Latest / Arts Unscripted with Monica Holt / Jen Taylor on Building AI Strategy That Serves Your Mission
Transcript
- 0:08Welcome back to CI to Eye. I'm Monica Holt.
- 0:12Today's conversation tackles one of the most pressing questions facing our
- 0:15sector.
- 0:16How do we integrate AI into arts and culture work without compromising on
- 0:21our values?
- 0:23We're living through what some are calling the fastest technology adoption in
- 0:26history.
- 0:27ChatGBT reached a hundred million users in just two months.
- 0:32Compare that to the 30 months it took Instagram or nine it took TikTok.
- 0:36And arts organizations aren't immune to this rapid change.
- 0:40New data shows 43% of arts and culture organizations now
- 0:44use AI technology,
- 0:46which is a significant jump from 28% just a year ago.
- 0:50But here's the thing,
- 0:52less than 10% of all nonprofits have policies governing AI
- 0:56use.
- 0:57We're moving fast without guardrails in a space that demands we move more
- 1:02thoughtfully.
- 1:04What makes this even more complex is that while other industries worry about
- 1:07competitive risks and job displacement,
- 1:10arts administrators are uniquely focused on mission risk and protecting
- 1:14authentic brand identity. Today's guest is perfectly positioned to help us
- 1:19navigate this tension.
- 1:21Jen Taylor is Capacity Interactive's director of AI strategy and integration,
- 1:25bringing both marketing expertise from her decade at A&E Networks as well as
- 1:30deep roots in the arts in the New York theater community.
- 1:33Jen recently surveyed over a hundred arts leaders across the country and what
- 1:38she found was a sector defined by what she calls a powerful tension.
- 1:42People desperate for more time and support who see AI as the potential solution,
- 1:47but who are also holding real concerns about what makes arts human.
- 1:52This conversation with Jen is about much more than tools and tactics.
- 1:56It's about the future of how we create and how we connect in an age of
- 2:00artificial intelligence. Let's dive in.
- 2:10Jen, welcome to CI to Eye.
- 2:13Thank you so much for having me.
- 2:15You have been doing some really exciting work in the space,
- 2:19empowering arts organizations with the knowledge and expertise of how
- 2:24they can leverage AI and emerging tech,
- 2:26and we will get to all of that and I'm excited to dive in. But for the moment,
- 2:30what I'd love to talk a little bit about first is your career path,
- 2:34why the arts, how you got started, and so to really ground us in that,
- 2:39could you just tell me a little bit about what your personal connection is with
- 2:43the arts?
- 2:43Did you perform in plays as a kid or play an instrument or kind of what was the
- 2:48spark of creativity in your life?
- 2:50Yeah. Well, as far back as I can remember,
- 2:54I've been connected to the arts.
- 2:57I was basically that kid belting Annie while everybody else was listening to
- 3:01Boys II Men.
- 3:02The red hair.
- 3:04Oh yeah.
- 3:04There's a straight affiliation there. Absolutely.
- 3:07Yeah.
- 3:07So I remember going to New York to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway or even
- 3:11to the local dinner theater where Singing in the Rain actually had it
- 3:16rain on the stage. So ever since I was little,
- 3:20I've been hooked by the theater.
- 3:22In college is when I paired my theater education with a business degree
- 3:27because I always knew that I wanted to work in the business end of theater.
- 3:32So after school you start at Signature Theater in New York,
- 3:36and I'm sure it feels a little bit like that kind of dream realized of where you
- 3:41were going, right?
- 3:41Yeah, Signature really took a chance on me. In fact,
- 3:46my old boss will tell you that she tried really hard not to hire
- 3:51me because I lived out of town,
- 3:53but she says that I just would not take no for an answer.
- 3:57I remember being in that interview when she asked, okay,
- 4:01well when could you actually start?
- 4:03And I looked at my fake watch and I looked up at her and I said, tomorrow.
- 4:08That's amazing. Oh, I love that.
