Multi-venue flex-pass experiments

At the National Arts Marketing Conference a few years ago, I heard a talk about a city-wide arts pass program in a Midwest city (not Chicago). It was a fascinating concept and probably one that would only work in a city with not quite as many arts orgs as Chicago. But it has come to my attention that several organizations in Chicago are trying out variations of the idea, and I think this is great. One of these is Looks Like Chicago, a project spearheaded by Silk Road Theatre Project in spring 2008 (and, we hope, to be continued in spring 2009). With a season pass, patrons could see shows at Congo Square, Remy Bumppo, Slik Road and Teatro Vista. Why these companies? Because each has a specific cultural viewpoint and, combined, the four represent the diversity available on Chicago stages. Another experiment is the Rogers Park flex-pass program, offering a flexible subscription pass that includes Bohemian Theatre Ensemble, Lifeline Theatre, The Side Project and Theo Ubique. I’m curious to see whether these efforts succeed, however they define success. Being quite affordable, both of these programs make it easy for patrons to experiment and experience theater they might not have tried otherwise. (I should point out that Looks Like Chicago has a larger goal of promoting the cross-fertilization of ideas and cross-cultural dialogue in the aftermath of 9/11 and the war in Iraq.)

I’d love to see this kind of collaboration happening in the classical music scene. With the number of outstanding classical music organizations in Chicago, this doesn’t seem to be an impossible dream.  But which one of us — patrons or ensembles — can get the ball rolling?

The evolution of corporate sponsorship

I attended the Arts & Business Council’s MetLife Foundation Forum on corporate sponsorship trends recently and it confirmed some ideas that have been percolating in my mind, and in the marketplace, too. The take-home message was that, while being a good corporate citizen still matters to many companies, many look to their philanthropic activities as an extension of their corporate brand (or their individual product brands, as the case may be). Corporate foundations, of course, are entities distinct from their corporate funders and generally have their own agendas that are entirely separate from that of the corporation. However, these days it’s not that unusual to see corporation foundations and corporate marketing staff in the same meeting with an arts org seeking a partnership. Cause-related marketing is nothing new, of course, but the concept is infiltrating the arts-corporate partnership arena to a greater extent than in the past.

Frankly, I’ve often thought it could be confusing to consumers to see a corporate foundation sponsoring an arts activity whose audience did not, at least to me, seem to be at all the target customer for the corporation’s products. (Having done some grantwriting since then, I have a much better understanding of the foundation mission now.) Coming from a background in business PR and marketing communications, this kind of thinking comes naturally, since I’m supposed to be thinking about how to further the business client’s  agenda. I’ve always advised clients to seek philanthropic activities that tie into their brands. Whether that philanthropy comes from the marketing department or from a corporate foundation doesn’t really matter.

From the perspective of the arts organization, what this trend means is a shift in thinking. Thinking of the audience as an ideal group of prospective customers for a business is the new thinking — and next is the challenge of figuring out what kind of business would be an appropriate sponsorship partner.