Comments on: End of an Era

By: l_hendrickx@hotmail.com

l_hendrickx@hotmail.com — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:41:58 +0000

dear Nico

i have to say,, you are a great cool person

luke from Belgium

By: Ashil Mistry

Ashil Mistry — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:36:36 +0000

You would take a bullet for Steve Reich? Wow. How respectable of you. “You Are”, however, “Explanations Come to an End Somewhere” – that 3rd movement is slow and irritating. I STILL can’t bear to listen to it.

By: PETER JOHN BOYLE

PETER JOHN BOYLE — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:35:16 +0000

dearest pickle
I was just listening to the “flower duet” by the east village opera co and I realized that back when I was making you compilations of video featuring “YOUR CONVERSATION HAS BECOME TIRESOME” I saw a video called “aria”
where-in half dozen directors of note produced their own versions of famous arias. It was the first time I had ever heard the flower duet so I always flash back to it. and as you are in the midst of composing your own opera, you might be inclined to view it. The super comic version of “la donne mobile” is all I remember but it was very powerful visually throughout. I believe goddard did one where these muscle men are working out and ignoring these two gurls who are having a hilarious conversation in french.
-pjb

By: hester

hester — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:55:27 +0000

nico, congrats on the opera! can’t wait to hear it

By: Meredith

Meredith — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:35:25 +0000

Nico — I appreciate that as well as making great music that organizations can present, you also care about the organizations themselves. I like to think that MusicNOW attempts to avoid a corporate or even staid committee strategy and opt for a looser more flexible approach. Thank you again for your thoughtful observations.

–meredith

By: guy de trop

guy de trop — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:34:30 +0000

Is a terrifying base baritone a baritone who lives in Guantanamo?

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:48:11 +0000

I said this on Amanda’s blog and I’ll say it here, because people from arts organizations may read this and they should know, tactically, what is wrong with the Philadelphia Orchestra’s campaign.

The organization, and their firm, opted for a gimmick but clearly did not consider their audience. I lived in Philadelphia for (5) years, god help me, and the project reeks of something that is not audience appropriate.

They had a not-as-doomed-idea: People try all kinds of shit, so they should try the orchestra. So why not find some actual, living-breathing people who attended the orchestra and tell their story, instead of using weird stock photos of people who don’t look like anyone in their target audience? I’m sure there is someone who … say … went to see Mahler instead of an Eagles game on a whim (maybe it was a gift?) and is glad they did. Why not feature them?

The lesson here is simple: If you are an arts organization, and you hire a marketing firm, and they don’t ask you – directly – in the first 30 minutes who your audience is, what that audience wants and why would someone want to see your shit, don’t hire them.

The sub-lesson here is simple as well: Don’t use stock photos! Hire someone.

Want more direct advice. Here’s a great firm (that I used to work for, okay) that does all the marketing for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, 1812 Productions and others:
http://www.dfsi.org

Also, any designer worth their salt in Philly knows that JJ Tizou is like, the best arts photographer in the area and would have taken something compelling, not some couple in a convertible:
http://www.jjtiziou.net/jj/

Audience>Message>Strategy>Tactics y’all.