Augusta Free Press is offering a class on public relations and marketing through Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville.
The Nov. 1 class, PR & Marketing for Artisans, is being offered in conjunction with the Artisans Center of Virginia.
Artists, artisans and small-business owners are encouraged to sign up for the class, which will be led by AFP owners Chris Graham and Crystal Graham.
The fee for the three-hour, 6-9 p.m. class is $45.
AFP, founded in 2002, handles marketing, design and marketing for more than 100 clients in Virginia, the Mid-Atlantic and nationwide. Most recently, AFP has assisted in the development and marketing of a national-TV product for Awesome Wrestling Entertainment, a Waynesboro-based company that made its live-television debut on Oct. 15.
An AFP-led marketing campaign built up a Facebook fan base of more than 126,000 fans and drew more than a quarter-million unique visitors to the AWE company website the week leading into the TV show.
Other AFP clients include the Augusta County Fair, Barren Ridge Vineyards, Mathers Construction, Crescent Development and the Waynesboro Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
For more information on Augusta free Press, go to www.AFPBusiness.com.
About the Instructors
Crystal Graham is a 12-year veteran of the news industry in Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley and a graduate of Virginia Tech with a degree in communications. She primarily leads the efforts of graphic design and book publishing clients. She also is the sales manager for all divisions of Augusta Free Press LLC and handles the design of The New Dominion Magazine.
Crystal served as co-host and assistant producer of “Virginia Tonight,” a live news and public affairs program that aired weeknights from 2002-2004. Although the show was cancelled, a program that aired in 2004 on “The Passion of the Christ” was named a finalist for the national Telly Awards competition in March 2005.
In addition to television, Crystal also has an extensive background in print newspapers, having served as managing editor of The Shenandoah Valley Observer and The Charlottesville-Albemarle Observer. She began her career working as the lifestyles editor at The News Virginian in Waynesboro.
Crystal has won 10 Virginia Press Association awards for her design and writing work.
Chris Graham, a 16-year veteran of print and web media, radio and television, is heads up the web-development division at AFP and is in charge of all of the content made available online or in print.
He is also the marketing and web coordinator for Awesome Wrestling Entertainment, the web editor and media and public-relations coordinator for the Waynesboro Generals Valley League baseball team, and the web-content editor for the Waynesboro Family YMCA. He is a regular guest on numerous regional radio programs on both news and sports.
He has as well published two books, Stop the Presses, a humor column collection, and Judge Not, a political thriller. He also co-authored with Patrick Hite Mad About U: Four Decades of Basketball at University Hall. That book was released in September 2006.
Chris is a veteran of The News Virginian, a Waynesboro-based daily newspaper, and The Charlottesville-Albemarle Observer and The Shenandoah Valley Observer, both weeklies.
In 2010, Chris was honored by Mental Health America-Augusta for his work in writing on mental-health issues.
He has won 17 Virginia Press Association awards for his reporting and writing.
Register Online
- Link to PVCC Workforce Services website
- Important: Enter Course Number 50250