Promoting Past and Current Seasons
The following article appeared in the August 29, 2011 edition of The New Britain Herald. I wrote it as Executive Director of New Britain Youth Theater to highlight past season accomplishments and promote the coming season.
Happy New Year!
No, I’m not four months early or eight months late. It is an odd month for New Year wishes, but for many performing arts organizations a new year is just beginning. Summer programs and performances are over, and a new season of events will soon be underway.
At New Britain Youth Theater, the new season coincides with the start of a new school year. NBYT in-school and after-school programs will be held at as many as five New Britain public schools this academic year—which is NBYT’s second season. Theater programs will return to Smith Elementary School, Jefferson Elementary School, and Smalley Academy. New programs are being planned for Gaffney Elementary School and Roosevelt Middle School. American Savings Foundation has contributed partial funding for school programs, and additional funding is being sought to cover program costs.
Also in the new season, NBYT will add new programs and expand already successful programs. Performances will include the world premiere of a Christmas play, I’m Getting Nothin’ for Christmas; Rodgers and Hammerstein’s magical musical, Cinderella; the whimsical world of Seussical; and Teen Company productions. The Greater Hartford Arts Council has provided partial funding for these performances. Drama classes will be offered on additional days and hours, preschool classes will be added, homeschool and after-school programs will explore new scripts and activities, and new school vacation week programs will be scheduled in February and April. Demand has also risen for outreach programs in new venues and towns.
Of course, any good New Year celebration includes a look back at the year ending too. In its first season, New Britain Youth Theater produced three plays at Trinity-on-Main—A Children’s Christmas Carol, Babe the Sheep-Pig, and I Know I Saw Gypsies (an NBYT Teen Company production)—for a total of nine performances. Year-long programs in three New Britain elementary schools ended with performances of scenes based on folk tales, fables, and legends. A two-month program at Roosevelt Middle School led to a staged reading of Romeo and Juliet. Back at Trinity-on-Main, eight-week Drama Classes and Homeschool Enrichment Programs also concluded with “Share Day” performances. Summer programs included five weeks at Jefferson Elementary School open to all children, five weeks at Smalley Academy for incoming students, and other outreach programs throughout Greater New Britain.
Over the past year, NBYT held a total of twenty-five performances and share days, directly served over 400 participating children and teens, and entertained over 1800 audience members. Children and teens in NBYT programs came from eighteen different towns in Greater New Britain, Greater Hartford, and throughout Connecticut. Much of the audience attended performances at Trinity-on-Main—bringing many new visitors to downtown New Britain.
As a new NBYT season begins, we’re also making New Year resolutions. We promise to continue the mission of NBYT: “to enrich the lives of children and young adults by encouraging creative thinking, fostering self-confidence and self-esteem, and developing general life skills through involvement in low-cost programs in the performing arts.” How about you? Will you resolve to make the arts part of your or your child’s life in this new year too?
2010: The Year in Review
I haven’t quite made good on updating this blog more frequently. But I haven’t let two years pass again either, so this isn’t so bad.
The year 2010 brought a few changes for me. Rather than working on several consulting projects, one project has become nearly full time for me. In February, I became involved in helping to develop an after-school theater program for the Consolidated School District of New Britain at Trinity-on-Main Performance Center in downtown New Britain. Within a short time, this project developed into New Britain Youth Theater. By March, I was not only incorporating NBYT, but had become Executive Producing Director.
With the support of the school district, fiscal sponsorship from Vision New Britain, Inc., and funding from the Greater New Britain Arts Alliance and the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain, NBYT is now conducting programs in three New Britain elementary schools. A program for homeschool students is held weekly at Trinity-on-Main. Beginning in January, acting classes will be offered on Saturday mornings for ages 4 to 12. Summer programs—which began small in 2010—will also expand in 2011.
Productions have also begun at NBYT. Earlier this month, we produced A Children’s Christmas Carol with thirty children from New Britain and ten other Connecticut towns. NBYT’s spring production is going to be Babe, the Sheep-Pig, based on the book that also inspired the movie Babe. In its first nine months alone, NBYT has already served over three hundred kids!
