Client: Snow City Arts
Project: Messaging for Virtual Learning
Date: July 26, 2021
1. Snow City Arts Project Team
Snow City Arts
Carrie Spitler, Executive Director: Consults to Project
Dan Kerr-Hobert, Program Director: Decision Maker
Jess Leonard, Virtual Learning Manager: Project Lead, Decision Maker
Danielle Patterson, Development & Communications Associate: Consults to Project, Implements Post Project
Joe Schramm, Board Member: Consults to Project
2. Company Background
Organizational History: Each year, 40,000 children and youth miss school due to hospital stays. Snow City Arts (SCA) uses the arts to bridge the education gap faced by these children and youth. SCA works at three hospital locations: Rush University Medical Center, the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, and Children’s Hospital University of Illinois. SCA’s seven professional Teaching Artists in visual arts, filmmaking, creative writing, music, and theater work in close partnership with administrative leadership to build and deliver a holistic, rigorous, and standards-based arts curriculum that can be easily differentiated to meet each student’s unique needs and interests. Resultant learning is thoroughly documented in a custom-built database and when releases are signed by parents, documentation and art portfolios are sent to a child’s home school so that teachers may consider awarding credit, featuring work on a bulletin board, or other recognition.
Marketing Specific: SCA undertook a broad marketing/branding project in 2010, which included a new logo, letterhead, brochure, and website. Since that time, little attention has been paid to marketing and branding due to a few leadership changes. Most recently, SCA convened a marketing retreat in late 2015 to evaluate the organization’s brand positioning. SCA set a goal in its strategic plan and through a partnership with The Chicago Community Trust’s SMART growth program to bring marketing back into focus and set a course for advancement. SCA’s last full Marketing Plan was produced in 2016 and implemented through 2019.
Impact of Covid-19: In 2020, SCA deviated from its Strategic Planning goal to generate a new Marketing Plan–and other goals–to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. Like many others, we shifted our work to virtual offerings and worked diligently to fulfill our mission. A summary of our Virtual Learning efforts are
detailed in the below SCA Virtual Learning Overview. As a part of SCA’s shift to virtual learning, we have, for the first time, initiated partnership conversations with organizations outside of healthcare. As a result, SCA is seeking to broaden our messaging and delivery methods to engage new audiences.
3. Project Overview
SCA initiated Virtual Learning as a new service line in 2020 and into 2021. We have been awarded grant funding to explore and determine if SCA should retain Virtual Learning as a service area going forward. We currently imagine our virtual work might include:
Engaging current and former SCA students once they return home from the hospital
Partnering with other healthcare institutions outside of Chicago such as a rural hospitals or a hospital with technology infrastructure already in place to reach their pediatric population
Partnering with agencies outside of healthcare to engage children and youth in transition such as the juvenile probation system or a program for young people who are experiencing homelessness
We have learned over the last year that our traditional model of working with young people in hospitals has left us without expertise about how to talk about ourselves to recruit potential participants either through direct marketing or by leveraging our partners. SCA seeks a support to:
Hone messaging about virtual learning to current and former students who are out of the hospital;
Develop a social media campaign to engage current and former students (implementation will done by Snow City Arts); and
Develop a recruitment package of key messages and materials that new partners can utilize to interest and engage their constituencies in our arts learning opportunities.
4. Deliverables needed
Key Messages related to Virtual Learning recruitment of current and former students for use on SCA’s website, email, and print collateral
Social Media Campaign designed specifically to reach current and former students, their families, their teachers, and social workers
Marketing Package for new partners including key messages that might be used for email templates, short videos, and print collateral
5. Areas of work outside of Scope
Rebranding
Website redesign
Branding of Virtual Tools
Design of materials
6. Positioning
SCA is unique in the Chicago area with our focus on arts education for children and youth in pediatric hospitals. However, we do compete with our in-hospital peers for attention, funds, and physical space. In the broader funding world, we are seen as filling a unique gap, but our in-hospital placement and our inability to service children for a consistent, set period of time makes us exceptions to how most arts education organizations function. SCA is unique among our national peers in the Arts in Health field in that our focus is on arts learning or arts education. SCA’s artists are on our staff and have set days and hours–we see this as a firm commitment to artists and as demonstrating our focus on education. Further, we provide consistent and regular professional development for our team. SCA has a Theory of Change, Assessment Tools, and Best Practices. SCA began its Racial Equity journey in 2017 and is a current and active cohort member of Enrich Chicago.
