Public Relations and Fundraising

I haven't written a post here in a long time.  My apologies.  After my first year of grad school in which I ate, slept and breathed Performing Arts Management 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, I was kind of burnt out.  Not that I haven't been working in theater management all summer and LOVING it, I just wanted to stop writing about it for a minute.  If you're interested in reading about my journey to my first marathon, you can read about that here, but for all you arts junkies, I'm going to try to be more consistent on this front.

One thing that's been nagging at me ever since I started doing some work for an independent PR professional is how similar Public Relations is to Development.  A good Marketer will get you to buy a product.  His job is to convince you that you should purchase sometime. A good PR Pro and Fundraiser won't sell you anything.  She will give you the facts about a compelling story.  If she pitches to the right audience, that will be enough.

In this vein, even more than in marketing, it is important to KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE in pr and development.  The most crucial step is identifying who will be interested in your pitch.  Step two is to cultivate the relationship.  Date your donor or journalist, so to speak.  Once the relationship is formed, most of your job should be done.  All of the foundation work has been set in place. 

Now all you have to do is give them the facts.

Hey Ladies!

Thomas Cott's "You've Cott Mail" for today boasts a bulk of articles about the lack of women on Broadway (and in film) in major creative roles.  This isn't a new conversation, but it makes me crazy.  The ubermajority of Broadway ticket buyers are in fact WOMEN, so why is it so difficult for a female playwright to get her work produced?

We know there's a problem, so what are we going to do about it?

Are Revivals Killing Theatre?

cover bands are far less exciting than the real thing

I recently had a conversation with my boyfriend,who is decidedly not a theater fan, about what makes the experience of going to see a band better than going to a show.  I was surprised to hear his answer.  I fully expected something along the lines of, the atmosphere at a live music performance is different, or they serve beer and let you talk to your friends, but that was not the case.

He said (loosely quoted), "When you go to see a musician or a band play, you're seeing the artist perform something they wrote, something that's original and creative.  A play is just a bunch of performers rehashing something some dead guy wrote fifty years ago, or something that's based on a movie."

Ouch.  I argued that there were lots of new plays and musicals, and there's really exciting work that happens off-Broadway and around the country.  Unfortunately however, the majority of non-theater fans only know theater through Broadway, and Broadway's churned out a lot of revivals, and a lot of derivative works in the past decade.  Add to that the fact that it's often easier to get a star on board for a proven show title as opposed to a risky new project, and we're sending a message that revivals are king.  To add insult to injury, many of our regional theaters around the country stopped producing original works, or drastically cut back, in exchange for big Broadway tours that fill houses.  Most people just aren't seeing new theater, because we haven't made it a priority.

I'm not knocking revivals, it's important to pay tribute to great works of our past from time to time, but, when old material is getting in the way of new works, we're choking our art form to death.  If we don't provide more opportunities for living writers, composers and lyricists to put their work on stage, there won't be any living theater artists for long.  They will find other careers where they can get their work produced.  Additionally, what's cooler for an audience than being able to see the artist in person?  We can't provide that opportunity for many of the shows that are produced today.  One of the "wow" factors of live performance is lost.

We're failing our artists and our audiences.  What are we going to do about it?

What is Spiderman, Turn off the Dark?

I had the opportunity to see Spiderman, Turn Off the Dark last week.  I fully expected it to be awful, and in some ways, I wasn't disappointed; however, I don't think its quite the train wreck the media would have us believe.  The truth is, it's not exactly a musical.  It's something else.

If The Book of Mormon is a five star restuarant, then Spiderman is Dave and Busters.  The food's not great, the service is meh, but it's still pretty cool.  You don't go there for an exquisite restuarant (or musical) experience, you go because it's a whole lot of fun.  It's flashy and cheesy and totally indulgent.  Because of this, I think this show just might have a chance. 

The show opens on Tuesday... do you think you'll go to see it?
 

Year One: Check!

So I just finished my first year of grad school (MFA: Performing Arts Management), and while I could never communicate everything I've learned this year, I'd like to mention a few lessons that have become invaluable to me.

1. PLAN
Plan early and evaluate often.  The best way to guarantee success in any endeavor is to carefully plan and strategize, what you are going to do, when you're going to do it, and how you are going to evaluate the efficacy of your efforts.  Most importantly, planning forces you to ask WHY you're taking a specific action or following a specific model and gives you room to adjust before you take action.