- 4:11And so as you look at how your career grew from there and what experiences from
- 4:15Signature you took with you,
- 4:18what was the compelling reason to evolve past Signature and what were you
- 4:21looking for after that?
- 4:23Yeah, that's a great question.
- 4:25Being in a marketing department of two people at Signature gave me huge
- 4:30exposure.
- 4:31One day I'd be printing a mailing for our subscribers and the next
- 4:36day I'd be running a photo shoot with Chuck Mee.
- 4:39So that firsthand proximity to artists really taught me empathy,
- 4:44how marketing should elevate creative work and not distort it.
- 4:48That really drives my mindset as I work on AI today and it's really what
- 4:53drove me from Signature to my next role at the Summer Play Festival.
- 4:57When I had the opportunity to essentially build out a marketing department
- 5:02for an organization that supported new artists,
- 5:06it was just a no-brainer and I couldn't say no.
- 5:10I probably would've stayed there a lot longer than I did,
- 5:13but unfortunately the festival shut down,
- 5:16so Ari brought me in-house with her.
- 5:19Being in-house with a Broadway producer really helped me realize that
- 5:24I didn't want to be in-house with a Broadway producer.
- 5:27I wanted to be at the agency that was doing all the work.
- 5:32So that was my jump over to AKA.
- 5:36Can I ask,
- 5:37watching the festival shut down and just what folks I'm sure are experiencing
- 5:42now, I obviously was at --
- 5:44the opera company that I was at before it became part of the Kennedy Center,
- 5:47Washington National Opera,
- 5:49also faced this kind of deadline moment of will we continue to
- 5:53exist or will we have to evolve?
- 5:55What was that like to watch and what impact do you think that's had on you
- 6:00since then shaping the way that you're viewing the arts,
- 6:03particularly as you are being helpful from outside of organizations rather than
- 6:07inside them?
- 6:09Yeah, that's a great question. I would say it was really devastating.
- 6:12Even today, I text with the other people that worked there with me.
- 6:16Anytime we see an SPF actor, director,
- 6:20or playwright show up across the industry,
- 6:23when you look at the organizations that exist to support new talent,
- 6:27they're really limited.
- 6:29I think NAMT does a great job with musicals and the fact that we had this
- 6:33festival that really championed non-musical work was
- 6:38unique to be outside of an institution and just give people
- 6:43a chance to get out there.
- 6:44It's interesting just to hear about how experience like that,
- 6:48like traumatic experiences with arts organizations early in one's career,
- 6:52can kind of stick with you and also deepen your connection to
- 6:57purpose in the arts and particularly as we're in this moment where
- 7:02change and evolution is so key to everything we're
- 7:06discussing,
- 7:07to have been part of a moment early on where you saw that not
- 7:12happen in a way that could ultimately serve the mission and the financial needs
- 7:17of the organization...
- 7:19I'm sure that that sits with you as you're looking to the future.
- 7:23So as you move through working within arts organizations,
- 7:26then you kind of had a transition working with an independent producer,
- 7:29and then moving into AKA and working from the other side,
- 7:34as we say, of the equation...
- 7:36Can you talk a little bit about what that was like and ultimately how that led
- 7:40you to your transition into A&E?
- 7:43Yeah, AKA was an amazing place to work.
- 7:45It was the early days of their New York office,
- 7:48so it really functioned like a startup and that's where I really honed my
- 7:53digital marketing skills.
- 7:55I owned kind of the full digital strategy for our clients: the website,
- 7:59the social media, the online advertising. And I loved it,
- 8:05but ultimately my shift from AKA to A&E was really
- 8:10about scale. With Broadway,
- 8:12people had to be live in New York to come to the theater.
- 8:17A&E let me reach anyone with a screen. So with each move,
- 8:21I really considered will this role let me grow audiences in a bigger
- 8:26and smarter way.
- 8:28You were at A&E then for so long,
- 8:31and I guess I'm curious what kept you motivated and challenged to stay in
- 8:36that space throughout all of your different roles?
