And A Happy New Year

On this, the last day of 2019, we are taking stock of the things that made our year incredible. We are grateful to the artists, institutions, and supporters without whom Open Sky Artists could not exist, and we look forward to another year of making life easier for creative professionals in the performing arts. 

Without further adieu, here are our 2019 highlights, from January to December:

January

Our client Justin Guarini traveled to Bozeman, Montana for his first RIVER at the home-base of our CEO and Founder, Lori Rosolowsky. Justin conducted a series of master classes for young actors and performed in a fundraiser for institutional partner Verge Theater’s production of Fun Home.

February

David Canfield of Fanfare Archive reviewed our client Clipper Erickson’s latest release, Tableau, Tempest & Tango: “A superior recording, worthy to stand alongside the best… Just about the most ferocious-sounding “Baba-Yaga” on recording, and the most resplendent ‘Great Gate’ imaginable. One of the finest pianists of his generation in interesting repertory that shows off his considerable skill and artistry as a consummate musician.”

March

We completely overhauled three websites for our artists and reached out to over five hundred venues and presenting institutions on behalf of our clients.

April

We helped our client Justin Guarini launch a musical theatre coaching business, release his first book, and elevate his digital presence.

May

Alex Levin Music (the collective representing our clients the Alex Levin Trio, The Ladybugs, and others) became a preferred music vendor at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, the Awbury Arboretum in Germantown, Pennsylvania, Cairnwood Estate in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, and The Picnic House in Brooklyn, New York’s iconic Prospect Park.

June

We helped our client Justin Guarini launch the Audition Secrets podcast, a series of conversations with theatremakers about the choices and challenges that have shaped their careers. We produced the first fifteen episodes which included interviews with Patti LuPone, Laura Osnes, Laura Bell Bundy, Michael Cerveris, and Sierra Boggess.

July

Our client, instrumentalist and educator Clark Chaffee, brought his award-winning techniques for rhythmic notation and key shapes to Bozeman, Montana for his first RIVER, offering four multi-generational workshops to musicians of all skill levels.

August

Fresh off of two assistant choreography gigs at American Conservatory Theater (ACT) and Stanford University, Open Sky Artists welcomed our first ever choreographer client, Meredith Joelle Charlson.

September

Broadway veteran Jeff McCarthy traveled to Bozeman, Montana for a RIVER at Rhapsody-in-View, the home of our CEO and Founder, Lori Rosolowsky.

October

Our client, pianist Clipper Erickson, realized a career-long dream to perform the works of composer R. Nathaniel Dett on what would have been his 137th birthday. The concert’s form reflected those that Dett used to host — a collaboration of choral voice, solo voice, and piano.

November

We attended The Producer’s Perspective Super Conference in New York City, a theatre-centric weekend of panels and networking that was hosted by Tony Award-winning Broadway producer Ken Davenport. The Open Sky Artists team presented a talk on marketing and made countless meaningful connections.

December

We launched an online newsletter that highlights opportunities for artists and brings a bit of joy to your inbox each week. Sign up for this short-and-sweet weekly email here.

What a year! We can’t wait for the next one.

Designs You Probably Need: An A-to-Z Guide

The air is growing cooler, the shops are getting busier, and although the seasonal music started the day after Halloween, the December holidays are officially upon us! At Open Sky Artists, we love any time of year that brings us closer to the people we love and offers us a chance to demonstrate our appreciation to them.

Gift giving is joyful, but the hustle and bustle can be overwhelming (to say the least). If you’re hoping to avoid the mobbed malls and traffic-filled Targets but want to go a step further than a generic gift from Amazon, look no further! We’ve put together an A-to-Z list of designs that you probably need ⁠— all of which we can execute. While the gift of design is both thoughtful and practical for the creatives in your life, it is also the perfect present to give yourself this holiday season! We bet you deserve it.

• Apparel

• Business cards

• Catalogs

• Direct mail

• Email marketing campaigns

• Flyers

• Greeting cards

• Holiday cards

• Infographics

• Jackets

• Key chains

• Logos

• Merchandise

• Newsletters

• Office supplies

• Posters

• Quintessential designs

• Resumes

• Social media

• Trade show displays

• User interfaces

• Vehicle decals

• Websites

• X-cellent designs

• Yard signs

• Zines

Give the gift of Open Sky Artists today.

The 2 Marketing Acronyms You Should Know

There’s a lot to consider when you set out to market yourself (or your brand, event, performance, project, or organization). Today, we’re zooming in on two of them: objective and context. Your marketing objective is the group of goals you set for promotion. The context is the environment in which you’ll be pursuing your goals, and it refers to the set of given circumstances that surround any project happening anywhere.

