The Mission Paradox Blog

Taking Presentation Ideas For the next 20 hours

The 2008 Creative Chicago Expo is happening on April 12.  I have been invited to do a 50 min. workshop on marketing.

I have some ideas for workshop topics but I figured what the hell, I'll open it up for more.

So if you have an issue (online marketing, social networking) or topic (the future of arts marketing, etc.) that you want to see you have until about 3pm on Friday to leave it in the comments section of this post.

Consider a Full Stop

You may have noticed that Starbucks decided to close all there stores for 3 hours to retrain employees.

I love the idea of a Full Stop.  I love it when a company takes a few minutes to think.

It is something I wish arts organization would do more often.

How often have you seen the follow situation?

It's the middle of a theatre's season.

The last 2 shows have been box office failures. 

The Board is falling apart and working poorly.

Morale is a mess.

And what does the theatre do?  They just go on to working on their next show . . . with no real reason to believe that this show is going to go any differently then the other.

I can't count the number of times I have suggested to these companies that they shut it down for a while.  Take a Full Stop.  Spending a few days, a few weeks, hell a few months to really . . . really . . . think about what the hell is going on in your company.

When my advice is shot down it is often because the arts organization believes that they can't afford not to produce work.

This just ain't the case.

The world will go on if a theatre or dance group shuts things down for a while IF they communicate the public the purpose of the shutdown.

So don't hesitate to consider a Full Stop.

Watch Out for The Game Changers

Do me a favor, take 50 minutes out your life and watch this video of Seth Godin talking about the future of the music business.

UPDATE:  The Link Is Down Right Now, But The Point Still Applies

If you are musician, it is a must see.

If you aren't in the music business it is a must see.

When you watch the vid, take careful note of how Seth breaks apart the way the music business is currently being run and then helps to develop a way to make it work more effectively in the future.

I want you to follow his thinking because somebody is looking at your particular artistic field (dance, theatre, painting, whatever) in the exact same fashion.

While people get caught up in arguments about new plays versus classical works, or why people don't go to dance recitals, somebody is out there thinking about the theatre business as a whole, the dance business as a whole . . . and working on a way to change the whole damn thing.

This person . . . these people . . . are game changers.  And you need to be ready for them.

Look at the music biz.  For decades the big guys thought things could never change.

But they did.

When the wave of change hit they didn't respond to it nearly quick enough.

So now many of those companies are fighting for survival.

It is no different for the arts.

Eventually somebody is going to figure out a way of funding and selling theatre that is going to allow for well paid artists, complex artistic expressions, etc.

Somebody is going to figure out how to build a well respected arts gallery in 5 years, not 25 years.

When that happens, how are you going to respond?

The artist of the future

The only thing better then a cliche is a SPORTS cliche, so let's break one out here.

A famous hockey player attributed his success to his ability to "skate to where the puck was going" which people have translated to mean that the key to success is anticipating and responding to future trends before everyone else does.

So let's think about the future for a minute.

If you are an artist looking to make a living from your art what do need to do now to be prepared for future.

I've got a suggestion . . . Learn a skill.

No, not just an artistic skill . . .  some other skill.

Take a look at Scott's brillant post, AND THEN.  He talks about building a theatre tribe filled with members who not only have artistic talent but also some key second skill . . . marketing, fundraising, strategy, something.

I can't (and shouldn't) add a word to it . . . so let me just give my own spin on his idea.

If you are a painter . . . and all you are good at is painting . . . then you are in trouble.

If you are actor . . . and you all you can do is acting . . . then good luck making a living.

No matter how much certain parts of our society may encourage the ridiculous image of the artist that wants to do nothing more then act or dance or whatever . . . if you buy into that image then you are setting yourself up for failure.

The artist of the future is going to have a rich toolbox of skills he or she can dip into at any time.

She is going to be able to do a kick ass monolouge and design a kick ass website.

He is going to be able to dance divinely and write a solid sponsorship proposal.

Please don't fall for the notion that somehow the two sets of skills are so separate that no one person can have both.

They can have both.