- 8:38Obviously I can relate having stayed in an organization that I really cared
- 8:42about for a long time,
- 8:43and so I'm curious hearing from a different angle and at a network
- 8:48position like you had, captivating, cultivating, growing audiences...
- 8:52What was that motivating factor? What were the challenges?
- 8:55What did you love digging into?
- 8:57Yeah, at A&E,
- 8:59we took digital revenue from tens of millions to well over a
- 9:04hundred million by reinventing constantly.
- 9:08I had to learn a new industry and A&E is where I really came to
- 9:13understand the business impact of marketing. When I started,
- 9:18television was at its peak.
- 9:19We had almost 90% penetration across US households
- 9:25and digital was just starting to be a thing.
- 9:28We had a website and had just launched mobile apps.
- 9:32So I was there as we expanded digital onto the
- 9:36television screen and eventually launched subscription products.
- 9:41So each shift really meant rethinking the entire strategy.
- 9:45A&E is really where I learned the importance of tying marketing efforts
- 9:50directly to business goals. And again,
- 9:53that discipline really influences how I think about AI.
- 9:57You don't want to just do something for the sake of doing it.
- 10:00You want to make sure there's a reason and an impact to the bottom line.
- 10:04So that's a great segue into really getting to the meat of what we're going to
- 10:09talk about today and as we start to think about AI in the field,
- 10:13your transition back to working with nonprofit culture and arts,
- 10:17you've kind of touched on this a little bit,
- 10:19but what sparked your curiosity around AI specifically?
- 10:24Were you developing those skills initially in-house or was this something that
- 10:28you were kind of researching, looking at yourself,
- 10:30doing some self-teaching on as it kind of sparked into the greater public
- 10:34interest in the past five, 10 years?
- 10:37Yeah, my curiosity really started through work.
- 10:42I went to a conference, I think it was back in 2022,
- 10:45where I heard for the first time, AI won't replace you.
- 10:49The person using it will.
- 10:51I was so inspired that I put together a five page presentation on
- 10:56everything that I learned to share with the full consumer marketing team.
- 11:00That evolved into testing out small ways my team could use AI.
- 11:06Little things like tweaking email tone or expanding brainstorming.
- 11:11Then I started going deeper; listening to The Marketing AI Show,
- 11:15which is now The Artificial Intelligence Show; taking classes;
- 11:20trying tools.
- 11:21I really just kept following my curiosity and found that
- 11:26being an expert in my field mixed with AI helped me to
- 11:31start moving faster and with all these new perspectives.
- 11:35That's great. I love what you were saying sparked it as AI won't replace you,
- 11:39but the person using it will. I'm curious then,
- 11:43as you were experimenting with this at A&E,
- 11:46why come back to the nonprofit arts and culture --
- 11:49Obviously I think it's the greatest place to be,
- 11:52but what was the motivation and why was Capacity the place that you wanted to
- 11:57do this work?
- 11:59Yeah, I reconnected with Priya --
- 12:03Priya Iyer Doshi, former president of Capacity Interactive.
- 12:07Yeah. And I heard what CI was thinking about,
- 12:10and it really helped me realize that this sector needs a translator,
- 12:15somebody who speaks both marketing and mission, and I just couldn't say no.
- 12:20Translation is I think one of the most underrated skills in our industry,
- 12:25and whether that's from tech to admin or from creative to marketing
- 12:29team,
- 12:30I think that role is so important and we're lucky to have you sitting in it.
- 12:34So as you are bringing to Capacity this new approach and expanding
- 12:39our set of tools,
- 12:41how are you thinking about the values in this space and the ethics of
- 12:46AI while you're simultaneously working on empowerment of a sector
- 12:51that cares a lot about that kind of tie between the values of the
- 12:56work and the work itself?
- 12:57Yeah,
- 12:58I think that's a really good question and it's been really important to me that
- 13:02I listened to the sector and the people and their concerns.
- 13:07Part of that was going back to past Boot Camp sessions to get feedback from
- 13:11that.
