Tag Archives: theater

Arts Organizations Have Always Been Masters of Customer Relations & Data Management

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Earlier this month, I talked about how working at nonprofits that produced live theater taught me oh-so-much about effective management and internal communications and continuous improvement. In this blog, I’m going to focus on what that experience taught me about managing and leveraging customer data.

Back in the 1980s, professional nonprofit theaters had already mastered customer data management: such was fundamental to their cultivating recognition and value in their communities, support that translated regularly into donations. And regular donations mean an organization is sustainable – it means it’s not completely reliant on an angel donor, which is fine until that angel donor dies or gets bought out by a company with no interest being an angel donor.

Most of these nonprofits used a program called ArtSoft to manage data regarding their audience, both program attendees and donors. ArtSoft dominated the market for managing customer and donor data at nonprofits that were focused on live performance. Back then, it felt like every theater, every dance company, every performing arts center used it. It’s sad that it doesn’t have even a Wikipedia entry – it deserves such.

But it wasn’t the software that mattered: it was the human protocols and processes in place to ensure audience member information was regularly gathered and updated. At any theater I worked in the 80s or 90s, there were protocols in place so that every single ticket buyer, every season ticket buyer, every special event attendee, every class participant, every donor and every volunteer went immediately into the master database system, ArtSoft or not, at the moment they paid money or signed up for any activities. And each person – each entry – was tracked regarding their relationship with the organization and their activities from then on.

The goal of this data tracking? To communicate with the people in the database such that:

  • season ticket buyers came back year after year,
  • single ticket buyers either became season ticket buyers or kept coming back as single ticket buyers
  • that people that purchased tickets to events or classes were encouraged to buy tickets to stage shows
  • that everyone was encouraged to donate financially, annually, to the organization
  • that volunteers were encouraged to do any of the above, and that any of these audiences were encouraged to volunteer

35 years ago, these arts organizations were already experienced in target marketing in a way that I feel like so many nonprofits now, particularly those started by corporate folks, are still learning.

Those arts organizations had a relationship with every person in that database, everyone of a few thousand people. The organizations could target market to single ticket buyers based on the kinds of shows they liked in the past. We could target market events based on ages. We could engage in highly-targeted correspondence and phone calls that built relationships such that individual donors came back year after year after year. At one theater, we decided to stop trying to convert single ticket buyers to season ticket holders because, reviewing our data, we felt like we had “enough” of the latter, and wanted to still have an avenue to cultivate new customers. These arts organizations were regularly engaged in highly successful, annual crowdfunding – but they didn’t call it that.

These organizations were successful because of the relationship they built and sustained with individual donors, and it was individual donors, not large grants, that provided MOST of their funding.

That was all before “big data.” Those relationships happened because every person that touched that database understood that the people in it were humans, many of whom had emotional moments when they came to performances. They weren’t just a record number – they were real people, and they felt an emotional connection to the theater.

Not because of the software we used, but because of the protocols that were in place, everything about every program participant ended up almost immediately in our master database. How did we do that?! This way: at nonprofit theaters, absolutely everyone in every audience and every program came through the box office staff or the fundraising staff. That’s easier for nonprofits built around attendance to one primary series of events than an organization that has a range of programs each managed by different people. In addition, there was one person whose primary responsibility was to oversee all of the correspondence to everyone in that database, with the goal of either encouraging participation (including buying tickets) or donating money, and that messaging followed a strategy – it wasn’t haphazard.

Absolutely, individual staff sometimes exported certain data and worked with that data on their own. A staff member might have his own volunteer management database with very specific information to track about volunteers, information that should be kept confidential for the rest of the staff. Another staff member might have a database of media contacts with information separate from the main database. But the main database was the MAIN database, a precious asset as important as anything that went on the stage.

One of the many things I learned in working with these databases: you didn’t delete anyone from them. Duplicates, yes, but if someone called and requested to not be on the database anymore, or died, the recorded got marked as such, but not entirely removed, at least not for a certain number of years. Why? Because the data from the precious engagement was still needed for at least five years on, or because of the very real possibility that someone would re-input that person if they weren’t there already, not knowing the person had requested to be removed or had died.