2. ASK
You are not an expert at everything.  Never be afraid to ask questions, to ask for advice, or to ask for help.  Two minds are almost always better than one, and lifelong bonds can be built through teamwork.  Know who to ask, because there is such a thing as bad advice, but always ask.

3. THANK
Possibly the most important thing my mother ever taught me was to say thank you, to write thank you notes, and to always be grateful.  This, above everything else, has been invaluable in building my career and pursuing my education.  It truly does matter. 

All the best!

The Perfect Storm, my take on the Spiderman debacle

I wrote this article as part of "Spiderman Tuesday" for artistew.com.  Check out other opinions on the infamous Broadway musical here.

There’s no denying that Spiderman, Turn off the Dark is a budget blowing whirlwind of epic proportions, but exactly what spun Broadway’s super mega musical into a vortex of disaster is less obvious. Let’s look at some of the details that contributed to the perfect storm.


Producer Tony Adams originally got the rights to do the show from Marvel. He got Julie Taymor, Bono and The Edge on Board. Then he died.

Problem # 1: Your big picture guy, the one who has the vision for the project, is now out of the picture.

The production became the project of a number of other producers, unable to gather the necessary (and exhorbitant) capitalization, until it fell to the current ringmaster of this “rock and roll circus drama” (as Julie Taymor has coined it), Michael Cohl. Michael Cohl’s background is as a rock promoter.

Problem # 2: The savior of your show (and Mr.Cohl did save this show from the brink of not being), isn’t a seasoned lead Broadway producer.

Reportedly, Ms. Taymor is an uncompromising director, who has a vision that will be fulfilled at any cost. Given the already significant demands of the content (umm flying, sky high battles, mutant –like bad guys), Ms. Taymor’s rigid pursuit of her vision likely added to the financial demands of the show. In addition, the nature of the show made it too expensive to hold an out of town tryout. The Foxwoods Theatre underwent some serious renovations, just to accommodate the production.

Problem # 3: Every element of developing this show was expensive.

While Ms. Taymor is indubitably a talented and seasoned director, she is not a seasoned playwright, and she most certainly is not a seasoned musical book writer. While her collaborator, Glen Berger, while an accomplished playwright, doesn’t have any hit Broadway musicals to his credit.

Problem # 4: When launching an unprecedented project, it might be a good idea to hire someone who has Green/Comden-like success to write your book.

Finally, the safety issue that has been much discussed by my fellow bloggers, is a little more complicated than it may seem. Although it seems unconscionable that the production didn’t have the safety procedures it established after a stuntman plummeted to the ground FROM THE BEGINNING, hindsight is 20/20. Regardless, there were absolutely oversights in this department, as it seems there were at every step of this production, and safety is an issue that should be covering all bases. It’s not however, just an issue of not enough preparation. While the stunts involved are not unprecedented in a circus environment, they are unprecedented in a Broadway environment. What does that mean exactly? It means that Broadway actors, who are trained to sing, dance and act are suddenly flying, fighting, and performing acrobatic feats. That is dangerous in and of itself. Circus performers, like those who safely and magnificently perform with Cirque du Soleil, train for years to do what they do. Unfortunately, you can’t hire circus performers to do what a Broadway actor does, and you can’t afford to train a Broadway actor for years to do what a circus performer does just for one show.

Problem # 5: In reality, the concept is flawed. The only completely safe way to have done this production is not economically viable in the Broadway market.

To put it simply, Spiderman, Turn off the Dark is a project so ambitious that it needed a singular, overarching vision from the beginning, to set up checks and balances evaluating where the show was going and looking for problems before they arose. Unfortunately, the controls were not in place for this project and it has spent its entire existence playing catch up with unforeseen challenges. Whether it succeeds or fails will depend on the current leadership’s ability to plan ahead. I hear they’ve brought on a new consultant…

Strategy, Strategy, Strategy

So I had the benefit of attending Social Media Week NYC's presentation on social media in the arts world last week, hosted by the Guggenheim.  All of the speakers were from the visual arts world, but much of what they addressed was completely applicable to those of us in the performing arts.  There wasn't anything particularly groundbreaking, but there were some key points worth passing along.

1. Organizational buy-in

It's important to educate the rest of your organization about social media, how you're utilizing it, and why its important.  Create advocates in each department that can act as ambassadors for any social media campaigns you engage in.

2. Content is King

As arts orgs, what we bring to the table is content, the art, and the artists for that matter.  Providing access to the artists and the art is what will engage people in your networks.  If you're giving them the inside scoop, they have a reason to continue to connect.

