101 Ways to Promote the Arts

Hey all I know this is cheating a bit, as I'm going to post an article written by someone else, but it is so invaluable to the OOB/Indie world, I think this is a great place for it. Additionally, on Wednesday I'm recording a Podcast with Martin Denton about Publicity, I'll let you know when it is airing...stay tuned.

101 Ways to Promote the Arts:
Compiled by the Arts & Business Council of Miami

When looking at the suggestions on this list, consider your Target customers. Try
to see things through the Target customer's point-of-view. Will they respond well
to this particular type of promotion? Is the type of Promotion likely to reach the
customers your organization is trying to capture? Do you have facts to back up
your assumptions?

1. Develop relationship with neighborhood shops
2. Point of purchase displays to sell tickets
3. Hand out postcards and fliers in neighborhood
4. Opening Night Sponsorship with local business
5. Tie-ins to other events
6. Perform at halftime at a sports event - Hand out information before and
after
7. Live radio broadcasts at programs in return for free media ads
8. Statement stuffers in local banks, stores, etc.
9. Contests for children to win free tickets
10. Grocery bag printing about event
11. Newsletter
12. Print restaurant trays with info about event
13. Posters
14. Holiday decorations display or sale at December performances and
events
15. Speak at a local Rotary or Kiwanis club
16. Local business provides all the ushers for a performance as a corporate
team
17. Media co-sponsorships
18. Endorsements or ads by celebrities
19. Target specific groups. Example: Women, Families
20. Fliers in chamber newsletters
21. Special campus promotions to sell tickets
22. Give away the Front Row as Radio Promotion
23. Opening Night Reception with the Artists
24. Meet the Artist events
25. Restaurant, show, limo packages for patrons
26. Special hand out nights - Example: Fang giveaway for Dracula
performance
27. Slides at local movie theatres
28. Special extras for season subscribers
29. Family promotions at matinees - Example: Tea party with the dancers
for Nutcracker
30. Behind the scenes events and promotions
31. Costumed courier to hand out information
32. Mall exhibits and ticket giveaways
33. Fashion show themed around program - Example: a swimsuit show for
South Pacific
34. Videos of performance highlights
35. Local weather remotes - broadcast live from your site, cast sings "You
Are My Sunshine"
36. Celebrity or VIP Ushers
37. Discounts for specific groups
38. Special Offer mailings to Target audience
39. Benefit tie-ins - food drive during opening night
40. Co-host performance and reception with charity
41. Broadcast e-mail about upcoming events
42. Website with performance and ticket specials
43. Balloon drop with free tickets in some balloons
44. Neighborhood store theme Window Displays
45. Beverage company tie-ins - xyz wine night with free samples, wine
company advertises event
46. Win a Dinner Date with the star or an artist
47. Singles performance with reception
48. Pre-show demonstrations
49. Place postcards about upcoming events in shops and restaurants in the
neighborhood
50. Video streaming on website to showcase
51. Patron buttons or cards to receive special gifts
52. Scavenger Hunts
53. Neighborhood Restaurant Bill Promotion - a flier for your event is
presented with each bill
54. Related visual art display in the lobby
55. Photo contest
56. E-mail newsletter
57. E-mail invitation with special discount
58. Trio Discounts - buy three shows get one free
59. Collective ads with neighborhood groups
60. Annual event tie ins
61. Senior citizen programs and discounts
62. Bounce back ads on back of tickets
63. Perform at malls - hand out information
64. Perform at festivals - hand out information
65. Radio promotions with free tickets
66. Nursing home appearances by artists
67. Children's hospital appearance by artists
68. Easter egg hunt with spring shows - some eggs have free tickets
69. Focus group brunch
70. Costumed characters at business event
71. Arts Talk
72. Gallery walk with collective ads
73. Arts Night in the Neighborhood
74. Bring Your Neighbor promotion
75. Door hanging invitations
76. Ads in church and temple bulletins
77. Audience Surveys
78. Test Drive Promotion - Car dealer gives free tickets to your performance
to anyone who tests drive a specific car - dealer pays for tickets and
advertises event in their test drive ads
79. Postcards, fliers at related performances
80. Trade ads with related arts groups
81. Niche advertising
82. Customer Appreciation programs
83. Lobby promotions with local business
84. Concierge - Dinner reservations in the lobby
85. TV public service announcements
86. Cable television tie-ins
87. Giving tree in the lobby
88. Performance/event on Arts Council website
89. Performance/event on visitors bureau website
90. Condo group sales promotion
91. Perform at local condos - sell tickets
92. Event/performance featured in sponsors ads
93. In-house business Promotion to sell tickets
94. Listing in Arts Connection newsletter
95. Listings in free social and community websites
96. Calendar listings - be creative
97. Supervised children's area for parents
98. Tell A Friend campaigns
99. Perform at libraries
100. Tickets to hotels/concierges
101. Shuttle buses to event from hotels/condos