It’s just yet another example of how arts organizations are often so far ahead of supposedly more tech-savvy nonprofits. And how there are lessons from 35 years are still oh-so-relevant.

This experience was the basis of one of the first web pages I created for my new web site back in the 1990s, about how to manage customer databases. And I can still see the influence in these pages on my site:

Keeping Volunteer Information Up-to-Date.

Advice on Choosing Volunteer Management Software.

Basic Customer Database Principles (an updated version of that first advice page on my web site).

Customer Database Regular Maintenance .

Has working in arts-related organizations affected how you work in other environments? Please share how below in the comments.

If you have benefited from this blog, my other blogs, or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

what theatre taught me about management & internal communications

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Working at nonprofits in the 1980s and 1990s, nonprofits that produced live theatre, deeply affected me in terms of how I work in management, communications, customer service, team support and client data management in organizations that have nothing to do with the arts. The things accomplished in producing live theater that I had the privilege of being a part of – with few or no computers, and no Internet – seems astounding now. Back then, it was just business as usual.

How theatres approach project management offer great lessons for any nonprofit and their staff.

I started writing a blog about this long ago, but realized it’s really two blogs. This is part one of two on the subject of how working in nonprofit live theater back in the 1980s still affects how I work to this day, and how your nonprofit or company that is NOT focused on the arts can learn from such:

  • Everyone at the organization, whether full-time employee or short-time contractor or volunteer, whether on stage or back stage or up in the administrative offices, was committed to the success of the stage production and would do just about anything within their role to make sure it was a success. The executive director, the marketing director, the actors, the designers, the stagehands, the box office manager, the volunteer ushers, the intermission bartenders – EVERYONE wanted the production to be successful and cared deeply about it happening as close to the vision as possible. Everyone had each other’s backs – yes, I have jumped behind the bar to clean glasses when I realized intermission staff was overwhelmed, and I was the marketing manager.
  • Deadlines are absolute when producing stage productions at a theater that sells season tickets. Dress rehearsal happened on the date on which it was announced to happen. Opening night happened on the date on which it was announced to happen. Delays were oh-so-rare and, on the rare occassion they happened, deeply shameful. To miss that date gave the impression that the team was a poor planner and, perhaps, lacking in basic competence. It’s because of my background in theater management that I have laughed at web designers or tech developers who feel deadlines should be fluid or that say that what is being asked for is impossible or too much. They wouldn’t last a day in most professional nonprofit theater companies I’ve worked in, where a deadline is real, it’s non-negotiable. In my 15 years in live theater, we made every opening night. There might not be working light cues, there might have been an understudy in a role, but the audience saw a show the night we said there would be a show to see.
  • Meeting all the deadlines associated with dress rehearsal and opening night – for the play program to be printed, the volunteers recruited and scheduled, the press contacted and their seats booked, the costumes and props and sets fully constructed and operational, etc. – required frequent, continuous communication among various staff and departments, with all staff feeling empowered to communicate with absolutely anyone across hierarchies and departments. We didn’t have email – we still visited each other’s offices and still put things on paper. And at the weekly staff meeting, we were focused on exactly what needed to be done and WHO would be responsible. The house manager would a short report after EVERY performance noting ANY issues AT ALL, from a cell phone going off during the second act to late patrons not being seated until the first scene change. The stage manager wrote a short report EVERY performance noting ANY issues AT ALL during the performance. A senior staff member read that report EVERY morning and was not surprised when a patron called with a complaint about something they were angry about, or when an item showed up in the press noting a mistake in a performance, because they already knew about it. No one claimed they didn’t have time to write those reports or read them. I have stared dumbfounded at senior managers at non-arts-related nonprofits who want to focus on how they first heard about a program problem – the messenger – rather than the problem itself.
  • Hierarchies existed, but not when it came to communications about the quality of the “final product.” If the marketing assistant attended a rehearsal and sat in a seat and realized the staging would keep certain audience members from seeing a critical moment, that marketing assistant woud be welcomed to tell either the stage manager or even the director, directly – that assistant didn’t to have to go to the marketing director, who would then go to the executive director, who would then go to the artistic director, who will then go to the stage director.
  • Absolutely, we were happy with full houses and sold-out shows, but we were just as thrilled looking out and seeing a half-filled but completely diverse audience, with people of ethnicities or ages we didn’t usually have in those seats. We also were thrilled when we put on a show that was challenging in terms of its theme or how it was presented, and it connected with the audience, even if we weren’t playing to full houses. I’ve never been able to relate to corporate folks that want nonprofits to focus exclusively on numbers instead of other factors, like the diversity of the audience and feedback from that audience, when judging marketing success.
  • EVERYONE took part in celebrating the success: on opening night, the box office assistant manager was as delighted as the show’s director that the play – the project – was off and running successfully, and they were side-by-side celebrating at some point.

