Marketing

Marketing is marketing. There is no difference to the receiver if you are a for profit or non profit organization. There is no difference in the channels if you are getting messages about arts or about laundry detergent.  

The difference is the budget line for marketing. Arts marketing is done on a dime, so to speak.

How do you use every dime effectively? You know your audience and your potential audience. You don't waste money talking to the people who just won't consider you an option.

What did TCG tell you about the American Theatre audience?

Ever heard of Lousville

There the arts organizations are facing a similar yet different economic hurdle. An interesting read as it reveals the various adaptations much like we have discussed in class

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090419/SCENE05/90418020

Who manages the audience

Hi,
So there are many wonderful stories about actors stopping a play when people are using their cell phones or behaving otherwise indecorously. (another discussed below) Whose job is it to manage the audience? What does an artist do if the management is poor or ineffectual? OR what about the traditions of chinese theatre or for that matter Renaissance and Restoration -- even up through the early 20th century theatre was highly interactive. How does an audience know how to behave?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2009/apr/16/theatre-patrick-stewart-godot-beckett

The Economy and Support for Nonprofits

A recent article in the NY Times (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=abbSrsyWqA4E&refer=muse) discussed a support fund and management network for a select group of nonprofits that serve the public -- including the arts.

Critical to the plan, which includes loans to help cover the income gap experienced in this economy, is management support to help executives plan and manage. One of the key phrases of recent years has become increasingly important: sustainability.

Funders expect organizations that ask for money to be able to sustain themselves in the long term WITHOUT that funding. For instance, if an arts organization begins a new playwrights program, Funder X might give them a 3 year staged grant to fund the program ($100,000 the first year, 50,000 the second, and 25,000 the third). The organization must demonstrate that the program needs the money at the initial level and that they can sustain the program well after the initial 3 years of funding has ended (SUSTAINABILITY).

What I find encouraging about the NYC loan program is the support feature -- they are providing financial support and management resources to figure out sustainability for the future. What better way to help ensure you will get your loan repaid!

The hard part, of course, is making the decision to NOT fund a program because it is NOT sustainable (be it an arts program, organization or a health agency serving AIDS patients . . .).

Presenting Orgs

Three of the largest presenting organizations in the area are Wolftrap Center for the Performing Arts (wolftrap.org), the Kennedy Center (kennedy-center.org) and the Clarice Smith Center (claricesmithcenter.umd.edu).  Two are part of national parks and one part of a major state university. What are the benefits of these relationships? Why have these organizations developed in this unique fashion?