ArtsMarketing http://www.artsmarketing.org

As always you can contact me with questions!
Fondly,
Katie Rosin
Publicist New York IT Awardswww.kampfirefilmspr.com
pr@nyitawards.com
917-438-9223

Tom O’Horgan has left the city.

If you are involved in the theatre, you have probably heard the name Tom O'Horgan. He was the original creator and director of Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar, two productions that revolutionized the modern American musical.

Mr. O'Horgan achieved what many artists aspire to -- he had created something unique, something that was truly an expression of himself. His vision excited people in the general public and became a cultural phenomenon. He achieved both critical and commercial success. Yet he never rested on those laurels. He continually returned to his roots, to explore and experiment, striving to find new ways to communicate with his audience. He never simply accepted the traditionally agreed upon terms of the theatre. He would place actors in the audience or bring audience members to participate on stage, stage productions in apartment buildings or on fire escapes. He pushed the boundaries of our society, experimenting with gender identity and tackling subjects such as racism and sexism in the 1960's. I think it is because of this drive to always invent something new and interesting that he never because a cliché.

I first met Tom at a symposium that was hosted by the IT Awards in 2004. Many of the founders of the Off-Off-Broadway movement attended. Even though Tom was not in the best of health, he climbed the flight of stairs to the second story of the Drama Book Shop. He proudly sat amongst his peers, many of whom he hadn't seen in 35 or 40 years. He clasped hands with old friends, reminisced and laughed with former colleagues, patiently obliged autograph seekers and posed for photos with admiring young artists who where giddy with the prospect of meeting a living legend.

In 2005, the IT Awards held our first annual awards ceremony. We were presenting the Stewardship Award (for service and leadership to the Off-Off-Broadway community) to Ellen Stewart, LaMaMa herself. Tom was very instrumental in forging the fledgling LaMaMa and when asked who she'd like to present her with the award, Ellen said, Tom O'Horgan. I didn't get to see Tom much that night. I was in producer mode and he was in the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease and public appearances were draining. However I did manage to have my photo taken with him.

The following winter Marc Cohn, Tom's assistant and friend, and I worked together on an application for the honorary IT Awards. Marc mailed me Tom's CV which was over 150 pages. I work with doctors - not just doctors, academic doctors - whose CVs are quite extensive and include everything they've ever done. You are considered to be very accomplished if your CV is 30 pages. Looking through Tom's CV was much like looking at Elvis' room of gold records. You have an entirely different appreciation for his achievements. Tom was the only director in history to have 4 Broadway productions running simultaneously: Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Lenny and Inner City. I understood Marc's frustration is trying to sum up Tom's accomplishments in a mere 2 or 3 pages. There was certainly not enough room to give a complete accounting of Tom's contributions, but we did our best.

In September of 2006, Ben Vereen, star of Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar presented Tom with the Artistic Achievement Award. Ben spoke for over 10 minutes about his longtime friend calling him a genius and visionary. Tom was met with a vigorous standing ovation. When the audience finally took their seats, he leaned over the podium and simply said, "I'm in love with this whole game."

