Pearls: Guts & Gusto
By Dan Ayer, Co-Founder, Oyster Creative Co.
We know it took gusto, guts and a little bit of a loose screw to be the first person to look at a raw oyster and say “Yea, I’ll eat that.”
It takes those same guts to bring a great idea to life.
Ok, I cheated. I stole this line directly from our website. But for this story, it’s needed (you can’t plagiarize yourself, right?).
Last week, we attended the PRSA Pittsburgh (Public Relations Society of America) Renaissance Awards and were recognized as one of three finalists for Best in Show.
This is not a humble brag post.
But it’s also not, not a humble brag.
So, why am I writing this blog?
Because it took guts for the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council to say yes to the Restart the Arts campaign.
The Arts Council represents hundreds of local artists and venues. We partnered with them to determine how to let Pittsburghers know the arts community was getting back to business after pandemic shutdowns.
We did the only logical thing we could think of: Told them to rent a truck and give out free ice cream.
They could have told us to pound salt. But they took a shot on a bit of a crazy idea. They were the ones with guts and gusto.
During the month of September we filled our freezers, readied our performers and hit the streets with the Artsmobile. It was a chance for local artists to safely share their talents and get people excited about safely returning to the Arts — in person.
Through these efforts we were able to reach more than 10 million people — full disclosure, not all of them got free ice cream.
It was a campaign we’re very proud of to have our names attached to.
So to the crazy folks at the Arts Council: Mitch, Kristen, Mia, Sarah and Dek, in particular, thanks for making a pearl with us.
