Contact Jane Doe
615-###-####

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:


Dancers and Other Performers Put Their Hearts Into Tsunami Benefit


NASHVILLE, TN, February 2005 - Nashville area belly dancers, in coordination with dancers across the United States, will present a performance to benefit tsunami relief efforts. Titled Dance from the Heart, the benefit will take place Friday, February 25, 2005 at the Darkhorse Theatre. Dance from the Heart will include performances from several Nashville belly dancers as well other performances, including music and storytelling.

Dance from the Heart is a nationally coordinated effort to raise funds to benefit victims of the South Asian tsunami. Dancers across the United States will be presenting performances throughout the month of February as well as organizing other fundraising efforts to donate to the charities that are working to provide relief in the areas hardest hit. Dancers in Nashville will hold a silent auction at the Center for Global Education at 4822 Charlotte Avenue at 6:30 pm on February 25. Participants will get the chance to bid in the auction, obtain information about the charities, and meet some of the performers. The performance will be following the auction, at 8:00 pm at the Darkhorse Theatre at 4610 Charlotte Avenue. All proceeds from the event will go directly to fund tsunami relief efforts through the following organizations: The World Health Organization (through the Pan American Health Organization), CARE, and Mercy Corps.

Tickets to the dance performance will be ten dollars, but any additional donations will be both welcome and appreciated. For more information about the auction and performance, contact Laura Medeiros at 615-###-#### or visit www.xeniaraqs.us/benefit. For more information about the Dance from the Heart movement, visit their website at www.dancefromtheheart.org.

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Hi Claire,
Part of my RL job is to send out press releases for the activities I conduct at work. I've posted a sample "bellydancey" press release below (and the one you already have is great too). I do mine slightly differently from the example already given and can tell you that we get lots of newspaper/air time (we average one to three stories a month). NOTE! This is not for belly dance :) Unfortunately for that papers tend to run a story once a year or so, maybe more, but if you build a relationship with a reporter or two they're great at helping you out when you need a promotional favor. Also, here's my "cheat sheet" for anyone that does this when I'm not about in terms of things to remember (with notes in () for you as far as dance goes):

Writing press releases:
* Be sure to know your press schedule! In Manatee County, all papers want events no later than 2 weeks in advance of the actual activity. (if you haven't done so already, I'd check with your papers to see what their deadlines might be...you may be sending out releases long after they'd normally need them)
* Television and radio accept press releases, too.
* Remember to check newspaper websites - many of the papers now use the web in order to submit community classes (our papers have a "community calendar" and this is what I use for my classes, performances, etc. frequently other writers will look at these and may pull an "interesting" story if they see on)
* Keep it short, sweet, and simple. Reporters do not really want to wade through tons of extraneous information.

Here's our format:

PRESS RELEASE: BELLYPALOOZA (in bold and a larger font....so 16-18 if everything else was in 12)

May 11, 2008 - Swords, snakes, shimmies, and sequins! Bellydance by Claire transports you to faraway lands with an exotic evening of Oriental Dance. (descriptive byline and date release is sent...your choice on what you want to use here, but I frequently suggest using something catchy...remember, reporters go through thousands of press releases - make your's stand out! this is in normal size font and unbold)

Bellydance by Claire, Ameera, Godzilla, and Sassy Fancy Pants join forces to bring San Franciso an exciting belly dance performance piece! (I usually indent and bold this. If the upper byline is ridiculously descriptive and, as my first marketing coach would say, "sexy," this is a bit more tame and actually explains what's going on)

(This is where the actual body of the press release occurs. Describe event details, the "who, what, where, when, why, and how. Typcially I *start* with the date, time, and place in the first paragraph with each of these bolded. Then I follow with general information. At the end paragraph I restate contact and date, time, place in bold once again. Oh, and bold = just those individual items, not the entire sentence).

last thing: My website in italic on the bottom.