Meet New York's dance and arts publicists!

Gibney Dance Center 

invites you to 

Meet the Publicists

a panel discussion moderated by

Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Tuesday, March 3, 6-8pm

Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center

280 Broadway

L-r: Fatima Kafele, John Wyszniewski and Amber Henrie

Meet Amber Henrie, Fatima Kafele, Chris Schimpf, and John Wyszniewski—four publicists representing some of New York's most celebrated dance and performance artists and institutions. How do they help clients address the challenge of decreased arts funding and the decline of mainstream media coverage in the world's most competitive market for the arts? How can artists work effectively with publicists to take advantage of new opportunities in marketing and social media.

Bring your questions for this event which is FREE and open to the public with required RSVP.

To reserve your space, click here.

Panelist Bios

John Wyszniewski is the Managing Director of Blake Zidell & Associates, a New York-based public relations firm that represents artists and arts organizations spanning a variety of disciplines. He specializes in dance, theater and visual art, plus the tricky stuff in between. John has handled press campaigns for Abrons Arts Center, Karole Armitage, BRIC House, The Kitchen, Performance Space 122, Soho Rep, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Wendy Whelan, and the 2012–14 tour of Einstein on the Beach, among others. Previously, John worked in press & marketing at the School of Visual Arts, BAM, Dance Theater Workshop and Galapagos. http://wyszniewski.tumblr.com/

Fatima Kafele is a creative strategist, public relations consultant and dance enthusiast. She currently serves as the Media Relations Manager for the Brooklyn Museum. Prior to BKM she spent almost a decade at BAM. Her consultancy experience includes work with Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, and Cumbe Dance Center. She is a former member of the Bessies. Fatima is currently a NYSCA Performing Arts Panelist. Fatima has studied Afro-Cuban folkloric technique for most of her adult life and has a profound love for house music and dance culture. Connect with Fatima on Twitter: @Empress718 or Instagram: @LovejonesPR

Amber Henrie is a seasoned PR veteran and arts professional and leads In The Lights with strategic diligence and empowerment for its clients. She has coordinated and developed marketing, branding, social media and media outreach initiatives with large corporations, emerging start-ups, non-profits and artists. Bringing principles learned in dance training – discipline, tenacity and attention to details – she successfully publicized the technology, consumer and entertainment sectors for 6 years before starting In The Lights in 2010. She now brings technology understanding into her press campaigns for arts organizations; specifically encouraging companies explore simple ways to effectively utilize technology and new media to gain the spotlight. She holds a B.A. in Dance from Brigham Young University.

Chris Schimpf is Senior Director, Sacks & Co. Before joining the team at Sacks & Co., Chris served as Vice President of Marketing & Communications at the French Institute Alliance Franciase (FIAF). He has conceived and led communications campaigns across a broad spectrum of media and artistic disciplines including contemporary and classical music, dance, the visual arts, the commercial recording industry and education. Over the years he has partnered on campaigns with cultural institutions as diverse as the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the River To River Festival, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the American Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Space, JazzReach, Pace University, the Schimmel Center and many more.

Agnes Varis Performance Lab
Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center
280 Broadway (entrance: 53A Chambers Street), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Women of color in charge: seminar, panel on arts administration

The Apollo Theater Education Program will present a seminar and career panel--Behind the Scenes: Women of Color in the Arts on Monday, March 11.

Seminar: 4:30pm
Panel discussion: 6:30pm

Free to the public. Reservations required: Click here.

The Apollo's annual Women's History Month celebration features a panel of women of color who work behind the scenes in performing arts administration. A pre-panel seminar on cultural diversity in marketing and public relations for the performing arts will be facilitated by Donna Walker-Kuhne.

Presented in collaboration with Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA)

Book Awards go for glamour

Book Awards Seek a Bigger Splash, Red Carpet and All
by Leslie Kaufman, The New York Times, November 11, 2012

Workshop on press and media relations

The Field presents

Press and Media Relations

with Jodine N. Dorce

Tuesday, November 13, 6:30-9pm

at The Field
161 Sixth Avenue (at Spring Street), Manhattan
14th Floor
(SUBWAY: C, E to Spring Street; 1 to Houston Street)

$40/$25 for Field Members

This workshop will show you how to create an integrated press and social media strategy, highlighting differences between traditional marketing practices and digital media communications. Learn how to build media relationships and measure the effectiveness of your communication efforts.

To register, click here.

