Content Type: Events (Calendar)

Overview of the calendar

The calendar is the central listing of VCUarts events on the website. Events published on the calendar will appear on both the main calendar and in any feed associated with an events tag.

Main Calendar

Events Feed block

Submissions to the calendar can be made by both public, non-website editors and website editors though the process is different depending on the user.

Calendar Content Governance Guidelines

Approved events

Events listed on the calendar must be organized, sponsored or affiliated with VCUarts. All events must have a contact person and email listed.

Editorial criteria

The calendar’s audience consists of the VCUarts community (students, faculty and staff) and supporters of VCUarts—those that attend performances, lectures and exhibitions.

Events listed on the calendar must be open to the VCUarts community and/or the public.

Review and approval

Events on the VCUarts calendar are approved by calendar editors, with access for those editors maintained by the VCUarts Communications Office. Ultimately, the VCUarts Communications Office reserves to right to approve, edit or reject events. Please submit events two weeks in advance to allow time for editors to approve.

Questions

For questions about this policy or best practices please contact the VCUarts Communications Office.

How to submit an event (public, non-website editor)

For users without access to the website, event submissions are handled through our community submission form: https://arts.vcu.edu/events/community/add

The form is fairly straightforward but please note some of the best practices listed on the form, including tips for writing a good event description and the recommended event image specs.

Watch a video tutorial

How to create an event (website editor)

Website editors can create events without the need for moderation, unlike public users. This is done by selecting “add new” under “events” in the WordPress dashboard.

There are a few nuances to keep in mind when creating events.

1. Avoid using a print event poster as the event artwork. This is bad practice for a few reasons. The site displays landscape orientation images and posters are frequently portrait orientation so users may see content that is illegible, particularly when the website scales the featured image into a feed. In addition, text on images does not pass accessibility compliance tests. If you do not have any alternative images available, please contact the Communications Office two weeks in advance of the event and we can search for options from our library.

2. Often VCUarts hosts ongoing exhibitions with an opening and/or closing reception. In this case, we recommend creating three separate events: (1) exhibition, (2) opening reception, (3) closing reception.

3. All events on the calendar must have an end time specified. By default we set these to two hours unless we can confirm otherwise.

4. Please ignore the following fields (Event Fields > Audience), (Event Options > Hide from events listing, sticky in month view, feature event), (tags). These should not be selected.

Required fields

• Title
  • Should be succinct, descriptive and avoid any uncommon acronyms.
• Description
  • This should include a full description of the event. Basic formatting is available in this field including bold, italics, ordered and unordered lists and hyperlinks.
• Time and date
  • All events must have a start and end time. For ongoing events, (such as an exhibition) select “all day event” and select a start date and end date.
• Location
  • Choose a venue to have a link to Google Maps display on the event page. If the event is virtual, do not select a venue and uncheck “show map” and “show map link.”
• Organizer
  • All events must have an organizer and they should be associated with VCUarts. Please contact the Communications Office if the correct organizer is not listed.
• Event Category
  • This is used to simultaneously categorize an event on the calendar and to feed similarly categorized events into the “short event list” block throughout the website.
• Featured image
  • Image Size: 1183×573px
  • Image Format: JPEG, PNG, GIF(supports animated gif)

Optional Fields

• Event website
  • This can be a link to an external event listing or destination to purchase tickets.
• Additional event fields (name, email)
  • These are not displayed publicly but are helpful for VCUarts website editors to know who to contact with questions regarding a submission.
• Event cost
  • For free events, leave blank. On the public facing event a CTA box will display “more information.”
  • For paid events, enter your ticket price. On the public facing event a CTA box will display “Tickets.”
• Event fields (show on home)
  • Select “show on home” for events that will appear on the main event feed on the arts.vcu.edu homepage.
  • Audience should be left blank. This does not complete any function on the website.

Watch a video tutorial on creating events