UPDATE: Since the following story ran on August 19, Ovation has picked up “James Franco Presents,” a series starring the enigmatic actor, writer, teacher and artist. In it, Franco will give viewers glimpses behind the scenes of his ongoing art works, collegiate adventures and other projects from his fascinating life, including experimental shorts films he’s made and footage from hundreds of hours of video he’s shot. Ovation Chief Creative Officer Robert Weiss told Variety “Presents” is not so much a reality show as a look at “the world of art through James’ eyes.” He also called it “the biggest series to ever be on Ovation.” Read more at Variety.

Ovation Chief Creative Officer Robert Weiss concedes that “an arts network will always have opera, will always have ballet, will always have classic art and sculpture. But if you’re going to be a modern arts network in the 20-teens, you have to show people how art is relevant to their lives.”

Weiss set about helping Ovation do just that when he joined America’s only arts network in December 2012. Under his guidance, Ovation launched a new tagline months later, “Art Everywhere,” which Weiss hopes will be taken quite literally. “Whether it’s music or fashion or hairstyles, all these things encompass art,” he said. “People don’t often realize art is in every aspect of their lives and we wanted the programming on our air to reflect that.”

Ovation’s original programming, such as the series “The Art Of,” works hard to discover and explore surprising avenues for art, such as the design, craftsmanship and creativity behind sushi-making, and the artistic side of sneaker design. And In July, Ovation began airing the theatrical bonanza “Smash,” a show that, in addition to tapping into millions of potential viewers who watched it on NBC before it was canceled, fits right into Ovation’s revamped strategy of delving into every possible avenue for artistic expression. “There is singing [in ‘Smash’], there is dancing, there is choreography, there are costumes,” Weiss said. “There are so many touchpoints for art.”

Art ultimately is all about passion, and Weiss hopes Ovation can likewise ultimately be the home for passion projects by modern-day artists. Already, some major names have sought out Ovation over other, bigger networks because they believe America’s only arts network is a better brand fit. When “Vogue” editor Anna Wintour appears in “The Fashion Fund” this December, it won’t be on Bravo or A+E – who both allegedly courted the Conde Nast Entertainment reality series – but on Ovation, because it believed the network would celebrate fashion as an art form.

In a similar vein, Ovation also recently acquired Season 1 of the UK series “A Young Doctor’s Notebook & Other Stories,” starring Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe. Based on a collection of semi-autobiographical short stories by Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov, Weiss said the two stars “both loved this work of literature. It was their passion project. Both made the decision that they wanted this show to be on an arts network in America, even though there was interest from other more widely distributed networks. It was a great example of where brand does matter. You can have wide distribution, you can have big ratings, but if the two brands don’t align, it doesn’t work out.”

To promote its evolving lineup, Ovation is “employing a mix of organic and paid strategies and tactics to promote awareness of, engagement in, and affinity for, the content,” said Weiss. Many of those tactics involve integrating social calls to action into the series themselves to rally the art community. Though a for-profit institution, Ovation views itself as a “cause-based media company,” said Weiss. “Yes we need to make money and get ratings, but the people working at ovation feel like they’re part of a movement, which is to expose people to the arts and make it exciting.” Ovation is working hard to create a two-way dialog with its viewers, rapidly expanding its digital and social efforts to “give our viewers the mechanism to have their own artwork exposed on our platforms and on our air.”

The marketing initiative “This Week’s Wall,” for instance, provides a monthly opportunity for up-and-coming artistic talent to transform a wall in Ovation’s Los Angeles headquarters into a work of art, with fans able to track the piece’s progress on Facebook and other social pages. For another initiative-in-progress, “Façade Face-Off,” Ovation will supply walls to graffiti artists from different cities, setting the stage for an epic and colorful two-week battle to create the best graffiti monument to their city. Viewers will again be able to follow the artists’ progress and cast votes for their favorite monuments across Ovation’s social pages and on OvationTV.com

“When you’re a network about art and artists,” said Weiss, “it would seem a missed opportunity to not use your network and all your platforms as a canvas.”

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