Dance/NYC: Hearing the dancer's voice

The Dancer’s Voice: Personalizing the Marketing Experience

Ellen Bar * Ashley Bouder * Misty Copeland * Larry Keigwin * Megan Sprenger

Monday, November 14 (5:30pm-7:00pm)

Joyce SoHo
155 Mercer Street (between Prince Street and West Houston), Manhattan
(map and directions)

RSVP here

Join Dance/NYC and New York City Ballet’s new Director of Media Projects, Ellen Bar, to discuss dancers’ evolving public roles as industry advocates, commentators, business people and company ambassadors. What are the opportunities for NYC dancers in a shifting technological and media landscape? What’s happening, and what are the best practices for dancer-generated content in marketing, merchandising, fundraising and growing audiences? How can we strengthen the individual and collective voice for dance? This all-dancer panel will open up to the field innovations and case stories, from Art Beyond Sight/Art Education for the Blind’s New York Beyond Sight project to Fifty Years, Fifty Stories, New York City Arts Coalition’s artist-led video campaign celebrating the 50th anniversary of the New York State Council on the Arts.

Featured Speakers:

Ellen Bar, Director of Media Projects, New York City Ballet (Moderator)
Ashley Bouder, Principal Dancer, New York City Ballet
Misty Copeland, Soloist Dancer, American Ballet Theatre
Larry Keigwin, Artistic Director, Keigwin + Company
Megan Sprenger, Choreographer and Director of Marketing and Public Relations, New York Live Arts

PERFORMA internships

Available Positions:

Press and Marketing Internship
Curatorial Internship
Director’s Office Internship

Click for information: Internships • PERFORMA

Dance in the digital age

Dancing With a Digital Presence
by Ken Tabachnick, Dance USA, June 28, 2011

That's debatable!

The Field and the Abrons Arts Center invite you to

 

ERPA (Economic Revitalization for Performing Artists)

Next Gen Debate Series

Using a structured debate format with a moderator, participants will be divided into teams to debate some of the issues pin-pointed in the roundtables. Join The Field and host, Abrons Art Center, for the first of a series of fiery and critical discussions in the performing arts community.

Hypermedia Marketing: Alienating or Inviting?

Monday, April 11, 7pm

Twitter, Facebook, blogs, websites, apps etc.: What do these do to an already tense and widening generational gap? How can one stay afloat and keep tabs on every stream? How do you decide what level of engagement is right for you? Is this an opportunity or an obstacle for the performing arts community? This debate will investigate the myriad ways this “flood of material” is (mis)used, consumed and disseminated.

Debaters include Brian McCormick, Mathew Heggem, SarahAO Rosner, Wendy Perron and Eva Yaa Asantewaa!

"Starving Artist" vs. Entrepreneur: Is the language we use around the arts helping or hurting?

Tuesday, May 17, 7pm

Using a structured debate format with a moderator, participants will be divided into teams to debate and discuss the following issues. Do you pay yourself a living wage to make your work? Do you value your work as something that needs to happen? Does “non-profit” equal art-as-charity, a luxury commodity, a non-necessity? Does it support entrepreneurship? How does this language help art-makers to be seen, fundraise and be recognized as important and critical?

Debaters include Morgan von Prelle Pecelli, Jean Ann Douglass, Catherine Peila and Shalonda Ingram!

ERPA: Next Gen Debate Series
Abrons Art Center (Underground Theater)
466 Grand Street (at Pitt Street), Manhattan
(directions)

The entertainment industry: three powerful reads

The Day the Movies Died
by Mark Harris, GQ, February 2011

No, Hollywood films aren't going to get better anytime soon. Mark Harris on the (potential) death of the great American art form

Oscars' Red Carpet (Parallel Universe)
by Manohla Dargis, The New York Times, March 1, 2011

Was it good for you — the Academy Awards that is, which last Sunday continued its long tradition of getting it wrong? It was for me, even if the Academy’s habit of rewarding mediocrity, especially if it comes with a British accent, remains intact. -- Manohla Dargis

Insulting Chuck Lorre, Not Abuse, Gets Sheen Sidelined
by David Carr, The New York Times, February 27, 2011 

In addition to wreaking all manner of havoc on himself with drugs and alcohol that has put him in the hospital and the show on hiatus, Mr. Sheen has done a lot of damage to the people around him, women in particular. -- David Carr

Kirschner on dance's future: Lead, follow or get out of the way

10 Things the Dance Field Should Be Talking About in 2011
Marc Kirschner, TenduTV, January 6, 2010

Marketing 'For Colored Girls’

Tyler Perry’s New Image With ‘For Colored Girls’

by Brooks Barnes, The New York Times, October 24, 2010

A creative head for business

In New York, a Business Course Geared to Artists

by Kate Taylor, The New York Times, June 18, 2010

And just what are we trying to sustain?