When identifying objectives, remember to stay S.M.A.R.T:

• Specific: Be as precise as possible with your goals. If your to-do list says “get your life together,” the overwhelm will set in before you even have a sense of how to achieve that. A better approach is to break down what that means; you’re probably a bit more likely to “do the laundry, clean the apartment, and take out the trash.”

• Measurable: Measurability is one piece of specificity. How will you determine success? Do you want butts in seats? Then you should look at click-thru rates on your marketing pieces and ticket sales. If you're hoping to grow brand awareness or an audience base, then measure website visits, downloads, email open rates.

• Achievable: Are you set up to make your goal happen? Is it doable in your timeline? This is the time for a reality check: do you have the resources to get it done? If not, how can you evolve, scale back, and refocus on what’s doable and essential.

• Relevant: Why does this goal matter to you, your team, and your overall mission? If you don’t have a good answer to these questions, you may want to reassess.

• Time-Specific: This is crucial. Tasks without due dates don’t get done. Even if it’s arbitrary at first, giving yourself a deadline increases the likelihood that the thing (whatever it is) gets done.

Want to take your S.M.A.R.T. goals even S.M.A.R.T.E.R.?

• Excite: Make sure your goals excite you, your team, and the folks to whom you’re marketing. Understand what works, but think outside of the box. Don’t be afraid to try something new!

• Revise: Once you’ve evaluated how close you came to achieving your measurable goals, you can revise the approach for next time. This step is crucial for growth.

You’re not telling your story or your project in a vacuum (we hope). So you need to assess the environment, or the context, to see what’s working for you and what’s working against you.

In other words, read the R.O.O.M.

• Risk: These are factors external to your efforts — and beyond your control — that impact your success. Don’t be in denial, plan accordingly!  

• Opportunities: These are external factors that are potential sources of growth for you. These situations or trends can offer favorable circumstances for expansion and improvement. Is there a new play festival in town taking submissions? Maybe there’s a new salon opening in your community, and it might be the perfect place for you to execute a flash mob for your upcoming production of Hair or Hairspray? What new opportunities do you see that you can take advantage of to drive growth?

• Outsourcing: We’ve all got weaknesses. Better to know ‘em than pretend they don’t exist. These are the limited resources or lack of experience that hampers your ability to compete well in your market. Where can you honestly improve, and what can you delegate to others?

• And last, Mastery: You know your strengths -- your positive attributes — the resources, experience and assets that are readily available to you. What do you do well? What are you an expert at? Make sure you’re focusing on that.

Want some help with that marketing project? Schedule a call.

Absolute Essentials for Marketing Anything

Brand

Marketing anything can sap your energy and be an exercise in frustration and ego deflation. Focus on what’s important; that starts with a brand. A brand is much more than a name and logo. A good brand communicates a clear message about who you are, what you stand for, and how you stand out.

The more consistent your messaging is, the more consistent your branding is — whether that’s words, aesthetics, offerings, or perspective. Your brand should build awareness and develop trust and loyalty with the people you want to engage with. “Know, Like and Trust,” as they say.

Mission

Your mission is the objective of the marketing efforts. Be as precise as possible with your goals. Make sure they’re measurable: how will you determine success? Ask yourself: are you set up to make your goal happen? Is it doable in your timeline? Time-Specificity is crucial. Tasks without due dates don’t get done.

Audience

You’ve got to figure out who your audience is. Maybe it’s the literary manager at the theatre you’re submitting your script to, or the casting personnel at the opera company you’re auditioning for, or the patrons sitting in your crowded venue waiting for the curtain to rise.

It’s about making them the hero. Not you! Your audience has a problem. Be the solution (the collaborator they need, the event they should attend).

Context

You’re not telling your story in a vacuum, so you need to assess the context to see what’s working for you and what’s working against you. What are the risks? These are factors external to your efforts — and beyond your control — that impact your success. Don’t be in denial, plan accordingly! What external factors are potential sources of growth for you? Where can you honestly improve, and what can you delegate to others? What do you do well? What are you an expert at?

Strategy

What are your channels? Figure out what makes sense for you and your goals. Is it just social media? Is it a comprehensive strategy of digital, print, and on-the-ground efforts? Leave room for trial and error and testing, and give yourself enough time for these channels to pay off and reach critical mass.

