Getting off-Broadway Theater in the Home and Garden Section

I'd been looking for inspiration for pitches over the weekend. I immediately thought about an article the Primary Stages marketing team and press pitched to the New York Times "Home and Garden Section." The article was published early in the run of our first show of the season,  A Lifetime Burning.  The focus of the article is playwright Cusi Cram's fascination with modern design.  It connects the set design and some of the play's themes to a more general obsession many New Yorkers have with space and the desire to create order and harmony in tiny apartments.

 

The article includes details on the play and mentions in-kind sponsors, Eva Zeisel and Design Within Reach, who contributed much of the modern furniture for the play's set.  I was struck by the fact that the article not only promotes the play, but it also draws a connection to the lifestyles of the play's target audience -- and it never hurts to obtain free press for your sponsors.

 

The show was worth seeing and had a dynamite set. The article works well on many levels and deserves a quick look.  The theater may not do for Eva Zeisel coffee tables, what Sex and the City did for Manolo Blahniks, but if a well known furniture designer can help raise the profile of an Off-Broadway show, why not?

 

Click Link or cut and paste for article "Home as Harmony, on the Stage,"  The New York Times August 5, 2009:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/garden/06events.html

 

--Joe

Websites for your perusal

Hi all,

The Vocal Arts Emsemble has had a complete makeover this summer going from traditional choral music, firmly entrenched in the 19th century with a somewhat frilly victorian image, to a much more sleek modern look with contemporary music from the last 15 years.  We changed web designers and had an entirely new web page created.  I've put in links to the new webpage and another web page by the old designer which is very like ours was.  I think it's amazing how the new page carries the same information as the old, but is much easier to read and navigate.  I just thought I'd throw the comparison out there.

Patricia

PS.  Since the new page just went up, I'd love your comments and corrections.

Tired of regular season brochure?

The London Symphony Orchestra recently developed a digital seasonal brochure for their 09/10 season, the link can be found below:

http://cde.cerosmedia.com/LSO_200910season/1D4989a81abd7b2012.cde

It is not uncommon to see major arts organizations displaying events, performers profiles, updates and such in digital forms on their websites, especially in the "everything online" 21st century. Personally, I like electronics and gadgets a lot and I found most of these digital formats have come in handy often times for myself.  I have often checked concerts times and dates or prices on Orchestra official websites or their very own designed iphone apps. But this LSO brochure did impress me among the "usual" online event calendars or other brochures. Not only can you turn the pages like a real brochure, you can also listen to musical clip and watched video interactively. Like any other web browser, there is also a search function if you are looking for anything in particular. But the final thought is, no matter what approaches the orchestra is introducing this brochure to the targeted consumers, it could be orchestra going green or a more convenient access, digital or not, how could it capture the initiative of someone "opening" the brochure? or more importantly, does the digital version encourage or interest more people to attend arts events just because it is a great gadget design?

Education Can Be a Powerful Tool in Making Music....and Vice Versa

At the risk of improper blog etiquette, I'd like to cite a separate blog which I enjoy reading regularly, written by jazz-drummer-and-generally-cool-guy Dan DiPiero. Posted on the aptly named TuneBlog, Dan's writings typically reflect his musings about jazz, bands, and various other musical topics. However, today I'd like to direct you to Part 2 of his September 12 post regarding education.

As cliché as it might seem, one of the major reasons I've chosen to go into the field of arts administration is because I think arts education is a crucial part of our development as human beings, and I wanted to feel like I was doing something meaningful to further this goal. My stint in the Advancement department at CAPA this summer only encouraged me in my pursuits, and now, more than ever, I keep coming back to the question of, "How can we convince people that arts education is important?" 

Elaborating on his own personal experiences as both a student and a teacher, Dan hits some key points of this argument. Check it out here:

Education (Pts. 2 & 3)

MTV-style showcase brings opera back to Baltimore

The Opera Show, described as an "MTV-style" showcase of popular opera arias with choreography, is coming to Baltimore as a part of the Lyric Opera House's efforts to bring back opera after the Baltimore Opera Company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy last December.  Sandy Richmond, President and Executive Director of the Lyric, hopes that The Opers Show's "Cirque du Soliel"-like style will reach a younger audience.  

Will this kind of programming really attract new opera-goers and recharge the opera scene in Baltimore?  

www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/arts/bal-ae.artsscene15sep15,0,7731339.story

www.theoperashow.com


--Leah

Cleveland Orchestra Shocks with Re-Branding Efforts

When I received the 2009-2010 season brochure for the Cleveland Orchestra a couple of weeks ago, I was more than a little astonished to find that the Orchestra is doing a major overhaul of its image, billing itself as "The New. Cleveland Orchestra," including inviting patrons to its Tchaik 4 performance with a blurb to the effect of "Yeah, Tchaikovsky was gay." As a liberal arts patron myself, I was in no way shocked by the language or concept. Rather, as one of THE Big Five and a traditional one at that, it simply seems blasphemous that Cleveland apparently is forsaking its elder, generations-long, conservative subscribers for a younger, hipper crowd (though the brochure did list the number to call to receive a "traditional" mailing).  Other efforts to be lauded include a new, jazz-heavy Celebrity Series and memo-like graphics which paint Franz Welser-Möst as a real person and subtly invite patrons to email him.

I should probably clarify--though I was indeed shocked by the forwardness of the new marketing plan, it certainly makes sense to me; I applaud Cleveland's efforts. As we're all aware, too many arts organizations haven't yet found an effective way to market to younger crowds, with the resulting inconvenience that the audiences they are targeting keep dying on them.  With any luck (okay, probably more luck than we as arts managers like to admit), the Cleveland Orchestra will be able to achieve its new image--one that is considerably less "stuffy" but instead more open, welcoming--"cool," if you will--to recapture an audience that might just last a few years longer than its current one. Ultimately, I'm sure their goal isn't so much to recapture an audience, per se, as to create a new one--an audience that will not only frequent performances because it's the cool thing to do but also raise their children to feel the same. Oh, the noble goal of the arts. Will it work?

-- Chelsie