In October of 2007, I started to hear the rumors that Tom would be leaving the city and selling his property to help pay for living and medical expenses. Tom's apartment is a huge artists loft complete with music room and stage. All of the walls, floor to ceiling, are lined with musical instruments, art, masks, books, show posters and many other items all of which have sentimental value to Tom. When looking at the collection you feel like a child, excited to try the various instruments or hear the stories of the Hopi Indian doll or the Balinese mask.

On Saturday, November 3rd, 2007 Patrick and I got up early and arrived at the loft to help Marc organize and prepare for the sale. At 10am, invited guests showed up and began to search through the piles of books and stacks of drums. At 11am the general public began to pour in. From noon until 4pm was a blur. There were so many people asking so many questions. Some people were excited by the fact that they could own a musical instrument that belonged to a Broadway star. Others had no idea who Tom O'Horgan was but saw people exiting the building with the most interesting items and despite the $25 entrance fee, they just had to check it out for themselves. By 5pm there was only a small group of Tom's closest cohorts that just couldn't tear themselves away. They stockpiled trinkets and chimes and spent thousands of dollars just to have some mementos their beloved friend. They cried and hugged and agreed to meet for dinner.

There were some truly amazing and wonderful things that people bought, but I think that Patrick and I took home the coolest thing of the entire sale. We are now the very proud owners of the giant silver mask from the original Jesus Christ Superstar. For a mere $300 we purchased a piece of theatre history and one that has personal meaning and sentimental value for us both.

I feel so blessed to have had the chance to get to know Tom on a personal level. Although I don't think he remembers me or any of the time we spent together.

Tom is being cared for by friends in Sarasota, Florida temporarily until a home is completed near the Tom O'Horgan Theatre in New Mexico. There he will be surrounded by his most cherished items and will receive the medical care and attention that he needs.

Even though I know that Tom will be well looked after by Marc and his wife, I am saddened that there was no health insurance or support system to care for this man, this truly remarkable artist.

Shay Gines

New York IT Awards

Executive Director

RIP Bouwerie Lane Theatre 1963 – 2007

The Bouwerie Lane Theatre: Designed one hundred years ago by Henry Engelbert, this cast iron building is a rare example of the French Second Empire style, and is an historic landmark. The building was home to the German Exchange Bank, then later housed the Bond Street Savings Bank. The space was converted into a theater in 1963. The old vault still exists in the basement and the box office window was one of the original teller windows.

A theater since 1963, and from 1974 – 2007 was the home of the Jean Cocteau Repertory, a leading Off-Broadway company dedicated to the classics.

It was purchased in June of this year by "Self-Storage King" Adam Goldman for a reported $15 million dollars. He plans to reside in the top floor and lease out below to "respectable" retailers.

Bouwerie Lane's production history.

NYC architecture

Neighborhood development

Lost City

I Am Water

Monday, September 24, 2007: The IT Awards held our 3rd annual Awards Ceremony. It was a great evening and I think everyone had a good time. It was my turn to write a blog and I thought writing about the ceremony would be a snap. But to be honest, I was having trouble organizing my thoughts about it into something cohesive.

After thinking about it for a few days, I think the reason why I've been struggling is because as a producer, your attention is stretched in so many different directions and you have to be involved in so many different aspects that it is sometimes difficult to have a clear view of what the end result really is. I won't know how the evening actually went until I see the DVD.

One of my favorite Zen observations is that when water running down hill meets with an immovable object, the water does not try to go through the object, it simply goes around it. There are many times when I have to remind my self that "I am water."

So on that note, I'm letting it flow.

I've been an Off-Off-Broadway producer for many years and producing these awards is very much like producing an OOB production.

We have no money, but we have managed to get a lot of the resources we use donated or swapped for in-kind services. Don't tell anyone but we bought the "toilet in a box" that was used for the Cino performance and returned it the next day. The red fabric that covered the podium was purchased 4 years ago at the .99 discount fabric store and has been used at just about every one of our events since. I would say that a good 65% of our prep time for this event is spent trying to finagle resources. Luckily we have a very resourceful staff.

