The inaugural performARTs groups – Coterie Theatre, Kansas City Chorale, Quality Hill Playhouse, Charlotte Street Foundation, Paul Mesner Puppets and the Kansas City Actors Theatre – met at a KCPT to talk about what the outcomes of the series that not only provided a printed story in KC Studio, KCPT produced a piece on the selected groups airing multiple times in the next 12 months on The Local Show.
Executive Director Joette Pelster says the Coterie Theatre used the exposure through the performARTs series as a want to raise funds to send Lucky Duck to New York. “The audiences are those we want to be in front of when you look at the magazine and public television,” she says. “The work represents a comprehensive and institutional piece for us.”
The Kansas City Chorale’s executive director Don Lancasty calls the chance to be part of performARTs an investment. “We had record breaking sales and we really believe significance can be placed on the combined article and feature on KCPT.”
With the spotlight firmly on each organization for two months, Rick Truman, managing director of Quality Hill Playhouse, says both the print and television pieces offered readers and viewers a chance to see the broader range of the performing arts venue. “We leveraged the coverage online and the ability to share the work. We gained some repeat customers.”
John Rensenhouse, actor and president of the Kansas City Actors Theatre, and Audrey Porsche, marketing and development director, both applauded performARTs. Rensenhouse says the ability to put a copy of the article and a CD with the Local Show segment in grant proposals is a plus. “It’s marketing we can’t afford to do,” he says. “We doubled our subscriptions.” Porsche says the information in the e-blasts helped. “We were fortunate to be one of the first six organizations, but this attention to the arts means support for the arts as a whole.”
Marketing & Community Relations Manager Jen Vogrin says Charlotte Street Foundation, which just marked 15 years in the community, is not an easy organization to label. The group’s mission is to serve as a catalyst for grassroots arts and artists in the visual and performing arts. “The channels of communication have opened with a local magazine and a local show featuring local artists.” She said the Artist Walk & Talks at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art will continue this fall and into the spring.
Paul Mesner, whose organization, Paul Mesner Puppets is celebrating its 25th season, was the last to be featured in the first round, says the chance to be part of performARTS brings even more notice to the quality productions and the reach the group has.
This year, six more arts organizations begin with The Folly Theater (November/December 2012); Unicorn Theatre (January/February 2013); Kansas City Ballet (March/April 2013); Jewish Community Center – Performances at the White Theatre (May/June 2013); American Jazz Museum/Gem Theater (July/August 2013); and Mid-America Arts Alliance (September/October 2013).