- 13:12Part of that was a study or a survey that we fielded into the
- 13:16wild. Look,
- 13:19I think the reality is that the ethical concerns are all valid
- 13:24and ultimately we have to be thoughtful about
- 13:29when and how and where we use AI.
- 13:33Each organization is going to have different guidelines and guardrails,
- 13:37and part of this journey is figuring out what those lines are for
- 13:42you. I don't pretend that I can solve all the problems,
- 13:46but I do like to try to mitigate risk. So for example,
- 13:51when we do literacy training, we practice ethical prompting.
- 13:56I walk you through things like if you wouldn't pay for it in the wild,
- 14:00don't prompt a tool to output it for you.
- 14:04If you are in a conversation and you are done,
- 14:09don't say thank you or prompt it with other things that are unnecessary.
- 14:13It doesn't need to process all of that compute.
- 14:19It's all little things that can make a big difference,
- 14:23but ultimately we are responsible for the input and the output.
- 14:27So if we are aware of things like bias and hallucination as
- 14:32we're working with these tools, we can help mitigate some of the risk.
- 14:36Tell me about an example of this practically in the field.
- 14:39Yeah, I think a good example is we were working with a museum who
- 14:44identified that one of the main reasons people come to museums is to
- 14:49spend time with family.
- 14:51And I was digging into kind of who those people were and the reasons that they
- 14:56were there and the benefits of the experience for them.
- 15:00But when I input the prompt,
- 15:02I didn't just say 'spend time with family' because I was afraid that
- 15:06family within kind of the tool would be two parents and two
- 15:11children. So I said, family could be two parents and two children,
- 15:15could be one adult and one child, could be multi-generational,
- 15:18could be friends who are roommates.
- 15:21So it's just as important to think about your input and the bias that you have.
- 15:26That's great.
- 15:27You mentioned doing research and comparing research that is field specific
- 15:32to some of the research and standards that are being talked about at large.
- 15:37I know that when I am talking with folks across the industry at all levels of
- 15:41any organization,
- 15:43there is still some discomfort around the principles and the
- 15:47ethics as we chatted about just now,
- 15:50but there are also others who are gung-ho and want to incorporate as much as
- 15:54they can, but they don't know where to start.
- 15:56I know that in the Marketing AI Institute and Smarter X State of Marketing
- 16:01Report that I think you were using in your research too,
- 16:05even in that broader wide world out there,
- 16:08we know that 80% of respondents say that AI is critically or very important to
- 16:13the success of marketing,
- 16:15but over 50% are also identifying that there needs to be more training,
- 16:19education, and awareness.
- 16:21So I'd love to hear what you were hearing from the field or how that
- 16:25compared to other sectors at large that you've been looking at.
- 16:29I think we're all really interested to know the state of affairs from your point
- 16:32of view.
- 16:33Yeah, we were really thrilled with the response we had to our survey.
- 16:38We heard back from over a hundred arts leaders and marketers across the country,
- 16:43and it wasn't just one type of organization.
- 16:46We had a representative mix of disciplines and a near even split by budget
- 16:51size.
- 16:51Wow.
- 16:52Most of the respondents were department head or manager level.
- 16:57So we really heard back from the people doing the work. What I've heard,
- 17:02which you alluded to,
- 17:03is that it is clear that everyone is really at the beginning of its AI
- 17:08journey,
- 17:09and that journey is defined by a really strong mix of
- 17:13curiosity and caution.
- 17:16The vast majority over half classify themselves in either
- 17:21curiosity or understanding.
- 17:25They're just starting to explore or learn the fundamentals.
- 17:29Another quarter are actively experimenting.
- 17:32That leaves just a really small fraction, about 8%,
- 17:36who are truly integrating AI into their daily workflows.
- 17:40So for most, this is a period of initial,
- 17:44often unstructured experimentation --
- 17:48people trying out tools like ChatGPT for tasks like drafting
- 17:53copy, but it's not yet part of their strategy.
- 17:57And do you think that's where a lot of the focus was in the feedback around kind
- 18:01of gen AI and content creation,
- 18:03or were people thinking also in other buckets and more broadly?
