Calling Chicagoland Arts Marketing & PR Pros

On Wednesday, February 22, 2012, I’m co-hosting the next installment of a Chicagoland dinner club/think tank for area arts marketing and PR pros along with Amy Calhoun (McAninch Arts Center) and Vin Reed (Vin Design) and we have a few seats left at the table. It will be first come, first serve, so here are the details:

  • Date/Time: Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012 @ 6:30 p.m.
  • Location: Trattoria No 10, 10 North Dearborn, between Washington and Madison (map).
  • Everything is Dutch-treat.

Co-host Amy Calhoun put together the following description but in actual practice, topics are pretty open so come ready with your own agenda items:

Do you ever wonder about getting that patron back in the door who attended an event 3 or 4 years ago? Do you feel those folks have fallen through the cracks as you focus on subscribers, donors and current single ticket buyers? Let’s talk about how to re-engage this audience over a great meal.

You can read a bit more about what goes on at an event from an article I posted about last month’s dinner.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in attending don’t wait; send me a message ASAP to get on the list as we’ll close off the list once we reach our reservation limit.

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

Related Posts

Leave a Comment