Everybody's schedule is impossible. We all have day jobs and other projects, but somehow we make it work. Although if you were to follow us around, you might think we were a bunch of drug dealers because of all the late night telephone calls, quickie meetings on various corners throughout NYC (to exchange papers, thumb drives, money, etc.) and all the hustling we do.

We rely on our friends to help us out. I don't know if they love us or hate us for it, but every year we turn to our buddies for everything from raffle prizes to glowtape to letting us do our dry tech in their office on the Sunday before the ceremony and every year they come through providing manpower, ideas and creative input. God bless 'em.

I work with some of the most dedicated, imaginative and good natured people that I have ever known. I can't say it enough how much I love our staff. Yes, we get on each other's nerves and sometimes we want to punch each other in the face, but it is only because we are all so passionate about this and feel that it is so important. This is going to sound totally sappy, but there are days when I look at Nick, Jason or Akia and I am overwhelmed by their commitment and abilities to accomplish the impossible. They give up sleep, money, comfort… They go out of their way to make meetings at the craziest times in the most inconvenient of places. Then there is Christopher, Desmond, Hillary, Morgan and Nancy. We ask them to do the most complicated, often unreasonable things and they do it with such grace and ease. When you are overwhelmed with details, it is such a relief to know that you have intelligent, competent, pleasant people on your team.

Of course we have our share of drama. All of us have bad days and we try to be sensitive to that. And there are some events, situations or people that it would be inappropriate to discuss here. It is during these times that I find my self repeating over and over again, "I am water."

We are dealing with much bigger spaces than are generally used for Off-Off-Broadway productions. There are cool things and not so cool things about that. This year we actually had wings and a fly space. We had microphones and a follow spot. There was a green room AND dressing rooms… and a fancy staircase. There were also a lot of restrictions. We actually ran into red tape about our tape. We had to have the kind and brand of tape we used approved through their facilities department. "I am water. I am water, I am water." We had to go through their catering if we wanted to provide food for our crew (we bought pizza for everyone anyway and then got in big trouble about it). We had to pay for security (which is not cheap) and of course the space itself was not inexpensive. But it was a good space and worked well for us and like many OOB companies, we would like to find a place to call home so we'll probably use it again.

One of the big differences between producing a show and these awards is that we only have one shot at getting it right. It is very visceral and definitely keeps everyone on their toes. It also means that if you screw up… you just screw up. There is no fixing it tomorrow night. There is also a huge part of it that is simply out of our control. Like the script for example. We provide each of the presenters with a suggested script. They are told that they can use the script as written, make changes to it or do something entirely their own. We don't know what they are actually going to say until they get out there on the stage. Of course we have no idea what the recipients will say. We're just glad we have insurance in case someone trips while trying to make a grand leap up onto the stage (I did appreciate your enthusiasm Dan Safer).

We create the structure and the rest takes on a life of its own. There is something very Zen about letting go and just accepting that it is what it is.

Shay Gines

Executive Director

New York IT Awards

Two weeks away!

So cyber friends, where to begin?

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Fall is amazingly upon us, and it seems impossible to me that our awards ceremony is less than two weeks away!

I just returned from 5 days in the deep deep south- ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee. I was working on a music event with my family and stayed on an amazing old cotton plantation literally in the middle of no where sleeping in a restored shack. The event was a lot of fun, and I got to meet and work with some amazing musicians and experience some southern hospitality. (Can you say GRITS! Love'em) But I have to say that while I was at a beautiful event and location, 5 days was far too long away from home. I missed New York in a very real way. When I leave NYC I am constantly reminded of how much I love my home, my city and the work that I do here.

Plus, with the awards upon us, I was especially eager to get home and back to work here. As company manager, I've been working on a lot of the moving parts of the awards ceremony, from the day of timeline, recruiting and coordinating our volunteer crew, assisting with venue logistics, scheduling the many meetings that occur during this busy time, to working on a daily basis with Shay, Nick and Jason, the Exec directors who are beyond amazing.