- 18:07That's exactly right. So for half of the teams who are using AI,
- 18:11the number one application, like you said,
- 18:14is content creation and copywriting.
- 18:18I think this really shows a task-based approach,
- 18:21kind of using the tool to plug a hole rather than a broader
- 18:26strategic implementation.
- 18:28It points directly to the biggest challenge that these teams face,
- 18:32which is resourcing.
- 18:33It's a direct response to that most common refrain we hear:
- 18:37teams are a one-person show or they have a high volume of work and not enough
- 18:42staff, so they're using AI as a way to claw back time.
- 18:48It's not surprising to hear that, but it is a little heartbreaking.
- 18:53Can I say that?
- 18:54That we are still stuck in that scarcity mindset that I feel like has persisted
- 18:59in the field for quite a bit of time now.
- 19:01So hopefully as we emerge with these new tools,
- 19:05still staying people-centric but further empowered by the tools in front of them
- 19:10and a new way of thinking that can help us emerge out of that and thinking more
- 19:14abundantly on the whole.
- 19:17Were your assumptions before the survey in alignment with what you received or
- 19:21was there anything surprising that came out of the survey feedback?
- 19:26I expected a lot of skepticism, and I did see that,
- 19:30but ultimately what really stood out was how many people were curious
- 19:35or even excited. When we asked about general attitudes,
- 19:39we found that 50% more respondents expressed positive sentiment
- 19:44than skepticism. I was really excited and surprised to see that.
- 19:49That's surprising, but that's wonderful to hear.
- 19:53I love hearing people being open to the kind of next steps and evolution.
- 19:57I am curious if there was one top takeaway from the survey specifically,
- 20:02what would that be for you?
- 20:04I think ultimately what stood out to me was that really powerful tension.
- 20:08People are desperate for more time and support,
- 20:11and they do see AI as a potential solution,
- 20:15but they're also holding these real concerns about what makes arts human.
- 20:20So there's a tension that we have to navigate about getting the most
- 20:24value out of something,
- 20:26but also being true to your values and your mission.
- 20:30How do you think the marketing use cases align beyond
- 20:35nonprofit arts and culture?
- 20:36So obviously we've talked about resources and I think we've always been
- 20:41aware of,
- 20:42is there a lag in nonprofit marketing culture versus corporate marketing
- 20:46culture? And that's naturally going to happen just because of scale,
- 20:50but do you think there are other reasons for differences between those
- 20:53industries or do you think it's more similar than we think?
- 20:56Yeah,
- 20:57so you mentioned the 2025 State of Marketing AI
- 21:02Report earlier,
- 21:03and I did use that to kind of see where our sector fell compared
- 21:08to general marketers, and three things really stood out to me.
- 21:13The first is that general marketers have more guardrails.
- 21:17We found that 38% of them work at companies with formal AI
- 21:21policies,
- 21:22and that compares to just 14% in our art focused survey.
- 21:27That's a really big gap in organizational readiness.
- 21:31The second thing I noticed is that each group is worried about a very different
- 21:36kind of risk.
- 21:38While arts marketers are focused on mission risk and protecting that
- 21:42authentic brand identity,
- 21:45general marketers are more concerned with competitive risk,
- 21:49being left behind by the rapid pace of change and the threat of job
- 21:53displacement. But interestingly,
- 21:56they both share the same practical barrier.
- 21:59Despite the different anxieties,
- 22:01both groups call out lack of education and training as one of the
- 22:06biggest hurdles to successful adoption.
- 22:09It's really interesting to hear just that difference in the
- 22:14ethics values piece. Again, something assumed,
- 22:17but I think having the data back it up makes a lot of sense.
- 22:21But we all suffer when we aren't getting the grounding and education that we
- 22:26need to move things forward in a sophisticated, thoughtful,
- 22:30and meaningful way for our companies and our field.
- 22:33So it's exciting that we now have this data.
