DANCENYC.

ORG UPGRADE - Request for Proposals Total Budget: Not to Exceed $25,000
Dance/NYC seeks a vendor to rebrand and upgrade its website, DanceNYC.org, and related media (e-mail). DanceNYC.org is the organizations primary promotional vehicle and is the primary promotional and management resource for dance makers in the metropolitan New York City area. It achieves Dance/NYCs mission of promoting and encouraging the knowledge, appreciation, practice, and performance of the art form. Dance/NYC works in alliance with Dance/USA, the national service organization for professional dance. DanceNYC.org drives audience engagement and provides critical promotional capacity to dance artists and institutions through calendar listings and low-cost ads. It supports management through aggregated information resources, including but not limited to field news, research, and information about professional development, volunteerism, employment, choreographic and performance opportunities. Regular e-communications, social media, and cross-promotional partnerships with Dance/USA and local service providers ensure a broad reach. DanceNYC.org serves and is steered by the dance artists and managers who upload activity and resource information onto the site. The website currently has approximately 3,000 registered users. The project will achieve a cosmetic redesign of DanceNYC.org and e-communications; and the upgrade of underlying technology and content management system (CMS), which is currently custom-build, using Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP, to maximize flexibility in future development. Unless otherwise stated, Dance/NYC aims to preserve all existing pages and functionality currently on the site, including but not limited to: search, calendar listings, advertising, social media integration, video, and a self- service model of user-generated content as well as the relative placement of all text. Primary objectives: to limit staff capacity required to update on-site pages, maintain and moderate user-generated content and ad sales, and deliver e-communications; to create an optimally userfriendly CMS environment for the sites registered users; to increase the total number, engagement level, and purchase activity of registered users; and to grow traffic and engagement with the site overall. Dance/NYC is prepared to eliminate underutilized functionality. The selected vendor will report directly to Dance/NYCs Operations Manager Milena Luna, who is supervised by Executive Director Lane Harwell, and will have access to the designer responsible for Dance/NYCs rebranding efforts. Applicants should submit confidential proposals to Ms. Luna at mluna@dancenyc.org no later than September 16, 2013, including relevant background, a schedule of deliverables, planning methodologies and tools based on the draft scope of work prepared below, proposed fee (broken down by phases of project), and terms of the vendors standard contractual agreement. An architectural overview and proposed enhancements are presented in detail, not to exaggerate the complexity of the project, but to avoid any potential miscommunication in the process. Dance/NYC plans to contract with a consultant by October 1, 2013. Its goal is to complete the project no later than March 1, 2013 (5 months). Project Lead: Milena Luna, mluna@dancenyc.org, (212) 966-4452.

DANCENYC.ORG EXISTING ARCHITECTURAL OVERVIEW The contents of this overview represent a best effort by Dance/NYC staff to represent the current architecture of DanceNYC.org and related media. A full site map for DanceNYC.org can also be found here: https://www.dancenyc.org/sitemap.php. The current website and content management system are custom-built, using Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. The current technology is not obfuscated, limited, or compiled in any way that would prevent Dance/NYC from seeking outside assistance as needed. Content on All Pages The same header, footer, organizational banner, and navigation bar exist on all pages. The header includes, in this order: Place Free Listings and Ads (link to internal page), Log-in (direct to CMS), Contact (link to internal page), and Donate (link to internal page), and features to Join our Mailing List, social media (Facebook, Twitter), and sign up for RSS Feeds. The organizational banner includes a search functionality icon. The footer includes, in this order: Privacy Policy (link to internal page), Terms of Use (link to internal page), Sitemap (link to internal page), Contact (link to internal page), and Place Free Listings and Ads (link to internal page). The relative positioning and the functionality of internal pages are adequate for the organizations current purposes. The navigation bar includes: Home About Section Horizontal drop down menu and pages for: Mission and Programs Staff Board & Advisors Funders Contact Donate Advocacy & Research Horizontal drop down menu and pages for: Advocacy (page detail below) Research (page detail below) Dance/NYC Events, linking to events page (page detail below) Opportunities and Resources Horizontal drop down menu for: Auditions page (page details below) Barter (hyperlink only) Choreographic Opportunities (page details below) Jobs and Internships (page details below) Volunteering (page details below) Spaces (hyperlink only) Legal (hyperlink only) News (page details below) Calendar, linking to calendar (page detail below) Bessies Horizontal drop down menu for: About the Bessies (page detail below) The Committee (page detail below) News (page detail below) Contact (page detail below)