Aside from New Britain Youth Theater, I’m also an approved consultant for the Peer Advisor Network (PAN) program of the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. The Commission also invited me to serve on a grant review panel for arts project support grants. My work with the Commission is a relationship that I hope will continue to grow.
Here’s hoping that 2010 was as good to all of you, and wishing that 2011 will be a strong, successful year for the arts!
Social Media Success Story
Are you on Facebook? On Twitter? Are you promoting your career or business online?
Don’t think it’s worth it?
Think again.
Anyone who questions whether marketing through social media is worth the effort should read this. It’s the story of an independently-made children’s music album which rose to NUMBER ONE on iTunes by finding its audience online. That’s right. Number one without any high-priced publicist or expensive marketing budget. And on it’s first day.
There are a few caveats here. Social media marketing wouldn’t have worked if the album weren’t good and something that its audience wanted; it would have met dead ends if either of those things were true. It also wouldn’t have worked if the album’s creator and promoter didn’t know his audience and how to reach them. Importantly, the album was also something that people could be passionate about; 100% of album proceeds support the cure of a childhood developmental disease. Success also relied on marketing must-haves like branding and timing.
I’m not suggesting that any theater, artist, or arts organization should rely on social media marketing alone. Never rely on one method of marketing alone. But, if you’ve got quality product and know your audience, social media might help a good marketing campaign become a great one. What’s more, marketing through social media may be best when specific offers are made that people can get excited about. General institutional marketing and event marketing should happen every day, but a social media marketing campaign might really take off when specific events or discounts are the subject. Try it for openings, rush ticket sales, auditions, or other special announcements.
If you’ve got a social media success story or advice to add, please share it in the comments. And check out that number one album—Do Fun Stuff! It’s a great album for a great cause!
Back to School
Wow! Just wow! It’s been nearly two years since I’ve posted a new blog entry on this website.
I’d like to report that I’ve been on tour—maybe producing the complete works of William Shakespeare, or the complete works of Eugene O’Neill. Heck, even the complete works of Rodgers & Hammerstein. But even on tour I could have updated this blog, so that wouldn’t work. I could say that I’ve been in hiding or even witness protection, but that isn’t true either.
I have been working though. Throughout my entire theatrical career, I’ve been a fan of programs that bring theater to children. Eventually, I worked for an organization with a great program that involved children in classes and productions. Just over two years, ago, I began an association with Connecticut’s oldest operating children’s theater, where I was later named part-time Executive Director. Earlier this year, I left that theater to respond to a call to help bring after-school theater programs to children in New Britain, Connecticut. New Britain Youth Theater is the result of that response. Along the way, I’ve also lead theater programs for preschoolers, daycare and school kids, and summer campers. As a producer, actor, stage manager, and student of directing, writing and design, it seems I’ve learned enough over the past couple of decades to fill some young minds with creativity. Plus I love working with kids.
This week, I officially went back to school and began co-teaching a weekly theater enrichment program for homeschooled four to seven year-olds. We’re putting American fairy tales, fables and folklore on stage—plus learning what it means to be on stage and put a show together. (Next term, we’ll do worldwide stories, and after that we’ll travel through time. NBYT also has other programs for kids 8 to 18.) Next month, if funding comes through, I’ll be starting after-school programs for elementary and middle school kids in the New Britain public school district.
Here on this blog, I’ll be writing about the work I’m doing, and I’ll add a few links to some stories, programs and events. Here’s one that’s pretty important: next week is National Arts in Education Week. I’ve already written some about the importance of arts in education. Here’s what you can do now: if you’re a teacher, school administrator, or public employee, let me know what your district is doing in arts education. If you’re a parent or have kids around, ask what arts they have in school. Don’t let the arts disappear from our classrooms! Speak up and ask!
Until next time, I’ll be back in school.
Reconstruction
No, I’m not going post-Civil War historiography on you. (Although I did write a high school history report on that time period, so I know something about it. The teacher for that class just showed up as someone I may know on Facebook, by the way. How’s that for web 2.0?)
This website has been undergoing some reconstruction though. Check back in September for more frequent updates—certainly more frequent than every two years.
