Zen and the art of selling shows
The Kennedy Center’s Kim Peter Kovac offers some tips on selling shows to international producers and presenters.
Background
On 14 and 15 March I had the great pleasure of meeting representatives from fifteen Aussie companies, as one of a group of international presenters from the US, Japan, Korea, and Brazil that included Masami Miyashita, Luiza Monteiro, Hisami Shimoyama, and Kim Woo Ok. It was a very useful couple of days, the result of a partnership between Come Out, Young People and the Arts Australia and the Australia Council’s Audience and Marketing Development Division.
While some of the companies had considerable experience selling tours, most seemed to have little with large-scale and/or international touring. As Director of Youth and Family Programs at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, I tend to be the point person when companies try to pitch their work, so I thought it might be helpful to offer a few general comments and suggestions. Then Lowdown Editor Tony Mack charmed me into putting these thoughts into an article. Which is why we’re all here…
These suggestions are offered in the spirit of helpfulness and are by no means definitive. Since my training is in directing and lighting design, I’m a largely self-taught (and a tad idiosyncratic) administrator, so two US colleagues (both terrific programmers) – Mary Rose Lloyd of the New Victory Theater in New York and Heather Spicuzza of the Ordway Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota – graciously read this and offered comments.
Some of this is general, some specific to what I encountered in Australia, some based on the system in the US, which is more through agents, but the same construct is applicable to artists selling their work.
Let’s start with what the Adelaide meetings were about – artists/representatives meeting presenters.
Firts of all, it's like speed dating!
Well, not really.
But the analogy is not chosen lightly, because in the first meeting of a presenter and an artist or agent there’s always a certain amount of scoping out – each party is sizing up the other to see if there’s common ground. Make sure your first impression is a good one (though you don’t necessarily have to wear your best frock). As with speed dating, part of the trick is getting to know something about the other party, quickly. One of the best ways to do that is to ask questions. One of the worst ways is to do all the talking.
Later on, it's like regular dating...
You can read more about this very interesting look at selling shows for touring in the June 2005 issue of Lowdown.
