240 stories by "Adam Thurman"
Eventually you must have a moment where you answer this question: Are you serious about this? Is this theatre company a hobby . . . a way for you and your peeps to commune . . . or is this...
Most of what I do (and you do) is manage conflict. The conflict between understanding an audience/marketplace and responding to a singular artistic vision. The battle between paying the ofte…
In his book Life Itself, Roger Ebert talks about how he developed his skills as a writer and film critic. Here's a passage I love -------------------------------------------- "I came to the …
All the stuff I talk about on this blog . . . the marketing, the leadership . . . all of it is just a means to an end. So here's the question I want you to ponder this weekend:...
What are you willing to break? What rules are you willing to break in order to find success? What assumptions are you willing to challenge? These are essential questions. The competition in …
Few ideas annoy me more then the idea that small = innovative. We hear this all the time in the arts. It's assumed that (for example) an upstart dance company is filled with folks that are s…
This morning I'll hand the floor to Steven Pressfield and his fantastic post, Unscrewing the Writer He talks about a set of essential skills for writers (and other artist), let me draw a lit…
Maybe once or twice a year I do a live arts marketing workshop. Typically these workshops are for small to mid-sized arts organizations. This time I'm doing a workshop that will focus on the…
There is nothing wrong with being relatively small. There is no shame in being a theatre that has an impact in a few neighborhoods. There is no shame in being an artist with a cult following…
If you accept the soft power, hard power premise I gave at TEDx it would be easy to assume that the use of soft power is automatically a good thing and hard power is a bad thing. In fact, bo…
Here's my TED Talk from the TedxMichiganAve conference. It's entitled Power and the Arts Check out all the TedxMichigan Ave videos here
I've talked in the past about the need to make your artistic work feel like a big event. I think it's one of the two best ways - the other being relationship - to connect audience and art. I…
I often find myself as the only self described "marketer" in a room full or artists or arts "executives". The situations always remind me of my previous life as a lawyer. Lawyers (like marke…
Consider these two thoughts: 1. You have more time then you think. 2. You have less time then you think. I think both statements are true. One of the benefits of not having career paths in t…
I get a lot of questions from artists and arts administrators about what their career path should be. So here's a friendly reminder: There is no such thing as a career path. We are well past…
I spent the past few days at Walt Disney World. I found the sheer scope of the place - almost 50 square miles of resorts, parks and other related property - to be simply stunning. As I spent…
We all have our bubbles. We all have our spaces where it can become difficult to relate to those outside the bubble. The arts world is full of those sports of spaces. I always worry that my …
Ten minutes before typing this, I was standing in the middle of Times Square. It was a good reminder of the experience most of our potential audience members go through. I was completely ove…
"People will encourage you, but they won't show up every night." That is the money quote from this article about failed (and successful) restaurants. It's perfect for the world you and I liv…
We ask for a lot in the arts. We ask for money, time and attention. All of these are valuable resources. Think about how difficult it is to get YOU to part with those things and you have a s…
Here's the part that sucks . . . You can do everything right. You can produce the art with skill and passion. You can marketing the art effectively. And the audience can still ignore it. It …
I hate empty performance house. Hate 'em. I can barely tolerate half full houses. I know I'm not supposed to feel that way. The arts are supposed to be about "quality" and not "quantity". It…
Every audience has a flipside. You want an audience that is smart and understands art? Then you also want an audience that is critical and has high standards. You want an audience base that …
When I picture someone entering a live performance venue I imagine a thought bubble above their head. Here's the thought inside that bubble: "Man, I hope this doesn't suck." Most arts patron…
One of my most popular posts was this post about assets and marketing. It's the foundation for Step 4 in the Paradox Arts Marketing Plan, so check it out before moving forward. -------------…