- 22:36And that kind of leads me to the big question, which is,
- 22:39you've processed this survey data, so tell us what's next. What should folks,
- 22:44no matter where they are on an org chart, what should they be thinking about?
- 22:47How are they empowering themselves as they work to empower their organization?
- 22:52There are a bunch of things, but the ones that really rise to the top, again,
- 22:57everyone across both our survey and the general marketing survey
- 23:01called out lack of training and education. So AI literacy,
- 23:07understanding what these tools are, what they can actually do,
- 23:11and figuring out how they can help you with your specific role.
- 23:15You don't need to be a tech expert,
- 23:17but you do need to understand enough to be a critical, confident user.
- 23:22I also think it's important to remember that you are the expert.
- 23:26AI is a really powerful technology,
- 23:30but you own the input and you review the output.
- 23:34Being the expert in your field gives you that advantage,
- 23:38even working with AI as a partner.
- 23:41But also because we're in the arts,
- 23:43I think those guardrails are really important.
- 23:46So if your company doesn't have a policy in place,
- 23:50I recommend pushing for that so that you understand what's comfortable both for
- 23:54you and the organization that you're working in.
- 23:58I think the policy piece is so important,
- 24:00and I'll just share that that is something that last summer at the Center we
- 24:05started working on,
- 24:06and I think the reason I would also advocate for that is that it was a good way
- 24:10to also bring people together from different parts of the organization.
- 24:13So we had committed to,
- 24:15it wasn't going to be a policy that was driven only through the IT department or
- 24:19only through the executive team.
- 24:21It was going to be an IT policy that was crafted by participants and
- 24:26stakeholders from across the organization so that we could really imbue the
- 24:29values, not just for one particular type of usage,
- 24:33so not just for marketing or development,
- 24:34but also incorporating some of those artistic values and tent poles that we
- 24:39wanted to see driving policy as well.
- 24:41So definitely share that encouragement for the field that folks should be as a
- 24:45team working together towards what that looks like.
- 24:48Yeah. Well,
- 24:49it makes me think about how we thought about the AI vision for
- 24:54Capacity Interactive.
- 24:56I obviously did the first draft of the policy and I was really
- 25:00conscious about grounding it in Capacity's mission.
- 25:04But rather than kind of take that first draft and say, 'Okay,
- 25:07here we go,' I sent a survey out to the entire internal team
- 25:12to get their thoughts and feedback on,
- 25:14what in this policy aligns with your beliefs?
- 25:17What do you agree with? What do you disagree with?
- 25:21And it did a couple of things. First,
- 25:24it meant that everybody had input,
- 25:28and it ultimately gave us a stronger,
- 25:30better policy that we can all get behind.
- 25:34That's right. Always better to have more minds than just one, right?
- 25:38That's always a way to win.
- 25:40So we've talked a little bit about what you think folks' immediate next steps
- 25:43should be in terms of literacy and policymaking for their organizations.
- 25:48As you read the survey results,
- 25:50what did you then decide to start working on for the field in this role at
- 25:54Capacity?
- 25:56Yeah,
- 25:57it really helped me think through two direct offerings to arts
- 26:01and culture marketers. Really administrators.
- 26:05I say marketers because I'm a marketer,
- 26:07but this offering is for anyone in the artistic world.
- 26:11One is a full consultancy and that really is the
- 26:16chance for me to come in and help make sure everyone is up to speed
- 26:21on literacy, help you shape your policy,
- 26:24we do a full evaluation of what the opportunities
- 26:28are -- again, those day-to-day tactical opportunities and those bigger
- 26:33goal-driven opportunities --
- 26:36to output a list of 10 to
- 26:4075 opportunities that all get tied to business impact,
- 26:45prioritized, agreed upon, and then implemented. We also have,
- 26:49for people not quite ready for that level of engagement or commitment,
- 26:54a toolkit.