3. Strategize

You have to PLAN your social media campaign.  Objectives are vital, then you want to find connections and points of integration for the projects you embark on at your organization.  (Hashtags for each production anyone?) 

And with that, I leave you with this genius video some consultant put together that, I feel, is a great visual breakdown of social media to share with your organization:

Who Are You?

Photo from thegraphicmac.com

So I've been lucky enough to be working with a great theater company based in Brooklyn that's embarking on a huge challenge: becoming an organization.

For those of you who have started companies or businesses you know that involves a lot of paperwork, a lot of record-keeping, too much time, and some serious energy.  However, it's also a pretty exciting process that enables you to establish something that can stand the test of time and have an impact larger than your own.  One of the toughest elements of "going official" is establishing organizational culture.

We've all heard about the Google offices with their kegeraters, slides, and multicolored cubicles (all heresay, I have no credibility here), but what is organizational culture really, and why does it matter?

Organizational culture is a set of values and norms that establish how you carry out business on a day to day basis.  For nonprofits, it's often influenced by the mission and vision.  For theater companies, this means the kind of work you do should be reflected in the way you run your organization. 

For example, if your company is producing classical opera on a grand scale with a mission of fulfilling the original visions of the composer, you will probably adopt more formal and traditional business practices.  In an effective organization events must appeal to the audience that your art appeals to, in order to create a sense of continuity and cohesion.

So where do you start in building your organizational culture?  Look at the art you are making and the artists you work with.  Sit down and establish your core values, things that are most important to your company, and from them build a mission statement: a statement of purpose.  Why do you exist and what are you trying to accomplish with your work?  Integrate best business practices into the "feel" of your organization by adjusting them to work for you.  Don't jump on every trend that runs by marketing and fundraising, but be choosy.  Take the things that fit into your culture and leave the things that don't. 

Tweeting in Rhyme

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts is presenting Seussical this month, so what are they doing to promote the show?  Rhyming of course!  Here's a few:

@BrklynCtr If you rhyme when you tweet, if you're tweeting in rhyme, Then you're certain to have a most Seussical time! http://tinyurl.com/29bq6ns


@BrklynCtr To rhymingly waste the rest of your day, head to this site without delay! http://www.seussville.com/  Seussical on Jan 30 at Brooklyn Center.


@BrklynCtr On Jan 30, have a Dr. Seuss day. Green Eggs & Ham for b'fast (http://dld.bz/B9SV)  and then Seussical the play! http://tinyurl.com/29bq6ns

You can get more rhyming goodness @BrklynCtr on twitter :)

Is it cheesy? Absolutely.  Does it work? Totally.

One thing that I regret about a number of theater companies twitter accounts is that they don't take advantage of the voice of the organization, nor the feel of each show they present or produce.  There are ample opportunities for theaters to juice up their twitter presence with show appropriate material.  Another great example of this, Bridgeport Theatre Company's cast of RENT took turns tweeting in character:

From

@BportTheatreCo Anyone know a good place from which to buy a digital delay line? Maureen's is pretty unreliable.

@BportTheatreCo can't wait for the next Life Support meeting, then I Gotta sell some more T-shirts on the LES so i can pay my RENT

Granted, this doesn't work for EVERY show, and it's not appropriate for EVERY company, but it's important to get creative with your social media, and these guys sure are keeping me entertained!





 

Opera in the Better Borough

So I'm a little Brooklyn biased, and when good things are happening here, I think everyone should know about them.  When this nugget came across my radar, I couldn't help but share it.  I mean, they made a docu-trailer for an opera!  Who doesn't love a good trailer?  Any how, this isn't your typical opera, and I have a feeling the crowd won't feel quite the same as the one at the Met, but I think its pretty cool, and definitely worth checking out.

Tydrus the Twit
A new opera by Zeke Virant and the Brain Rain Players

December 8, 10, 11 at 8pm

December 9 at 9pm * $5
Presented by The Bushwick Project for the Arts



The Brain Rain Players and Bushwick Project for the Arts are proud to present the premiere of “Tydrus the Twit,” a new opera. "Tydrus the Twit" is about a middle-Georgia punk's inability to get a job and his bad trip through a dream world filled with witches and hopeless love. The opera is an immersive musical world spanning the intense reality of a small, southern town and the dreams of its occupants.

The Brain Rain Players are an operatic group of free jazz improvisors, untrained singers, performance artists,
and other widely talented persons. With a multi-disciplinary approach that combines spoken dialogue with
environmental and procedural music, the Brain Rain Players bring opera's irrational forms to the forefront of the theater.

