PBO goes to boot camp

Last Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Peter and Sasha attended the National Arts Marketing Project's Boot Camp at the offices of the San Francisco Foundation. The goal of the two summer sessions is to help 25 Bay Area arts groups develop strong marketing plans that may be eligible for multi-year grant financing. Julie Peeler (above right), Vice President of Arts and Business Programs with Americans for the Arts, led many of the lectures that focused on situational research and analysis and objective setting – in other words, forcing the participants to ask the hard questions of: where are we and where are we going? Sasha will return in August for the second half of the program with Board Member and Marketing Committee Chairman Brian Gould.

PBO applied to this training and grant program because, after two years of declining season and single ticket sales, the staff and board are becoming more thoughtful and proactive about promoting the artistic product of this wonderful orchestra and chorale. This means that we will be asking for more input from our audience than ever before. Please take the time to comment on our blog posts, post reviews on Yelp!, and fill out our audience surveys.

More importantly, however, is to share PBO with your friends and family – invite them to a concert, mention us in passing, forward them an enewsletter, social bookmark this blog, or even "tweet" about us. You will always be a better marketer than anyone on staff. Thank you for your continued support!

When was the last time that you acted as an evangelist for PBO?