- 26:56And that toolkit is available directly in ChatGPT
- 27:01on our landing page. Once you sign up, there's links to each tool,
- 27:05and once you click and open it from that point on,
- 27:08it will be directly in ChatGPT where you use it. These
- 27:13tools offer a myriad of different opportunities. Things like,
- 27:18I don't know what my call to action should be.
- 27:21Here's the one I've used in the last 15 times I sent an email.
- 27:25What can I try this time? And you can iterate on it.
- 27:29So unlike a standard tool that outputs one thing,
- 27:34you can then guide it based on tone, based on length,
- 27:37based on a myriad of different things,
- 27:40and we're going to continue to expand the toolkit and hold regular AMAs
- 27:45so that people can ask me questions and I can help them with anything that they
- 27:49need.
- 27:50It's so interesting.
- 27:51I'm excited to see more folks adopt those and what the outputs are.
- 27:56I heard you mention the other day that you were working on a project with San
- 27:59Francisco Symphony about voice and tone,
- 28:02and I'd love for you to share a little bit about that.
- 28:05I was very excited when you were talking about this.
- 28:08Yeah, I think it's a great example of a custom project.
- 28:12So the San Francisco Symphony has done some work with our content team
- 28:17around best practices and tone of voice for their brand.
- 28:22So I have this amazing output,
- 28:25which is a voice and tone guide for the San Francisco Symphony.
- 28:30So what I've done is I have built a custom GPT
- 28:34specifically for the San Francisco Symphony.
- 28:38This tool knows everything about the Symphony's brand and tone,
- 28:43and within that document is also 11 target audiences that
- 28:48the organization should be speaking to regularly.
- 28:51This is so cool.
- 28:53It's really cool. So in addition to knowing the brand and tone
- 28:58of the organization, it understands marketing placements,
- 29:02so it knows what an organic Facebook post is.
- 29:05It knows what an email blast is,
- 29:07it knows what a web blurb is.
- 29:10So the people at the organization can go into the tool and do one of two things.
- 29:15They can click a button and say, okay, I want you to write me copy.
- 29:19You share background and context.
- 29:22It asks you if you have a target audience.
- 29:25It asks you what the platform is,
- 29:27and then it creates the copy for that specific placement or
- 29:32all of the placements. You can say, I want every placement you have,
- 29:36or if you have something that you've already written and you want feedback to
- 29:41make sure that aligns with the voice and the tone and speaks to the right
- 29:44audience, you can click give me feedback. You can share what you've written,
- 29:49what the platform is, what the target audience is,
- 29:53and it will give you all the details on,
- 29:55here are some things that are working really well,
- 29:57here are some things that you might want to consider and here's why.
- 30:01I mean, that's exactly the type of thing, and as you said at the end,
- 30:05it still will come from humans reviewing the output and making sure that
- 30:09everything's in alignment,
- 30:11but what a nice efficiency and kind of that middle sector of doing some of the
- 30:16churning through the work to make sure that everything's in alignment for the
- 30:19technical needs too.
- 30:20Yeah, I like to think about them as accelerators. So I teach you how to prompt.
- 30:25You could prompt everything I build you fresh each time,
- 30:29but rather than thinking through all the needs of a prompt,
- 30:33I get to build these tools that accelerate the process.
- 30:37You understand how they work, you know what it knows,
- 30:40and then you add the piece that it needs to do the thing.
- 30:43I love that.
- 30:45What generally is one common myth or misconception about AI,
- 30:50particularly AI in marketing, that you love to just bust and say,
- 30:55that's just not the case.
- 30:57It's just been perpetuated by people saying it over and over again.
- 31:01This is an easy one.
- 31:04The myth that I want to bust is that if everyone uses AI,
- 31:08all marketing will sound the same.
- 31:11The survey shows us that our field is already deeply concerned with brand
- 31:16voice and authenticity.
- 31:18So this is where your expertise is more critical than ever.
- 31:22If you use lazy prompts without a clear perspective or knowledge of your
- 31:27audience, you will get a generic response.