Website Pages Detail Home Page (https://www.dancenyc.org). The home page also includes: rotating full (horizontally) screen features, with an images and text; news items* drawn from multiple pages; logos; and mission statement. Place Free Listings and Ads, Contact, Donate, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, Sitemap, and All About Pages. These pages uniformly provided an opportunity for Dance/NYC to include text, hyperlinks, and images. Advocacy. This page provides an opportunity for Dance/NYC to include text, hyperlinks, and images of its choosing, and links to news item pages,* organized by post dates (most recent first) (e.g., testimony). It includes search functionality. Research. This page provides an opportunity for Dance/NYC to include text, hyperlinks, and images of its choosing, and links to news item pages,* organized by post dates (most recent first) (specific research reports). It includes search functionality. Dance/NYC Events. This page provides an opportunity for Dance/NYC to include text, hyperlinks, and images of its choosing, and links to news item pages* for events, distinguishing upcoming and past events by event date. It includes search functionality. Auditions, Choreographic Opportunities, Jobs and Internships, Volunteering (Dance/NYC Listings Pages). These pages present chronological user-generated listings in consistent formats, organized by post date. They each include search functionality, and provide relevant links to the other pages of this type. News. This page presents chronological staff-generated news item pages organized by post date, and includes search functionality. These news item pages are standard in format and featured across multiple pages (See *). (Note: Dance/NYC has the ability to publish news item pages simultaneously across pages.) They provide an opportunity for Dance/NYC to embed video (currently Vimeo), include text, hyperlinks, and images of its choosing. They also include print, sharing, and download functionality and Facebook comment boxes. Calendar. This calendar includes content generated by registered users. Content includes and can be sorted by the following categories: Performances Classes & Workshops Professional Development Gala Advocacy Funding Premium registered users are also able to place unlimited dance calendar highlights (a pop-up window, image, and video). The calendar is also sortable by day, week, and month (currently presented in different formats). This well-trafficked page has additional search functionality, including the ability to search by month and year, and an ad placement (more on these below). It is a primary area of interest for the organization. Bessies Pages. Like the About pages above, the About the Bessies, The Committee, and Contact pages provide an opportunity to include text, hyperlinks, and images of its choosing. The Bessies News page follows the News page model above.

RSS Feeds Customizable RSS Feeds are available for content on DanceNYC.org, including Auditions, News, Events (of various categories) and Advocacy and Research. See https://www.dancenyc.org/custom-RSS.php for detail. E-mail Dance/NYC delivers e-communications to subscribers via Patron Technology (Patron Mail). Performance listings and ads created through the existing CMS automatically populate a Newsletter template in the CMS, which Dance/NYC transfers to Patron Technology. Dance/NYC has the ability to add additional content on its own, using the format of the ads. Dance/NYC is using Google Wallet for ad purchases but will shift to Patron Technology during this project. In addition to its weekly, newsletter it has e-mail templates for the following: Advocacy Alert Bulletin Invitation Bessies NEW YORKERS FOR DANCE Advertising Dance/NYC currently provides two advertising opportunities: an e-mail ad, and an ad package that includes an e-mail ad and rotating banner ads on the Dance/NYC home page, Calendar page. (See https://www.dancenyc.org/dance-nyc/ads-and-listings.php for additional detail on these options.) Additionally, it provides premium registration, which offers unlimited dance calendar highlights (a pop-up window, image, and video). Content Management System The current website and content management system (CMS) are custom-built, using Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. The CMS is used by both Dance/NYC staff and users who register through the CMS. Registered users are able to upload the following free listings calendar detail, auditions, choreographic opportunities, jobs and internships, volunteeringand ads. Registration and posting are monitored by Dance/NYC staff, which grant permissions. The CMS does not currently integrate with Dance/NYCs third party Customer Relationship Management provider Patron Technology, but Dance/NYC is able to export from the CMS and import into the CRM to ensure consistency. Third Party Provider(s) Patron Technology provides subscriptions to and delivery of e-communications, ticketing and donations functionality (and will provide ad functionality). Currently, when users register through DanceNY.org, their contact information is not automatically collected by Patron Technology (although that information can be exported from the CMS and imported into Patron Technology). Dance/NYC has been using Google Wallet to collect ad revenue and information. This information is not captured by Patron Technology, but will be in the future.

