Monday, April 11, 2016

Street Activation- It’s a thing!

Activating streets. 

It is so great to see a community supporting each other and local businesses in the area. It has been an eye opening experience to be a part of a local magazine that does just that.

I have gained so much insight and understanding to the strategies involved into making a Street more unique and community driven. By applying my self in this area, it has reinforced why I love this aspect of Public Relations.

If you don’t know already Beaufort Street is a little hub for dining, entertainment, lifestyle and retail. Beyond that, one may not realise that there are small and local businesses meeting the everyday needs of locals. From Doctors to Hardware stores, Accountants to Lawyers; my role as social media personnel for Oh Hello Beaufort Magazine has allowed me to explore all kinds of businesses on the Street and remind our audience they exist. 

The Magazine liaises with another community driven network called the Beaufort Street Network that makes decisions to better the Street and bring all the locals together. I have had to send emails to members of the Network in order to gather information to curate social media posts about specific strategies. Introducing yourself as an intern to a board member can be pretty daunting! Especially when you are representing an organisation or someone else. For example, you might be very conscious about what you say, try to come across professional and check/ re- check to make sure you have correct email etiquette. I sometimes forget the ‘learning’ part of the experience and feel like I should just ‘know’; but the truth is- if you're never out of your comfort zone, then you will never learn!


All in all, it has been a great experience learning about the effort and strategies put in place to make a Street more than just a street and how my role has played a part in that. From the murals to the seats, window displays and alleyways, these details for me have much more meaning in their contribution to the character of Beaufort Street and my experience throughout my internship has taught me that. 

Click A Better Beaufort Action Plan  to see the document created by the Beaufort Street Network with all the strategies to better the Street. The pictures below are some I had taken in reference to the Better Beaufort Action Plan and the social media post I had to do for the Magazine. 


These are Way Finding Stamps to direct pedestrians to local sites, amenities and transport on the Street.


Seats and Shades for the community. 

1 comment:

Unknown said...

What an interesting place to do your internship Isabella! Would you be interested in working in a communications role for a local shire or city? You seem very passionate about the community development aspect of Oh Hello Beaufort Street.

I had a similar awkward experience in my internship where I ended up making small talk with the organisation's CEO at a morning tea because we were the only people not already part of a conversation- wasn't sure if I should be more formal or just act like he was a regular part of the team. These are the things they can't teach you in uni!