- 31:31But if your inputs are thoughtful, it will generate nuanced,
- 31:35non-generic outputs. The tool doesn't replace your expertise,
- 31:40it amplifies it. So if you're feeling overwhelmed,
- 31:43just remember the data shows that you're not alone.
- 31:47Almost everyone is at the starting line.
- 31:50Just be thoughtful and try something.
- 31:53Evaluate what you get back and just try again. Keep on going.
- 31:58Remember this: Try. Right? That's what we're going for here.
- 32:03Well, before we get to our CI to Eye moment,
- 32:06I would love to just take a culture pulse with you for a quick second.
- 32:11One of the things that I've talked about coming on the podcast this season and
- 32:15hosting and introducing folks into the Capacity Interactive world and vice
- 32:20versa is also just finding joy in what we're doing, what we're learning,
- 32:25and what each of us might be identifying with at the moment.
- 32:28So I have a few quickfire culture questions for you.
- 32:31The very first of which is:
- 32:34what's one piece of culture that you're currently obsessing over?
- 32:39Well, my answer is Monster from the Broadway version of Frozen because my
- 32:43three-year-old owns the dial and she is well on her way to
- 32:48being an arts and culture fan.
- 32:50So that's obsessing by proxy, right?
- 32:52She is obsessing over it and therefore you are forced to obsess over it.
- 32:56But I will say my favorite piece of theater that I've seen recently is
- 33:00definitely, it was just at the Donmar Warehouse,
- 33:04and I think it was called The Fear of 13.
- 33:07It was fantastic. Adrian Brody was in it,
- 33:11and it followed a court case that I was not familiar with.
- 33:14So not only did it have a really engaging, interesting story,
- 33:19but the way in which the story was told was extremely unique,
- 33:24and I was hooked from the beginning and in it the whole time.
- 33:28Sounds amazing. Who or what is inspiring you right now?
- 33:33I'm going to pick a company, the company Punch Drunk.
- 33:36I'm a really big fan of Sleep No More. I saw it when it first came to New York,
- 33:41and I recently saw Viola's Room.
- 33:44They are really masters at turning passive audiences
- 33:48into active explorers, and I'm here for it.
- 33:52Love that answer. Okay.
- 33:54What is one free resource that you think everyone would benefit from
- 33:59checking out?
- 34:01Anthropic's AI Fluency course. It was released about a month ago,
- 34:05and it is the clearest, most ethics-first primer that I've seen.
- 34:11Great. I'm going to Google that right after this. Okay, and here it is,
- 34:16your CI to Eye moment.
- 34:17If you could broadcast one message to executive directors, leadership teams,
- 34:23staffs,
- 34:24boards of directors across thousands of arts organizations,
- 34:28what would that message be?
- 34:30AI isn't a threat to your mission.
- 34:33It's the next chapter of your toolkit.
- 34:36Train your team in ethical AI usage to find efficiency at the
- 34:41tactical and strategic level.
- 34:44Well said, and taken to heart. Thank you so much, Jen Taylor,
- 34:49for your time today.
- 34:50Thank you for having me.
- 35:02Thank you for listening to CI to Eye with Monica Holt.
- 35:05If you enjoyed today's conversation,
- 35:07please take a moment to rate us or leave a review.
- 35:10A nice comment goes a long way in helping other people discover the show and
- 35:14hear from leaders in the arts and beyond. If you haven't already,
- 35:18please click the subscribe button wherever you get your podcasts.
- 35:21We've got some pretty incredible episodes coming your way,
- 35:23and I wouldn't want you to miss them.
- 35:25This episode was edited and produced by Karen McConarty and co-written by
- 35:30Karen McConarty and myself, Monica Holt.
- 35:33Stephanie Medina and Jess Berube are our incredible designers and video editors.
- 35:38Our music is by whoisuzo.
- 35:40Don't forget to follow CI on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube,
- 35:45and TikTok for regular content to help you market smarter.
- 35:49You can also sign up for CI's newsletter at capacityinteractive.com and you'll
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- 35:56and you can always reach out to let us know who you'd like to hear next from on
- 36:00CI to Eye.