SCOPE OF WORK PROPOSED ENHANCEMENTS TO EXISTING ARCHITECTURE

Key Goals Dance/NYC seeks to achieve: a cosmetic redesign of DanceNYC.org and related media (e-mail); and an upgrade to underlying technologies, making use of open-source platforms to maximize flexibility in future development. Unless otherwise stated, the vendor will preserve all existing pages and functionality currently on the site, including but not limited to search, calendar listings, advertising, social media integration, video, and a self- service model of user-generated content as well as the relative placement of all text. The site should be mobile friendly and SEO ready. Design Considerations and Inspiration The redesign will align the site and related media with Dance/NYCs rebranding efforts and spotlight its NEW YORKERS FOR DANCE campaign, featuring video statements on why dance matters to the city. Visit YouTube.com/DanceNYCorg to follow the campaign and read more in The New York Times, Bringing New York City Dance Into the Limelight. Dance/NYC will expect to receive 3-5 design directions for Dance/NYCs consideration early in the process. The site and communications should have a clear, sleek, professional design, allow users to easily access key resources and content, and incorporate photos and imagery (including NEW YORKERS FOR DANCE) to visually represent Dance/NYCs mission. To support the vendor, Dance/NYC has created a style guide. The designer will also contribute to the design review process to ensure brand consistency. Home Page Considerations Dance/NYC requests a redesign of its rotating home page feature and sees an opportunity here for including NEW YORKERS FOR DANCE images that would hyperlink to its YouTube account, as well as select content boxes spotlighting key initiatives, or even advertisements. It imagines 46 boxes at a time that could rotate at a slow pace. To ensure the currency of news items, it would prefer to limit the number posted on the home page to approximately three and to add social media content (especially Twitter postings, approximately three) to highlight its activity in that space and encourage increased participation. The home page must include an ad banner, but Dance/NYC is open to rethinking the shape and nature of content (e.g., embedded video) (See Premium Registration below). The home page should include logos for Dance/USA and the Dance/NYC Junior Committee, with hyperlinks to their respective webpages. Dance/NYCs (now outdated) mission statement should be removed. As an additional feature, which may need to hold for future development if cost prohibitive, Dance/NYC would like to see a pop up box appear on the home page encouraging users to subscribe to its e-communications. For an example of our vision for the relative placement of news and social media, see www.danceusa.org. Navigation Bar Depending on its placement on the pages, Dance/NYC would prefer a perpendicular, rather than drop down, menu on the navigation bar to sub-tabs. It requests changes to the order of sub-tabs under the About Section (to Mission and Programs, Board and Advisors, Staff, Funders, Donate, Contact); the elimination of Opportunities & Resources, Calendar, and Bessies from the main navigation bar; and the creation of two new categories as follows: 1) Dance/NYC Listings Community Calendar Auditions Choreographic Opportunities Jobs and Internships Volunteering News 2) Partner Resources Bessies further sub-tabs to pages described in architecture

Spaces Fractured Atlas (hyperlink only) Crowdfunding a) Kickstarter/USA Projects - hyperlinks only - NEW Barter OurGoods (hyperlink only) (Capacity to add additional partnerships in a drop down menu is a major priority for future development.)

