 x 630 pixels (best for links and horizontal images).
- Square Post: 1080 x 1080 pixels (best for cross-posting to Instagram).
- Vertical Post (Portrait): 1080 x 1350 pixels (takes up more screen space on mobile feeds)
- Posts – 1080 x 1350 pixels (4:5 aspect ratio)
- Reels – 1080 x 566 pixels (16:9 aspect ratio)
- Square Post (best for cross posting to FB): 1080 x 1080 pixels (1:1 aspect ratio)
Download the River of Art logo to create your own posts
** Please ensure the River of Art logo is used exactly as supplied. The logo must not be altered, recoloured, reshaped, cropped, stretched, overlaid with text or graphics, or otherwise modified.
Free QR Code Generator
Choose to upload your own logo and brand colours to generate static QR codes – it requires no registration or account. Bonus, you can also add a caption at the bottom and there’s a choice of SVG export for print.
How to share on socials
- Use the River of Art template to create social media tiles where applicable or create your own.
- Use tag:
- @riverofart + anyone you are collaborating with + venue if applicable
- Use hashtags – up to 5: #riverofart, #eurobodalla, #southeastarts, #southcoastarts, #yourtown, #regionalartsnsw, #yourmedium, #yourvenue
- Link to your website (put the link in profile on Instagram)
- Keep your captions short – 1-3 short paragraphs
- Use keywords in captions such as: River of Art, your business/artist name, your location, “visit”, your medium
- Include location and opening time
- Use multiple images (3 is good) or a video
- Add music
- Re-post your posts to stories
Post ideas:
- Introduce yourself & your art – why do you love it?
- Introduce your gallery/studio/performance space
- Introduce your location- why do you live and work where you do
- Opening times
- What/who inspires you?
- What materials do you love to work with?
- Refer to your listing on the River of Art website with full link where possible
- Mention other artists/performers from the program in your vicinity
- Share content from the River of Art socials
CREATE FACEBOOK EVENTS:
Where to Share Your Facebook Event
Once you’ve created your Facebook Event, spread the word! Share it with:
Local community Facebook groups and noticeboards and other relevant town groups.
Local arts and creative groups – artist networks, photography, craft, makers, music and cultural groups.
What’s On and events groups – especially Eurobodalla, South Coast and Sapphire Coast community event pages.
Your venue or host – ask them to share the event with their followers too.
Participating artists and collaborators – invite everyone involved to share it through their own networks.
Local businesses and tourism networks – particularly accommodation, hospitality and visitor-focused businesses near your event.
Your own networks – your Facebook page, personal profile, Instagram and mailing list.
River of Art – tag us and share your event with us so we can help amplify it through Festival channels.Think local, but think beyond your own town. Festival visitors travel across the region, so sharing into neighbouring community groups can introduce your event to a whole new audience.
And remember: always check a Facebook group’s rules before posting – some have specific days or guidelines for promoting events.
how to promote your event
Helping visitors get the most from the Arts TrailCreate an enticing visitor experience at your venue.
• Think beyond simply displaying work – make visitors feel welcome, encourage them to linger, talk about your practice, and give them something memorable to take away from the experience.
• Use River of Art collateral. Display your River of Art signage, posters and other Festival material prominently so visitors can easily recognise participating venues.Make sure your online listing is up to date. Check your description, opening days and times, address and directions. Be clear about what’s on, what visitors can expect to find, and how to find you.
• Promote yourself before and during the Festival. Share your listing through your own social media, mailing lists and networks. Tag River of Art so we can see and potentially share your posts.
• Know what else is happening around you. Use the website search function to see other Arts Trail venues and events in your area.
Remember that every listing has its own opening days and times, so check before recommending somewhere.
• Stay up to date with WHAT’S ON:
https://www.riverofart.com.au/festival-program/
FILTER by WHERE and search your ‘area’. i.e.
– Batemans Bay & Surrounds
– Moruya & Surrounds
– Narooma & Surrounds
• Prepare a few easy ice-breakers. Conversations are a big part of the Arts Trail experience.
Try:
– What else have you seen on the Trail?
– Where are you heading next?
– What kind of work are you interested in?
– Where are you heading next?
– Can I suggest somewhere else nearby you might enjoy?
– Conversationally find out where they’ve traveled from – to discreetly fill out the tally sheets
– Ask if they’d like to share their experience & invite them to scan the QR code for the Visitor Experience Survey & explain why it’s so important for events like this – it only takes 90 seconds to fill out
• Be an ambassador for the whole Trail. Helping someone discover their next stop makes the experience feel connected – and another participant may be doing exactly the same for you.
• Reach out and collaborate with fellow participants. Connect with nearby artists, studios, galleries and venues. Cross-promote each other, share posts and recommend one another to visitors.
• Give visitors a reason to talk about you. A demonstration, work-in-progress, artist conversation, studio insight or story behind a particular work can turn a visit into an experience.
• Encourage visitors to keep exploring. Point them towards other River of Art events, exhibitions and experiences nearby – the more connected the Trail feels, the longer visitors are likely to stay and explore.
• The Arts Trail works best when we promote not just our own venue, but each other. Every recommendation helps build a richer visitor experience and sends people further along the Trail.
• Importantly please keep to advertised hours – if you need to amend you can do this via your profile and preferably with more than 24 hours notice as people are creating their itineraries around your advertised times. Each year we receive complaints about venues packing up early or not being attended, especially on the last day.
ART Prize Finalist Tiles
- Remember don’t promote your entry until after the Art Prize has been announced on Friday 26 September 2025
- tag us in your socials #riverofart
USEFUL LINKS:
- River of Art Website https://www.riverofart.com.au/
- River of Art Program https://www.riverofart.com.au/festival-program/