Dance writing--whatever that is or we believe it to be--must change or die. And the dance world must turn its vast reserves of creativity towards effective public education, persuasion and marketing.

A recent town hall meeting, convened by Dance/NYC and drawing together some new- and old-media types, addressed these two issues and more. I would have been there, but I am still in Europe and currently in direct touch only with roiling issues of volcanic behavior, aviation policy and British politics.

That dance needs to step up its efforts to engage the strangely estranged American public is something I've been railing about for a long time. But the other matter--the survival of dance writing--seems unimaginable unless we start talking about what we mean when we talk about writing on dance, because different people mean and want quite different things. We also have to talk about values--what matters most in dance and in the way it is considered, assessed and reported.

Before I left for London and Paris, I heard that dance artists Christine Jowers and Cory Nakasue--both writers for Jowers's Dance-Enthusiast.com--would be attending and blogging about the town hall meeting. I'm happy to link back to their thoughtful reports in the hope that this will continue to stimulate fresh and energized discussion.

Please feel free to offer your own thoughts here and on Dance-Enthusiast.com, particularly if you attended this event.

Thanks!


Christine and Cory Comment--Solutions for Sustainable Dance Writing A Town Hall Meeting at the Joyce SoHo

Art museums take creative action

Reshaping the Art Museum
by Robin Cembalest, ArtNews, June 2009

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Dance Companies

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Dance Companies
by Steven Weisz, The Dance Journal, PhiladelphiaDANCE.org

Lehman Center seeks marketing director

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts

(on the campus of Lehman College)

250 Bedford Park Boulevard West

Bronx, NY 10474

Director, Marketing, Sales & Public Relations

Type: Freelance Consultant (25-30 hours per week), Experienced

Required Education: BA/BS

Compensation: Commensurate with experience

Description

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts— the premier concert hall in the Bronx — boasts a 2300 seat, state-of-the-art concert hall and multi-disciplinary arts center. The diverse programming includes world class salsa and tropical music, headlining entertainers like Patti Labelle and Gladys Knight, world music and dance, and touring Broadway musical productions.

Lehman Center seeks an experienced senior-level Director of Marketing, Sales and Public Relations to provide energetic, creative, strategic leadership in marketing and promoting the Center and its diverse program. Although The Director has a consultant status they will be a vital component of the senior management team, directing all of Lehman Center’s communication efforts, including marketing and promotion, media relations, public information, and audience development.

Responsibilities

The Director’s primary areas of responsibility are to spearhead the development and implementation of innovative, effective, multi-pronged marketing and sales efforts focusing on both short- and long-term goals; to successfully promote Lehman Center’s events regionally and to maximize revenues through paid admissions, ticket sales, media sponsorships, and other sources; and to sustain and expand Lehman Center’s various audiences.

Requirements

Other requirements include:

$ degree (advanced degree preferred) in marketing, public relations, communications, or related field;

$ 5+ years of experience in marketing/communications, including senior management experience;

$ demonstrated success in planning and conducting major marketing, advertising and communications campaigns;

$ facility at developing effective working relationships—internal and external—and implementing non-media-based community relations efforts;

$ knowledge of citywide and national arts and audience trends;

$ extensive experience with communications, ideally in a large, high profile organization;

$ excellent research, writing, and organizational skills;

$ excellent public speaking and presentation skills;

$ ability to direct, supervise, and motivate staff and consultants;

$ fluent in Spanish;

$ ability to perform effectively in a fast-paced environment; and a high level of creativity and entrepreneurship.

Skills

The ideal candidate will possess extraordinary energy, drive, and vision. Experience within the cultural sector, specifically Latino and African American popular music, performing arts, knowledge of the Bronx and Bronx audiences is highly desirable, as is a vested interest and history of success using alternative and online approaches to marketing—web-based promotions, social media, relational marketing, and developing innovative partnerships to implement collaborative efforts.

Application Instructions

For consideration, send letter, resume, hourly rate, and the names of three professional references to:

Eva Bornstein, Executive Director

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts

By fax to 718-960-8833 or e-mail eva.bornstein@lehman.cuny.edu.

Danspace Project seeks Marketing Manager

Danspace Project seeks a full-time Marketing Manager to join the staff of our vital dance presenting organization. Please read the full job description here and apply today.

• Primary responsibility will be the organization and facilitation of marketing endeavors through media, print, email and online strategies.
  
• Specific tasks include creating annual marketing timeline, coordination of season brochures, creation and distribution of press releases, liaising with press constituents, creation/layout of weekly programs/playbills for Danspace performances, and website maintenance.
• Additional duties include coordination of development marketing materials, e-marketing, designing postcards and flyers for performances and events, and maintenance of press archives and other files.