Calendar Page Enhancements The project will enhance the look, feel, and usability of the calendar and eliminate unused functionality. Dance/NYC is open to rethinking the presentation of this community calendarfor instance, in list format, with events presented chronologically and searchable by date. It is unnecessary to maintain past listings; and as Gala, Advocacy, and Funding event types are misused and under-listed by registered users, they may be removed. Dance/NYC is considering offering the current benefits of premium registration (a pop-up window, image, and video) or comparable benefits, to all users (See Premium Registration). All users should be able to add, edit, move, copy, resize, delete and filter events into customizable categories. Search Functionality (Possible Reduction) Although Dance/NYC recognizes the value of search functionality, the current tools do not work properly and it would be willing to forgo search functionality altogether (except on the calendar page, for calendar content) provided that the site is more easily navigable for users. Prior to making this determination, Dance/NYC will require further information about the opportunity to add functionality in later stages of development as content develops. Print and Download Functionality (Possible Reduction) Dance/NYC anticipates that the value of this functionality is diminishing for online users and would be willing to forgo its application to the next iteration of the site. (Possible Reductions are highlighted in anticipation of cost constraints.) Social Media Integration Dance/NYC desires to encourage users to engage with its online platforms and maintain prominent links to Join Our Mailing List, Twitter, and Facebook. It also wishes to maintain the ability for users to share news item pages and listings of all kinds. Further, it wishes to add social media from its platforms (Twitter) to the home page as described in Home Page Considerations above. Facebook comment boxes on news item pages are not well used, and requests removing that specific comment box functionality. RSS feeds (Possible Reduction) If there is sufficient evidence that the RSS feeds are not widely used, Dance/NYC would be willing to limit the RSS feeds available through its site. It would prioritize RSS feeds for calendar listings, especially Performance and Classes listings, so as to be able to act on the most viable of distribution partnerships. (Possible Reductions are highlighted in anticipation of cost constraints). E-mail Dance/NYC requests a cosmetic redesign of its e-communications to align not only with rebranding efforts, but the redesigned website. It anticipates the creation of 2-3 templates will be required, with interchangeable banners highlighting the relevant communication topic: e.g., Advocacy Alert, Bulletin, Invitation, Bessies, NEW YORKERS FOR DANCE, and Press Release. The current newsletter and NEW YORKERS FOR DANCE e-mail communications are the strongest examples of desired design and functionality required. Dance/NYC delivers ecommunications to subscribers via Patron Technology (Patron Mail). Desired functionality for its CMS (See CMS Integration) includes automation between the posting of calendar listings and ads and our weekly newsletter, so that the newsletter is automatically populated with listings for the current week and posted ads. If automation is not possible, Dance/NYC will require comprehensive, user-friendly protocol for migrating listing and ad content.

Advertising Dance/NYC wishes to maintain its two primary advertising offerings: the full ad package, inclusive of user-generated ads on the home page and calendar page (both rotating) and an e-mail ad; and the e-mail ad as a stand alone offering. Dance/NYC would be comfortable changing the shape and nature of content of banner ads on the website (e.g., embedded video) provided that regular ad purchases receive advance notice and review preliminary designs, which Dance/NYC would manage. We would be comfortable adding banners on additional pages, which would be used in the short-term only by Dance/NYC and not ad buyers. In the longer-term, we may wish to develop additional advertising options (see Recommendations for Future Development). It will remain a priority for Dance/NYC that the uploading of user-generated ads on both the site and ecommunications are, if not automated, as user-friendly for Dance/NYC staff as possible (See Integration below). Premium Registration Dance/NYC is willing to forego the premium registration offering, which creates confusion for users, and is not a significant source of revenue. It would as an alternative consider providing the current benefits of premium registration (a pop-up window, image, and video of premium) or benefits comparable to these to all users, mitigating disruption due to the website transfer and to encouraging increased engagement. Content Management System Overview A primary goal of this project to upgrade the underlying technology, making use of open-source platforms to maximize flexibility in future development. This will include a new CMS for Dance/NYC staff and registered users. This could include WordPress or an application framework such as CodeIgniter or cakePHP that would allow the website to be built using an MVC software architecture - functionally creating a robust, flexible and easily extensible web application. Through the CMS, Dance/NYC staff should be able to easily update on-site pages and maintain and moderate user-generated content. Users must have the ability to register and upload the following free listingscalendar detail, auditions, choreographic opportunities, jobs and internships, volunteeringand ads. The vendor should take appropriate steps to ensure the installation of the site and CMS are secure. The vendor should also take appropriate steps to ensure Dance/NYC is able to analyze and measure data about registered users and visitors to its website, and provide training to Dance/NYC staff on data tracking. The vendor should also identify and implement a backup solution. CMS Integration with Patron Technology and other Third Party Considerations Ideally, the new CMS will integrate with Dance/NYCs Customer Relationship Management provider, Patron Technology, through which the organization sells tickets, receives donations, and accepts e-communications subscribers and delivers e-communications. PatronMail is our current online email marketing solution but the organization would consider a shift to PatronChimp during the project period. Patron Technology has partnered with MailChimp and will offer the same e-communication integration and features. They are still on the testing stage and have yet to go live. Top priorities: (1) ideally, when users register through Dance/NYC, contact information will be captured simultaneously, so Patron Technology database is always current and inclusive of all organizational contacts. If this automation or integration with Patron Technology is not possible, Dance/NYC will require comprehensive, user-friendly steps for Dance/NYC staff to regularly migrate registered user contact information to Patron Technology. (2) Ideally, there is also automation between the posting of calendar listings and ads and our weekly newsletter, so that the newsletter is automatically populated with listings for the current week and posted ads. If automation is not possible, Dance/NYC will require comprehensive, userfriendly protocol for migrating listing and ads content. Content must be generated in the CMS in such a way that it is easily transferable to Patron Mail or PatronChimp. (3) Patron Technology has agreed to serve as our third-party-ecommerce provider and will create a customized ad payment category within our current CRM system. Registered users will be able to use the Patron Technology purchase functionality to post and pay for ads. Purchasing information for each user

