Elli log week four

Elli's log week four:
We joined the lesson and were welcomed by Elli and Jaye Kearney, we were
sat down on tables of 3, after this we were given sticky notes and told to
put marketing ideas for promoting a performance, some of them included
focus groups, the internet, promoting in universities towards students,
word of mouth, instagram or twitter giveaways etc.

This was important because it allowed us to understand the many different ventures of marketing our own performances after university, the different audiences we'd have to take into account, the different ventures of being online, etiquette for our twitter accounts, and scheduling time to update each of our social media accounts and keep them changing and growing.

then after this we watched her give a power point presentation on funding
it started off with her explaining to make a plan first for marketing,
if there was a company for us to play to our strengths and 'divvy up',
also to give venues a named contact from our group and talk to them
about what you will do and what the venue will do.

This really helped me to understand that emailing and contacting companies, venues and practitioners is such an essential part of working as a live artist, checking my emails at least twice a day as Elli has told me is necessary, and getting back to those emails, twitter updates, marketing, and acting websites is essential, for networking, promoting performances, and raking in an audience.


Jaye continued to explain that we would ask the venue to be honest
about ticket prices, to be realistic and to ask our friends/peers what
they know about the venue. Jaye continued to explain that smaller
budgets focus more on digital work, that smaller venues have
fewer shows and one/two off night stands, as well as the fact
they may have several strands with different levels of involvement.
In comparison bigger venues like the west Yorkshire playhouse, she
explained, have two or more large spaces with longer runs of the same
show, plus in the case of west Yorkshire playhouse, a 'studio'
space for other work, she went on to explain that they have
bigger budgets as well, more reliable on printing and advertising,
also a specialism in plays as 'core' work, not what typical live
artists do.

This put once again into perspective how bigger companies and playhouses may have less focus on live art, where as smaller theatre's like live art bistro maybe in favour to more live art, although at a smaller budget, weighing up the options on pursuit to my creativity and how much salary I would make is something I'd need to research and weigh up the options on in the future.


We then in groups created a timeline of our marketing, me ,charlotte
and Heather worked together to start one, although admittedly we
ended up only getting to the funding from the arts council and
not fully finishing the timeline, I will admit at the time I was
confused about how this all worked, I still have trouble understanding.


This confusion on reflection is due to a lack of a hands on approach in the industry, although I will admit I know a lot more about how all the inner mechanisms of being a live artist works then I ever did back then, I still have a lot to learn though and to put into practice.

Jaye mentioned even she got it wrong sometimes, she advertised
a performance that she thought would be filled with a full audience,
she ended up performing on a day where only people who had helped
working on it had showed up due to lack of promotion.
She went on to explain that with printing out advertisement to
always think about the format, who we were talking to, idiot proof it,
what we would want the reader to do, to spell check it and to spell
check again.


Proper grammar and aesthetic not only in hindsight would attract more of an audience, but also knowing that even a professional out in the live art world could get it wrong helped validate me and others that everybody makes mistakes, but also that with the correct time management, motivation and constant working on emails, budget, marketing, performance, networking , critical analysis and a steady flow of ideas put into action to an end product, we could create a professional career, and hone our craft so to speak.


She also explained that we might want to create separate social media
from our personal ones due to possible scrutinisation, on our
professional social media we would be expected to short visual
pop cultural references to our work, timely responses to enquiries,
to be selective/not clog our timeline, and to favourite and like our
user base, essentially making them feel 'loved'.

This would allow for positive feedback, as well as a back and forth communication with said user base , and to widen our appeal as live artists through the validation of feeling 'loved' by us said artists, important notes I would take on when I will hopefully accumulate a user base of my own.


As well as this to schedule our time on our professional content,
it wouldn't have to be everyday but to keep in mind that content
becomes old  fast. as well as this to create a website, a one stop
place for people to view you and your work, to future proof it,
make it available for those to see on mobile, and to regularly
update it. The last thing she told us to remember is that we are
always competing with the other ways that people choose to spend
their time and money.


The goal was essentially be to attract others and be what they would want to see in their spare time, if we couldn't be the best, most attracting, most interesting, communicating and organised live artists, someone could always go to see another performance by someone else, so we had to be motivated and to keep working on ourselves, self improvement, and perfectionism was the key.

After Jaye left I had a one to one with Ellie explaining that
although I had missed an email from Ryan I emailed them back
and re-arranged a meeting, Ellie reminded me to check my email
on the daily in case I missed anything.


Overall I think that last interaction with Ellie was relevant as that connecting with the marketing and user base communication, really drove home the lesson of being in contact and professional communication with those you want to network with as well as, time managing when you check your email or social media each day, when you print out marketing advertisement, the font used on said advertisement, the time spent selling your ideas to potential venues, marketers, sorting out budgeting, talking out performances with practitioners, your collaborating in, getting it all organised with the arts council and turning your process into a finished product.