You can have both.

In fact I think you must have both to be successful.

Updated:  Check out the comments

Tony points out that this isn't exactly a new idea and Scott means that Shakespeare managed a theatre, Chekhov was a doctor and Stanislavski ran a textile mill . . . and no one could say that their art suffered because of it.

Want to be on Court Theatre's Opening Night List?

Like theatre?  Want to see some for free?  Glad you asked.

If you are in the Chicago area and like Court Theatre's unique brand of classical theatre just leave your name and address in the comment section of this post and you will be added to the official Opening/Press night list.

For the record, our next opening will be of Carousel and it will be Saturday, March 15th at 8pm.

Openings are pretty cool.  You get to see the show for free and meet some of the artists after.  So sign up. 

One last note, guest invites for Carousel are scheduled to go out today (Friday) so if you want in then drop that info ASAP.

Otherwise you will be added for all future shows after Carousel.

Your budget tells the story

It has been attributed to many people but I love this saying . . .

"Don't tell me what matters to you.  Show me your budget and what is important to you will become clear."

So here's the question of the day

How much of your money (and time) do you invest in selling and promoting your artistic work? 

And what does that amount say about what you value?

A few riffs on critics

The opinion of an objective (or at least partially objective) third party is always going to matter.  The more cluttered the arts marketing is in your town, the more important the objective opinions are.

But that objective opinion doesn't need to come just from your local newspaper critic.

I'm still waiting for the arts organization that is willing to steal the rating and review systems of places like Amazon or Chowhound.

Imagine if someone could go to your website and read 10 reviews of your latest show that they really felt reflected the truth (good or bad) of your show or artistic product.

We are all critics.

Some of us are better critics then others.

Find those good critics, expose them to your work and let them talk.

What if it ain't what you think it is?

Got a piece of info during a workshop today that really gave me something to think about . . .

There was an opera company trying to figure out why their customers come to the shows.  They hired an outside marketing firm to do some research on the issue.

Before starting their research, the marketing firm asked the opera staff why THEY think people come to the shows.  They gave answers like:

1.  The reputation of the opera

2.  The singers in the piece

3.  The composer

Then the research starts.  Here are the reasons the AUDIENCE gave about why the come to the opera.

1.  Because it is date night and they want to do something romantic

2.  Because they want to appear classy and cultured

Can you see the massive gap between why the artistic organization thought people came to the show and why they actually end up coming?

That's one part of the story . . . here is the second.

I didn't get a chance to ask, but I wonder what the opera did with that info when they got it?

It wouldn't shock me if they took that vital info about the audience and didn't do a damn thing with it.

I love the arts.  And I love artistic organizations. 

But one of the things that drive me crazy about a few of them is their stubborn insistence that all their advertising and promotion be about them as artists (or about the director or whatever) instead of being about why the audience should be a part of the event.

For the opera in the situation above to take full advantage of the audience feedback they would have to be willing to adjust programming, advertising, etc. to reflect the primary audience benefit.

Will they do it if it means losing some of their artistic spotlight?

Would your organization do it?

The Importance of Having a Working Theory

The default position for almost every thing worth doing is failure.

Want to start a business?  It will probably fail.

Want to go to Harvard?  Probably won't get in.

Want to make a living using your artistic talents?  Probably won't be able to do it.

Some would call that cynicism.  I think embracing the idea of "default  failure" is a key to success.

Let's say your dream is . . . I don't know, to be President.

All the odds are against you.  You're unknown.  You're opponents are going to have more experience and more money.

If you go out there trying to run your presidental campaign like everyone else's you are going to get stomped.

So you take some time to think. 

You develop a working theory about how to avoid the failure that will inevitably hit if you do what everyone else does.

Your opponent's focus on a few big states.

You campaign in all 50.

Your opponent's rely on big donors.

You build a base of smaller donors.

Yes it is going to be harder.  No, it might not work.

But at least it is an idea.

And of course this example applies to the arts!

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If you start a dance it is probably going to fold.