I miss that environment so, so much. I’ve kept those lessons in my work, much to the frustration of some managers. I still think it’s a great way to operate.

Next week, I’ll share blog number two on how working in nonprofit theater taught me so much about customer relations and data management.

If you feel that your work or volunteering at any arts-related nonprofit has positively affected your work at other nonprofits, or even in the corporate sector, please comment below!

If you have benefited from this blog, my other blogs, or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

Theater as a Tool for Community Development

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For my Master’s Degree in Development Management at Open University, (the degree is, as of 2021, called Global Development) my last course was TU874 The Development Management Project, completed in October 2005. This final course involved my researching a development-related topic of my choice, and producing a 10,000 word paper as a result of this research. My research project was an investigation of what elements need to be in place before an organization produces a live, in-person performance, or series of performances, as a development tool, excluding performer training and theater techniques. The goal was to identify the systems and atmosphere that need to be cultivated in order to ensure the success of a TfD initiative and to tie these to the concepts taught in OU Development Management courses.

There are numerous organizations using theater techniques as part of their development activities, and there are also numerous initiatives, publications, web sites and individuals that promote and chronicle successes regarding live, in-person performance as an effective tool for development. Even in our current age saturated with multi-media and podcasts, live, in-person performance/TfD is a popular and effective tool for education, outreach and capacity-building regarding a variety of development issues, such as HIV/AIDS prevention, domestic violence, evolving gender roles, or good sanitation practices.

However, at least as of 2005, there was little information on what has to be in place before these techniques are used, excluding performer training, to better ensure that these techniques will be well-received by an audience/participants, and to better ensure that the desired outcomes will be generated. I saw a need for more information on how to cultivate support for and trust in such an initiative among staff at the lead agency, among partner organizations, and among those for whom the theater-for-development techniques will be used.

This project included a review of key literature on TfD, and semi-structured interviews with 12 TfD practitioners.

You can read online:

I know this is old research, but I still think it’s relevant, and I like to make sure people know it’s available.

Those of you who know me were all expecting me to do something regarding either volunteerism, specifically online volunteering or the vital role volunteers play in community technology initiatives, or mission-based organizations and technology, as that’s been the focus of my professional work for decades. Well… surprise!

Live, in-person theater has always been a love of mine: I was always involved in theater in some way during junior high, high school and then my undergrad at university, and for five years, I worked in public relations and marketing at various professional theaters, including the Tony-Award winning Hartford Stage and the internationally-acclaimed Williamstown Theater Festival. The power of theater to reach people fascinates me. There is nothing like it, no experience that matches it. Writing my Master’s Degree final project on a theater-related topic was my opportunity to get back in touch with something that started me off professionally, and something I believe in personally.

Also see my related blogs:

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site or my YouTube videos and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

What we will need for live theater to continue

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I’d like to see a nationwide flourishing of the regional theater movement, with local theaters considering how best to earn the title of an essential service in their particular community, while being supported and valued by that community and the government. A WPA Federal Theatre Project for a new century, perhaps. — Statement by Michael Cerveris, Tony-winning actor of Fun Home., in this L A Times Article article.

Some of the most exciting, fulfilling times of my life were working far off stage, working to promote live theatre, live performance, not just marketing a show but promoting the value of all arts to our communities, to social cohesion, to education, to mental health and on and on.

Artists, being artists, are talking about what artistic ventures they want to pursue when performance spaces open again, once the risk of COVID-19 has been drastically reduced, and that’s GREAT… but I’ve been looking for something that makes me say, Okay, there it is, this is what we need to ensure theater emerges from this pandemic with a real, solid future.

