Category: Blog Post
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A new job and a new city
Tomorrow I start my new job in the Marketing department of Theatr Clwyd. It’s been 3 weeks of “changes” to say the least. I’m usually relatively risk and change averse so to find myself living in a new city, starting a new job, where I’ll be driving for an hour each day is pretty galling…
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Clubbing and other inherent evils.
Memories are strange things. They are neither truth nor fact and are all, invariably, tainted by what came before and after. In House of Card’s Frank Underwood’s memories must be very different to the reality (often mistakenly mixing necessity with cold blooded murder). Memories are also, it would seem, Facebook’s new favourite thing to plague…
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The art of the season brochure
Today I signed off Unity Theatre’s season brochure – the last of my six year tenancy as Marketing Manager (I’m going to Theatre Clwyd and am dead excited as you will undoubtedly discover over the next 6 months!) – and I felt a wave of emotions briefly as I said “yes, print it”. The first…
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Rain, driving and hills
Today was an odd day with a smattering of driving pain, driving in rain, new dawns and sunrises. It was my first post interview visit to my new employers in North Wales, a pre visit before I start properly in Wales. I was at Unity in the morning sorting some brochure odds and ends before…
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Arts Marketing: Six things I wish I’d known…
I have been given two pieces of rock solid theatrical advice in the past 15 years and both I’ve used when directing shows. The first was from a now-acclaimed performer and creative who said the key to any show was to “get in quick, say what you have to say concisely and get out quick”.…
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Change & Anxiety
I’ve always thought that change is quite a healthy thing when it’s done sensibly. To be constantly evaluating and examining how you can do things in new and better ways and to constantly adjust and improve. I saw a show by Daniel Kitson (who else) a few years ago which motivated change in me. It…
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10 things I unexpectedly like
Hello regular reader, this is Sam. Normally, as you know, I tend to write a lot of excessively ambitious, dream led pieces on either a) the state of theatre and how we make it better or b) the shit gig I’ve had. I appreciate that that they are very different, but they are both also…
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A 21st Century Theatre
There have been two questions that have been in the back of my mind for the last three months. The first, slightly randomly, is what will the new series of the X Files be like? I mean will they recapture the magic? In this digital age of intrustive observation is an FBI agent on the ground still…
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A set of pure, unadulterated terror
This week I had 2 gigs which for me is a lot. I don’t do as many as I used to, I get bored of my material incredibly quickly which is problematic as it’s incredibly unmotivating for doing gigs. A good example might be the storytelling set(s), I know that they work every time, but…
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Forks in the road
Preamble I’ve been thinking a lot recently about where I am in my life. It was all sparked by an invitation to the 10 year university reunion and as I looked at the names and faces on the list I started to ponder, what have I done with my life. Not that this is an…
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The right (& fight) to experiment in arts organisations
The last couple of weeks have been tough for me professionally at work. It’s the classic story, too much happening all at the same time, a feeling of helplessness, being overwhelmed and needing to find some order, some way of making sense of what appears unexplainable and undecipherable chaos. I think this is a pretty…
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Resolutions 2016
For those who know me reasonably well, you’ll know that every year I make a ridiculous list of 10 things I want to achieve in the next year and also mark how I did in the previous year. It’s a reflective process to make sure I do stuff and to motivate me throughout the year…
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Cats, dogs and why we live.
Firstly, before you read any further, let me drop a couple of truths before you read any more (then you can decide whether I’m going to waste your time or not). This blog post is heavily related to arts marketing and theatre It is also related to the idea of owning a dog (even though…
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The Future Of Arts Marketing (and Theatre)
On Wednesday I attended the Spektrix Conference at the Lyric Hammersmith which was, at it invariably always is, incredibly thought provoking. One of the lightning talks took a fictional look at how theatre ticketing might be in 2020, looking back over the past 5 years of innovation that is yet to happen. It was funny,…
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Watching & Dreaming (2)
To read part one of this story, click here The dog woman was eyeing him like a security guard in a second rate jewellers, combining a look of disgust and dismay combined with a very real threat. Perhaps it was slightly unfortunate that she’d taken such an interest in his behaviour and general aptitude to use…
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A strange day
It was a really strange day today. My boss of 5 years, Graeme, left after 33 year at the theatre. I’ve known he’ll be leaving for a while but it’s inevitably very strange when it eventually happens, that sense of the end of an era, a slight sadness that what has been is over. That…
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AMA Reflection
I’m back from nearly three days in Birmingham at the annual Arts Marketing Association conference where 650 marketers and fundraisers from around the country gathered to talk about curiosity, or, more specifically, how to remain, or stay, curious. It was an interesting conference that I have mixed feelings about, but, more on that later, first…
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AMA Conference 2015 – Day #1 Notes
So here’s a few notes from day #1 of the AMA conference here in sunny Birmingham. I’ve truncated much stuff as I’m heading to drinks in an hour so only have 20 mins to write this! Thoughts: We’re all doing too much, losing the time to innovate and experiment, and, I might suggest ensure that…