should be captured for each transaction. (4) In addition, the software plugin, Leadacity should be implemented to obtain new subscriber information. Through the use of this marketing tool we hope to grow our online users and always keep an updated list of users on our CRM and ecommunication platforms. Ideally, through the application of an API, transfer all new subscriber data to PatronChimp. If integration is not possible, Dance/NYC will require comprehensive, userfriendly protocol for transferring subscriber information into Patron Technology Migration of Content Dance/NYC recognizes that the migration of content from its current to its new site may present cost capacity challenges. It wishes for this task to be undertaken by the vendor. To limit costs and capacity, it presents these priorities for data migration: All descriptive content across pages, unless otherwise stated Advocacy news items from January 1, 2013 to present only All Research news items Dance/NYC event listings from January 1, 2013 to present only Active Calendar, Auditions, Choreographic Opportunities, Jobs and Internships, Volunteering listings only Other news items from January 1, 2013 to present only All existing registered user contact/permission information should be transferred from the current to selected CMS to mitigate service disruption. Staff and User Training Dance/NYC will require staff-wide training on the use of the system and additional support material, including documentation; a QA; and presentation decks for both in-house training on the use of the system, including data tracking and data insight training, and for outreach efforts. Dance/NYC will need to be able to train registered users and prospective users on how to use the system: specifically, how to register, how to place listings, and how to place ads. Host Dance/NYC will need to secure hosting through Bluehost, Hostgator, or other compatible host. The vendor should provide: parameters for the selection of the hosts, taking into consideration all costs (setup and recurring, which Dance/NYC seeks to limit), service, security, and backup solutions; and recommend and connect Dance/NYC to hosts. Recommendations for Future Development At the conclusion of the project, Dance/NYC would welcome recommendations for a second stage of development, including associated costs, especially recommendations for: additional and improved advertising options; content, distribution, and marketing partnerships; and opportunities to improve access to DanceNYC.org and e-communications for people with hearing and visual impairments. Dance/NYC would also be interested to learn about CRM opportunities. Its contract with Patron Manager expires January 1, 2015.

TIMELINE AND CONSIDERATIONS

Dance/NYC anticipates an approximately five-month (approximately, October 1-March 1) production cycle, including: Discovery and Information Architecture (IA) report, Design, Programming and Development, Testing, Training, and Deployment. We would request bug fixing and support for a jointly agreed upon period following deployment (approximately 6 months) and would like to add a maintenance agreement to ensure that CMS and any plugins are updated on a schedule. Of primary importance is mitigating service disruption for registered users of the current site when deploying the new site, and maintaining earned revenue achieved through low-cost ads. The info requested from ad buyers should be consistent with what is currently collected through Google Wallet, a service that will be eliminated in November. Users of our current website will need to shift over to the new platform before the new site is in place.