You and your dancers are probably NOT so supremely talented that you will be able to overcome the obstacles that have destroyed organizations bigger and stronger then yours. 

(Note:  And you have no reason to not know what at least 80% of those obstacles are before you start.  Most arts organizations fail for the same basic set of reasons, poor management, low quality art, lack of funding, etc.)

Embrace that.  Accept it. 

Then figure out a working theory that gives you a shot at success IN SPITE of that reality.

The theory doesn't need to be perfect.  You are allowed to figure out things as you go along.

But for heaven's sake . . . at least HAVE A THEORY!

Old + White = Problem?

Just finished reading Mike Daisey excellent article in a Seattle Newspaper on how theatre failed america.

One of his main complaints, and it something almost everyone in the sector has a problem with, is the main audience for most regional or local theatres is profoundly old and deeply white.

I've been on both sides of the ledger, producing theatre for an audience that was African-American and had an average age of maybe 45 or so and now marketing theatre to an audience that averages maybe their mid 50's and is majority white.

So what I feel like I can safely say is that unless you specifically program art to meet the desires of some ethnic group, you audience is naturally going to skew older and whiter.

But now here's the bigger question . . . is that really a problem?

I am conflicted on this issue.  I look at myself first.  I'm neither old (I'm 31), nor white (I'm black), which makes me a bit of rare thing particularly on the theatre administration end.

I'm also not an avid theatre goer.  I may catch 10-12 theatre performances this year .  . . and that include the five I will go to at Court Theatre. 

For me, I am much more fascinated by how art is created and marketed.  The end product (the thing on stage) doesn't move me quite as much.

Put it this way, if you gave me a choice betwen watching a particularly interesting rehearsal or seeing the final product of that rehearsal, I'm just naturally more inclined to want to watch the rehearsal.

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But I'm digressing a bit, let's focus again on this issue of art, age and race.

I've heard a theory advanced by many people I respect in the arts that we are simply overreacting to the fact that our audiences are older.

They believe that theatres, museums, operas, etc. or simply things that older people are more inclined to do.  They have more money, more free time, etc.

So while we keep freakin' out about our old audiences dying off, are we forgetting that fact that the previously young people are also aging . . . and thus becoming the next natural arts audience?

I don't go to theatre much now when I'm 31.  Will that change when I'm 41?  Probably.  Will that really change when I'm 61?  Probably.

So would our lives in the arts become easier if we just accepted the idea that most art is staged by the young and consumed by the older?

Is it really a good idea to keep trying to pull people my age into the theatre, or should we just make sure theatres are around long enough to grab me when I'm 45?

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As for the race issue, consider this.  The biggest indicators of whether a person goes to arts as an adult are:

1.  Whether they participated in the arts as child

2.  Whether or not their parents attended the arts

3.  Their ability to afford a ticket to the event.

So if you take a person of any race and they score high in those three factors, chances are they consume some form of art on a regular basis.

For many people of color our ability to participate in the arts as children is severly limited, mostly because the arts have been squeezed out of most school curriculums.

Also, due to variety of socio-economic reasons, many of us can't afford the ticket prices.  So it doesn't exactly shock me that many people of color aren't huge arts consumers . . . but we can't forget the fact that many of us ARE arts consumers. 

Or at least we would be if arts organizations were producing stuff we want to see.

And there's the rub . . .

If you are an arts organization that wants to attract people of color, then YOU HAVE TO DO WORK THAT APPEALS TO THAT GROUP!

And don't give me that "theatre is universal" BS either.  Putting a few blacks or Hispanic folks into The Crucible doesn't change the fact that it was written by a white author and intended for a white audience. 

Are some of the themes in The Crucible universal?  Sure.  But when Mr. Miller was writing it he probably didn't evision a multi-ethnic audience watching his work.

So let me make it plain, if you want people of color to come to your artistic performances they you have to step outside your comfort zone and produce work that appeals to them.

And not just a show every few years . . . but something each and every year.

Because nothing builds audience more then producing work designed for that audience over and over again.

Is your arts organization willing to put in the time, energy and resources it takes to do that?