I finally read the statement that makes me give something to support and advocate for. Cerveris words stopped me in my tracks. To me, they are what every theater in the USA, and every person that loves theater, needs to work towards. And it has to be more than government support; we have to build relationships with and pressure on the cash-flush corporations all around us to give substantial monetary support to ensure live theater continues.

More about the USA Work Progress Administration Federal Theatre Project.

Also see highlights and resources from the research for my final paper for my Master’s Degree, regarding the non-artistic elements necessary for success in “Theater as a Tool for Development” initiatives.

theater as a community development/education tool – it takes more than artists

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It’s been a few years now since, for my Master’s degree, I embarked on a year-long investigation of the non-artistic elements necessary for success in “Theater as a Tool for Development” initiatives. It’s a subject that remains a very big interest for me. I wish I had the time and resources to research it further!

There are numerous organizations using theater techniques as part of their community development / education activities all over the world – for instance, to educate children about a health issue – and there are also numerous initiatives, publications, web sites and individuals that promote and chronicle successes regarding live, in-person performance as an effective tool for development. Even in our current age saturated with multi-media, live, in-person performance/TfD is a popular and effective tool for education, outreach and capacity-building regarding a variety of development issues, such as HIV/AIDS prevention, domestic violence, evolving gender roles, or good sanitation practices

However, there is little information on what has to be in place before these techniques are used, excluding performer training, to better ensure that these techniques will be well-received by an audience/participants, and to better ensure that the desired outcomes will be generated. My research was meant to fill in a bit of that gap. And my conclusion? Without deliberate, thoughtful cultivation of support for and trust in such an initiative among staff at the lead agency, among partner organizations, and among those for whom the theater-for-development techniques will be used, and without clear definitions of what everyone expects from TfD activities, such efforts will fail, no matter how experienced or enthusiastic your artistic staff is. In fact, in one case I studied, not doing this groundwork before hand turned out to be deadly.

My project included a review of key literature on TfD, and semi-structured interviews with 12 TfD practitioners. You can read online:

If you have undertaken similar research – not about theater as a tool for development, but specifically what needs to happen before such activities take place in order for them to be successful, give me a shout.

A few fun links for Friday

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logoA few links for Friday, when I’m not sure anyone actually reads my Blog or my Facebook entries and I’m not feeling very creative…:

  • Howard Sherman, Executive Director of the American Theatre Wing and a good friend (and my former boss at Hartford Stage!) has a delightful blog about after-performance discussions following live stage performances. I have attended these more than a few times, and lead two myself at two different theaters, and he’s spot on with these observations. Made me smile. As does this photo of Howard next to one of my favorite people in the world.
  • I also recently reconnected with another colleague from my theater days, Sharron Boilini, now of the Westport Country Playhouse, who helped give me insight into what attendees might be expecting out of the live online event I’m helping to coordinate for TechSoup (it’s March 30 – join me and hear me try to talk about accounting software for nonprofits!).
  • Was thrilled to find this Japan-based organization: Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support. Speaking of Japan, because I’ve raised more money on the monetized pages of my web site (the pages focused on helping individuals find volunteering, community service and humanitarian work abroad), I’m donating anything I raise in March above my target goal to an organization focused on helping in Japan. It won’t be much — I’m not making anything to brag about on these pages — but it will be better than nothing.
  • I’ve created a Flickr set of photos of me at work. Very fun to compile. It’s obvious, isn’t, that I really love to work! See all that I can do when it comes to training for your nonprofit, NGO, or other community-focused organization.
  • Are you a trainer? An online community architect? A techie? A marketer? An oh-so-engaging online facilitator or online event producer? And do you love nonprofits and understand their unique culture and needs? If so, you should check out the cool open jobs at TechSoup.
  • One of my favorite people to follow on Twitter is Frank Conniff. One of his latest: If FAA doesn’t want air traffic controllers sleeping, why not use the screaming babies that always keep me awake on planes.
  • Another favorite Twitter feed of mine is FakeAPStylebook: Affect is verb: “The songs of Liza Minnelli affected the crops.” Effect is noun: “Behold the effect Liza has on the corn!”

One last thing: please don’t be offended if I don’t follow you on Twitter, particularly if I already subscribe to your blog via RSS and have friended you on Facebook and subscribe to your email newsletter, in which case I know what you’re up to, really!