There is something that is so rewarding about working in the Off Off Broadway sector, that I have yet to find elsewhere. Maybe it's the fact that everyone is sooo passionate, or maybe its because we all know how hard it is and we try to make it easier for each other, or maybe it's the great wide unknown of, this could be our last show, so lets go for broke and throw ourselves fully and totally without question into whatever we are doing. It seems that our collective spirit of independent/Off Off Broadway theatre is never ending, that there a generosity that is unending. I don't know where we all find the time, the heart and the energy to keep going. To work a full day and then rehearse a full night, to stay up until 4am doing press releases or poster, to build, paint, hang lights and sew costumes long after everyone else has gone home, and after the show closes, there isn't always a paycheck, a glowing review or the promise of an extension. Yet somehow we all wake up and continue to do what we do, out of love, out of passion, out of generosity of spirit.

It is this reason that I work so hard for the It Awards, to have that moment, that gathering in one room, a buzz with ideas, and energy, and spirit and celebrate each other and our work. I am in awe every year as I watch our events grow in size, while our collective community gets smaller, as we all get to know each other.

Whether you are a nominee, a lover of theatre, a volunteer or just there to show your support, I so look forward to seeing you at the Awards ceremony.

Akia

Company Manager

PS. If you'd like to be a part of the Awards Ceremony, please drop me a line. akia@nyitawards.com

PR in the OOBR world

Hello from the IT Awards publicist, Katie Rosin/Kampfire Films PR. Since it is my job to raise awareness of the IT Awards to the media, as well as the fabulous OOB shows I represent, I thought I would give you some pointers on what a Publicist can and can not do for your productions.

First the definition of publicity:
pub·lic·i·ty
1. extensive mention in the news media or by word of mouth or other means of communication.
2. public notice so gained.
3. the measures, process, or business of securing public notice.
4. information, articles, or advertisements issued to secure public notice or attention.
5. the state of being public, or open to general observation or knowledge.
(publicity. ( n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved August 31, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/publicity )

As you can see this is not defined as "putting butts in seats" (PBIS) nor does it have a direct correlation to PBIS.

A publicists job is to raise the awareness of your production to the media and in turn your potential audiences. I feel it takes calculate and integrated efforts of PR, Marketing (which includes posters/postcards/e-blasts/flyers...and advertising), and Audience Building in order to PBIS. The later I will discuss in a future blog.

Here are some components of PR that a publicist can do for you:

1. Press Release: Include the Who, What, Where, When and Why of your production
2. Feature Idea: Create (with the help of all involved Artistic Staff through the cast) story ideas to pitch to the appropriate media
3. Review Requests: Ask critics to come and see your show and review for their outlet

But the publicist cannot wait around for the news to present opportunities. They must also try to create their own news. Examples of this include:

* Arrange a speech or talk
* Make an analysis or prediction
* Issue a report
* Take a stand on a controversial subject
* Announce an appointment
* Invent then present an award
* Issue a commendation

The advantages of publicity are low cost, and credibility (particularly if the publicity is aired in between news stories like on evening TV news casts). New technologies such as weblogs, web cameras, web affiliates, and convergence (phone-camera posting of pictures and videos to websites) are changing the cost-structure. The disadvantages are lack of control over how your releases will be used, and frustration over the low percentage of releases that are taken up by the media. (Publicity. (2007, July 15). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:24, August 31, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Publicity&oldid=144714064)

Additionally, it is the job of everyone in the production to think about PR. It is NOT their job to contact the media (too often I'm picking up pieces when this happens). Should someone involved in the production have a great idea, a great press contact, or be involved with something press worthy they should immediately contact their publicist and discuss it with them. I find these are the best leads for the publicist.

Keep these ideas in mind when deciding if and who to hire as a publicist on your production. Please feel free to contact me with questions on this subject.

See you on the 24th!

Katie Rosin
Publicist
www.kampfirefilmspr.com