ABOUT THE MUSIC



The music for “Tydrus the Twit” combines instrumental music and unmusical sounds made by the mouth. The
score specifically avoids the carefully notated practices of traditional opera, relying instead on procedural
notation and musical games employing the entire ensemble. These practices, designed with an eye to creating
an immersive theatrical environment, includes singing, blowing on bottles, laughing, clicking tongues, whistling,
buzzing, grunting, yawning, and spitting.  “Tydrus the Twit” expresses a world of sound that is not dependent on technical ability and draws out unique responses from each musician.

LOCATION
Bushwick Project fot the Arts
304 Meserole St. 

Brooklyn, NY 11206
Off the Montrose Ave. L stop

The More You Give The More You Get

image from marathondynamics.com

It's December.  Tonite's the first night of Hanukkah and we're a few short weeks away from Christmas.  The holidays can be daunting, especially when you're already juggling a busy schedule and carrying the world on your shoulders.  The moment that you feel you're completely running on empty is exactly when you should start giving. 

I'm not talking about annual appeals and end of the year giving, I'm not even talking about toys for tots.  When you feel like your plate is overflowing you have reached the perfect moment to ask your coworkers, friends, family if they need any help.  It seems counterintuitive to offer favors left and right when you can't get your own checklist wittled down, but it works.  When you open yourself up to helping others, you fill up your tank in more ways than one.  Think about it:

"When you help others, you can't help helping yourself." ~Avenue Q (gotta throw in those theater references)  Helping out someone else just feels good.  You get a break from your own tasks and you help someone cross something off their list.  Instant satisfaction from crossing something off a list? Check.

What goes around, comes around.  When you help someone, they remember it.  They're going to want to help you out too.  People often don't remember things you say, but they remember the way you made them feel, and if you helped them reach a sense of accomplishment, they're going to feel good.  Instant teamwork? Check.

There are a million reasons to pay it forward, so get to it!

The most important element of your social media strategy is customer service.

image: the biomed library public services blog

Yes folks, the most important element of your social media plan is not your twitter account, or the SEO of your website, or even the number of likes you have on Facebook. The number one, absolutely most important thing is the experience your guests/customers/patrons have when they walk in the door of your establishment. This is because social media is based on a conversation, of which you are only one part. The other end of this discussion is fueled by the people who use your service/buy your product. Therefore, if you’re serving up an inferior product or a bad experience, you’re going to hear about and so are all your potential guests/customers/patrons.


Here’s the good news, if you’re doing it right, someone will talk about it. If you’re providing people with great experiences and excellent products they’re going to say something, they’ll even stick up for you if some outlier is railing your cause. By providing a great customer experience and delivering a great product, your social mediums will flourish simply by interacting and responding to your constituency. On the other hand, if you’re peddling something that’s sub par, you’re going to have to deal with a lot of bad viral PR on social media platforms, and it takes a lot of work to dig yourself out of that hole.

So what does that mean for theater?

1. The art is important. Make sure that you’re building marketing and outreach strategies around great works of theater and not the other way around. Building a product to fit a marketing pitch is a recipe for disaster.

2. Prepare your front of house staff. From box office personnel, to ushers, all the way to sanitation, you need to cultivate a front of house staff that is passionate about your theater and well versed in customer service. As the saying goes “People may not remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel.”

3. When you get negative feedback on a social media platform, deal with it. Don’t get defensive or try to block someone and hide all evidence. Engage people who didn’t like your show or had a bad experience and grow from it. Let your audience know when you’re making improvements and thank them for bringing problems to your attention when appropriate. People like to be validated, and if you can improve their experience the next time around, they’re likely to be your biggest advocate going forward.

Social Media for Development

This is just a thought I've been toying around with for a few weeks now, but I wanted to throw it out there and get a conversation going.

photo borrowed from searchenginejournal.com

I feel as arts organizations have ventured into the realm of new and social medias that they're going in with the mindset of "reaching the audience" and "interacting with our audience", which is an extremely valuable and sensible goal.  Isn't audience engagement also part of the donor cultivation strategy?  Isn't social media a great way to connect with our tech savvy donors (who are actually of all ages because lets face it, most industries are way ahead of us when it comes to technology, regardless of whether they are millenials or boomers)?  Wouldn't a donor feel more connected with your organization if they were directly interacting with you everyday?

