It’s June 2010, and my birthday’s at the end of this month, and so is my last day at my current job, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company.  I started there as director of marketing & communications shortly after they incorporated as a non-profit 8 years ago. It’s been a great opportunity to expand my expertise beyond PR (which still lights me up!), to the ongoing process of marketing.

One of the greatest professional experiences I had at Remy Bumppo, was the opportunity to go through the National Arts Marketing Project’s Advanced Audience Development Training.  It was through this 2 week intensive training I learned the discipline of creating a comprehensive, targeted marketing plan.  And the best part was, I had a real live, supportive 501(c)3 organization to implement new strategies and tactics on.  Then I got to watch, measure, adjust and repeat.

It’s been an incredible journey. I’m proud of what has been accomplished during my tenure, from developing the “think theatre” branding and positioning statement and growing a loyal subscription base estimated to reach 1440 this season, to launching  Remy Bumppo’s website, which Terry Teachout of The Wall Street Journal calls “a best theater website.” Another distinct pleasure was establishing lasting partnerships with the media, especially WBEZ 91.5FM and its Chicago Amplified program which helped Remy Bumppo expand its reach by 8% each year, (that’s over 1,000 more people listening to Remy Bumppo content each season).

A big hat tip to the trio of market researchers on my Remy Bumppo marketing committee: Nancy McDaniel, Karen Randolph and Dona Vitale.  These women were invaluable in the process of gathering data from our audiences over the years.  And I’m really proud to recount that Remy Bumppo’s survey response rate averaged an astounding 70% for hand-distributed paper surveys.  Which needless to say, gave us great data to work with.  This season we concluded a 2 phase research project, led by Dona Vitale of Strategic Focus, thanks to a grant from Arts Works Fund. In phase one, Dona analyzed the patron database for the purposes of profiling attendance habits among various segments, and in phase 2 collected arts attendance data through a 4-month long arts diary survey.  Final report and recommendations are forthcoming this summer.  I really look forward to seeing what Remy Bumppo will accomplish in the near future with this data.

I’m pleased to say that I will maintain a connection to Remy Bumppo as I start my new business Kick Start Marketing Chicago. I will be focused on PR for their 10/11 season productions, as well as the Artistic Director transition.  Can’t wait!