SCA’s shift to Virtual Learning in 2020 has opened up new opportunities for partnership as we consider how we might engage more young people. We are seeking to position ourselves as an organization steeped in interventions and disruptions that bring joy and creativity to standards-based arts-learning with a sensitivity to trauma-informed program design, an emphasis on student-driven engagement, and a dedication and sophistication to privacy.
7. Audience
Current and former students/patients, their families, their teachers, and social workers
Young people in situations or moments of transition such as youth who are justice-involved
Young people spending time in technology-forward hospitals outside of Chicago
8. Budget
SCA has budgeted $10,000 for the scope of this project.
9. Schedule
Proposal Submission Deadline: August 29, 2021 @ 5:00 PM
Consultant Interviews between: September 20-24, 2021
Consultant selected: By October 1, 2021
Project Initiated: October 15, 2021
Status Check Ins: Every other week
Deliverables: February 18, 2022
Drafts: January 15, 2022 1 for staff (2 revisions)
Presentation: Joint Program and Expansion Committee
Project Close: Feb 28, 2022
10. Terms and Conditions
All information received by supplier in connection with this RFP is the confidential property of Snow City Arts.
Supplier may not use, disclose, or duplicate this RFP for any purpose other than preparing a response as requested in this document without obtaining SCA’s prior written consent. Supplier shall keep SCA’s data confidential and prevent its disclosure to any other party. Further, supplier shall restrict the disclosure of this RFP and SCA’s data to those of supplier’s employees who have a need to know. Unless supplier has SCA’s prior written permission, it will not 1) associate supplier’s products or services with SCA or SCA’s operations, or 2) represent to anyone that SCA has employed or endorsed supplier’s products or services.
SCA has issued this RFP to solicit bids from potential suppliers for a comprehensive solution to the requirements as outlined in this document. Only the execution of a written contract will obligate SCA in accordance with the terms and conditions contained in such contract.
Suppliers must disclose actual or potential conflicts of interest and discuss them with SCA’s management. Any activity that is approved, despite the actual or apparent conflict, must be documented.
All costs associated with the preparation of a Proposal or contract in response to this RFP will be borne solely by the supplier. SCA does not assume responsibility or liability for any costs you may incur in responding to this RFP, including attending meetings, site visits or negotiations.
All Proposals shall remain the property of the Supplier.
Please note that SCA is not committed to any course of action as a result of its issuance of this RFP and/or its receipt of a Proposal from you or other companies in response to it. In particular, you should note that SCA may:
Award a contract in connection with this RFP at any time
Award only a portion of the contract
Negotiate with one or more companies
Not accept Proposals after the stated submission deadline
Not accept the lowest priced Proposal
Reject any or all Proposals
Verify Proposal information with supplier’s clients and prior personnel
11. Term of Validity
Your Proposal must remain valid for a period of 90 days after the Proposal submittal deadline set forth below.
12. Project Proposals and Deadline
Please provide the following in your proposal:
Company Information – Include name and full contact information of the organization/firm. Also include name, title, and email address of the company’s primary contact for this project.
History – Please provide a brief history of your organization. Include your areas of greatest expertise, along with a short list of previous or current clients.
Process – Please provide an overview of the proposed workflow and timeline
Relevant Experience – Please include details regarding work performed in the non-profit sector (specifically non-profit arts organizations), and include samples of relevant work, including one case-study that includes creative samples.
Key Staff – Please provide the names and relevant experience of staff to work on the project.
Schedule and Timeline – Proposal should include a schedule for the items listed in the Deliverables section of this RFP.
Cost – Proposal must include estimated cost for all work to be performed.
References – Proposal must include references from current or former clients.
Please inform Snow City Arts of your intent to bid by emailing Jess Leonard at [email protected]
Any questions or other inquiries from your company concerning this RFP must be submitted via e-mail to to Jess Leonard at [email protected]. Snow City Arts will compile all supplier questions regarding the RFP into a single document. Questions with answers will be e-mailed to all participants. Questions need to be submitted by end of business on Friday, August 6th.
DEADLINE – Proposal must be received electronically, at the address listed below, no later than 5pm on Sunday, August 29, 2021.
Please submit all proposals and relevant information to [email protected].
Snow City Arts is an equal opportunity employer. Snow City Arts is committed to building a culturally diverse and pluralistic team and vendor portfolio. ALAANA-owned and identified firms and individuals, trans and gender nonconforming people, people from poor and working-class backgrounds, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.