If you work for an arts organization, or any nonprofit for that matter, that's utilizing social media in your development strategy I would love to hear from you.  Comment here, tweet me @thecastparty or shoot me an email at aubrie.thecastparty@gmail.com. Let's talk!

The Value of Math



Photo from icanseenewyorkcityfrommyhouse.tumblr.com

 How many people go into the arts because they like numbers?  All of you!? 

In my high school statistics class there was a chart on the wall of about 50 different professions and the different kinds of math (ie geometry, calculus, statistics, algebra).  At the time I was convinced that I was going to be the U.S. cultural attache to some fabulous exotic country, and guess what, my profession totally wasn't on the list, nor was any other arts profession!

I was pretty convinced that I was off the hook and I was never going to need math.  I know all you arts administrators are laughing your hard working booties off right now, and with good reason.  Tracking numbers is a HUGE part of our job.  From building budgets to tracking your audience demographics to the click through rates on email campaigns, numbers can tell us almost anything.  The thing about numbers, however, is that you have to understand them to do anything with them.  So all youproducers and arts managers who don't love numbers, get yourself into a statistics class that's heavy on the excel and I promise it will change the way you do business for the better!

Back to School I Go

"Dreams do come true, if only we wish hard enough. You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it."
J.M. Barrie (Peter Pan)

I'm headed back to school this week, to begin work on an MFA in Performing Arts Management.  I have given up my job, salary, and potential earnings for the next 2 years to work towards a bigger goal. 

I'm incredibly excited about what this means for my career, but also for this blog.  I'll be able to share with you insights to the theater business from a more informed perspective and hopefully be able to come up with some creative ideas of my own.

Here we go!

CLICK HERE

Your Welcome.

(Gypsies, Tramps and Tacos, tomorrow night!)

I hate it when the President steals my thoughts

"Over the years, musicals have also been at the forefront of our social consciousness, challenging stereotypes, shaping our opinions about race and religion, death and disease, power and politics.

But perhaps the most American part of this truly American art form is its optimism.  Broadway music calls us to see the best in ourselves and in the world around us -– to believe that no matter how hopeless things may seem, the nice guy can still get the girl, the hero can still triumph over evil, and a brighter day can be waiting just around the bend."

~President Barack Obama at last night's White House Music Series Broadway event

Stop, Collaborate and Listen!

Cheesy as all get-out, but I couldn't help myself.  Besides, who says it better than Vanilla Ice?  Let's talk about everyone's favorite subject: fundraising!  

1.STOP making more work for yourself than there already is.  Fundraising isn't what you do, it's how you afford to do what it is you realllly do.  So keep the main thing the main thing, and stop making it such a big part of your day to day.

2. COLLABORATE with other organizations.  Find someone out there who's doing something complimentary to what you do.  Recently, I partnered with a musician who was doing an album launch, and asked if we could make it a fundraiser for an organization I work with.  Two half hour meetings and no output cost to us later, we had raised money for a great cause, and made a lot of great contacts. 

3. LISTEN to what's going on around you.  Pay attention to what other organizations and individuals are saying, you might just pick up some good ideas, leads on funding, or find a potential COLLABORATION opportunity.

Just remember, when it comes to fundraising (and life in general), work smart, not hard, and you'll have more time to focus on what's really important.

Theater in the Park....in Brooklyn :)

I know everyone gets excited about Shakespeare in the Park every summer (rightfully so, The Public Theater is a fine and well functioning entity), but my life is more Brooklyn-centric, so I try to find things closer to home. 

In addition to free movies and concerts- Movies with a View (Thursdays- Brooklyn Bridge Park) and Celebrate Brooklyn (various- Prospect Park Bandshell), you can also get FREE THEATER in the better borough. 

Brokelyn (awesome blog-check it out), compiled a great list of upcoming productions under the stars in Brooklyn: http://www.brokelyn.com/get-dramatic-over-brooklyns-free-summer-theater/.

Enjoy!

Musical Mondays

Every Monday at Splash Bar from 7-midnight is "Musical Monday", and since it doesn't get any better than drag queens and dreamgirls, I try to get there every now and again.  If you live in NYC and love musicals I HIGHLY recommend it.  They only play videos from musicals, and there's some sort of Happy Hour situation that goes on before 9pm.  WARNING: Drinks are strong here :)

Anyhow, some lovely ladies hit up Splash Bar with me last night and we rocked out.  Today has been a challenge, but I wouldn't trade my Musical Monday for the world.  Much love goes out to my fellow theater professionals/fanatics!