What’s your budget? That’s another blog for another day, but simply put, you need a marketing budget if you want anyone to pay attention to what you’re doing.

Evaluation

It’s important to know how to measure your results. Do you want butts in seats? Then you should look at click-thru rates on your marketing pieces and ticket sales. If you're hoping to grow brand awareness or subscribers, then measure website visits, downloads, and email open rates. The results that matter must align directly with your mission. Pay attention and revise your strategy. 

Story

Our attention spans have evolved, but we pay attention as long as the content is compelling enough to overcome all the constant stimuli. In Death of a Salesman, Linda Loman says at her husband Willy’s grave, “Attention must be paid.” How did Arthur Miller get us to pay attention? What makes his content so compelling? It’s story. Great story. Lead with that.

Charlotte's Marketing Plan

There’s an obvious problem when it comes to marketing. Tons of people want what you want, do what you do, and maybe even have more resources to do it. In other words, there is competition for our attention.

Remember the report from a few years ago stating that human attention spans are now shorter than those of goldfish? The media snacked on that for awhile, before it was busted as just a tasty soundbite.  

But the crumb of truth is that rather than getting shorter, our attention spans have evolved, and that we do pay attention, as long as the content is compelling enough to overcome the constant stimuli. In one of the greatest lines of all time from one of the greatest plays of all time, Linda Loman says at Willy’s grave, “Attention must be paid.”   

How did Arthur Miller get us to pay attention? What makes his content so compelling? Of course, you know! It’s story. Great story.

But how do you cut through all the noise to tell your story? Simply put, you need a plan.

One of the best plans ever came from the pen of E.B. White. Remember Wilbur and Charlotte? Fortunately, Wilbur shared his pigpen with the world’s best arachnid marketing expert. When Wilbur learned that he would be slaughtered once he got fat enough, Charlotte helped him develop a plan. 

Charlotte knew she needed to get people to pay attention, and her cobweaving of extraordinary adjectives was her plan to get that done. She got the whole menagerie to cooperate so she could call attention to this special pig. Charlotte’s fine webmanship saved Wilbur’s life. Now that was a terrific plan.

But, unless you happen to have a very talented and compassionate spider in your life, you need to know how to market yourself in the digital age. If you recall, Charlotte’s web was her last opus, and she died shortly after weaving it. Even if your marketing plan doesn’t literally kill you, it surely saps your energy and can be an exercise in frustration and ego deflation. So you’ve gotta focus on what’s important. And it all begins with your brand and digital presence. Lucky for you, we’ve got a free guide on 5 Essentials for a Strong Brand and Dynamic Digital Presence. You can download that over on our homepage. Happy planning!

12 #HashtagHolidays for Artists and Freelancers

While there are only ten federally recognized holidays in the United States, the canon of social media “holidays” is growing exponentially. We know artists and freelancers can’t resist a good celebration, so we put together a list of 12 #HashtagHolidays to help you plan your content — one for each month!

January 14: #CleanOffYourDeskDay is an opportunity to begin your new year with a clean and organized workspace. (We might suggest celebrating this holiday more than once a year.)

February 11: Celebrate the geniuses of the past and toast to your own innovations on #InventorsDay.

March 8: #NationalProofreadingDay isn’t just for grammar sticklers! Proofreading is a tedious but necessary step that tells your audience: “Attention to detail is our thing.”

April 16: National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day, or #PJDay, may be easier for those of us who work from home, but who says you can’t rock a onesie under that business attire?

May 21: #NationalMemoDay celebrates the ancient art of the memorandum. Memos can inform or persuade, but they should connect the purpose of the writer with the interests and needs of the reader. Use them wisely!

Jun 21: #TakeYourDogToWorkDay — need we say more?

July 15: #GiveSomethingAwayDay may have been inspired by the decluttering techniques of Marie Kondo, but we’re interpreting it as a reminder to offer free, valuable content to your audience or customers. Doing so builds trust in your brand which often leads to business.

August 15: #NationalRelaxationDay is your chance to kick back, unplug, and turn the push notifications off. You deserve it!

September 6: #ReadABookDay is an excuse to pick up that new bestseller you’ve been hearing about — or revisit an old favorite that inspires the work that you do.

October 30: #ChecklistDay is everyday. Set a goal, get ‘er done.

November 19: #EntrepreneursDay celebrates the folks who have built something from nothing and grown a business out of an idea and a passion — yourself included!

December 30: #NoInterruptionsDay is your last chance to get it done before a near year kicks off. Pour the coffee, put your headphones in, and do it to it!

Happy Holidays!