"But give me leave to try success": Goals and Achievements from 2010 to 2011

Yesterday, I served as the recorder for the ASC's strategic planning meeting, which meant I had the privilege of listening in on several of our department heads and board members as they decided how we want to most focus our company's efforts. Between that and the expected slew of New Year's Resolutions I've been seeing around the Internet, I've been thinking a lot about goals and planning. I've been with the ASC for just over six months now, so this seems as good a time as any to look back and see what I've done so far as a part of the ASC Education team.

2010 Achievements

• New study guides. When I came on in June, I took this project over from Christina, who had already started us down the new road. These guides were my first project at the ASC, and I'm ridiculously proud of them -- they're so much more directed towards our mission than the earlier generations of guides were, and they're designed to help teachers get the students on their feet so they can explore the plays as they were meant to be experienced.
  
• The Playhouse Insider. This is a huge thing, because we've never done something quite like this before. I'm so pleased with how it turned out -- the articles are great (thank you, contributors!), the layout is beautiful, and there's so much room for growth.
  
• Growth of the blog -- That's right, this blog. We now get almost 900 hits a month, and that average is rising all the time. So thanks for reading, everyone! I'm so glad to have you all here.
  
• Increased confidence in leading workshops, seminars, etc. I've gone from basically shadowing Sarah to feeling capable of developing and leading workshops on my own, and it's been a blast. Whether it's talking to high school students or retirees in the Road Scholars program, I make new discoveries each time I have the opportunity to share Shakespeare with a new group.
  
• Tracking web mentions of the company. This project is ongoing, but I've been using Google Alerts to let me know whenever someone out there in the 'tubes is talking about the American Shakespeare Center and the Blackfriars Playhouse. It's been fascinating to see where we get mentioned (it's a great way to keep track of our touring troupe, for one thing!), and it's also made sure that I get to see what people are saying about us in blogs and reviews from outside the Shenandoah region.
  
• I've learned how to use Google Docs. This program has made such a huge difference to how education has been able to build documents, refine language, and otherwise communication.
  
• Twitter presence. Brand-new for the ASC this year, the whole education department got on Twitter back in the summer. I currently have 53 followers from all over the US and the UK, and the whole experience has been wonderful so far.
  
• Facebook growth -- Together with the marketing and development teams, we've seen steady and significant growth in our "likes" and followers on our Facebook page over the past six months. I use Facebook a lot to redirect to our website or to this blog, and it's definitely increased traffic.
  

Not bad for six months, I think. I'm feeling particularly pleased because so many of the projects under my purview contribute to one of the company's main strategic goals, of enhancing our company's visibility in the world at large. ASC Education had a great year overall in 2010 -- our summer programs were nearly at capacity, we had thousands of students in for school matinees, our seminars and Little Academes all went so well -- the whole department has a lot to celebrate.

So, with those things achieved, or at least put into action, where do I want to be by this time next year? Here are my professional goals for my work in ASC Education in 2011 -- things I'd like to improve on, expand, or achieve.

2011 Goals

• 6 new study guides in enhanced format. With help from the rest of the education team, I'll be building guides this year for Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry V, Richard III, Much Ado about Nothing, and Julius Caesar, and ideally, I'd like them all in the spiffy format our Othello guide was in this year.
  
• Online resources for students. Our study guides, as they are, are geared towards teachers; we'd like to re-purpose some of those activities and to build some new projects that we can put out on the web to help students who are looking for resources on Shakespeare.
  
• Expand The Playhouse Insider. I'm so excited about this project, and I want to make it even better in 2011. More articles, more world-class scholars as contributors, and, hopefully, a wider readership.
  
• Read the Complete Middleton. Okay, this goal isn't strictly professional, but I've had the Middleton Complete Works since last Christmas, and I've only cracked it open a few times. This year, I want to read as many of his plays as I can -- especially since the ASC has started producing so many of them.
  
• More Twitter followers -- I'd love to break 100, at the least.
  
• Continued growth of blog popularity -- Since we went from practically zero to 900 views per month in just the last five months of last year, I'm going to aim for 2000 views a month by the end of 2011.
  
• Use all of these social media connections to further relationships with other Shakespeare organizations, both in the US and internationally.
  
• Host a successful Blackfriars Conference. This is obviously far from my sole responsibility, but ASC Education will be busy with this through much of the year. I want the conference to run as smoothly as possible, for all of our visiting scholars and other participants to enjoy themselves, and for everyone to learn a little something and come away with some new ideas.
  

I think it's going to be a great year. We in ASC Education have so many exciting plans and things we want to make happen, and we definitely have the drive to get to our goals. I love working with Sarah, Christina, Doreen, and our interns, and I'm looking forward to getting to know the interns that will be starting in January, as well as newest team member Tom, who's recently come on to help with our summer programming.

How about you folks? Any Shakespeare-related resolutions? I know there are several reading challenges floating out on the Internet, or maybe you've set a personal goal. Share, if you have -- I'd love to hear about it!