Task 4a Relevant questions for Performing Arts Management

Since researching and deciding my awards title, I have now been able to develop a set of questions that are relevant to it and my professional practice - Performing Arts Management.

I feel I possibly worked backwards but due to the diversity of my professional practice and running my company Manic Stage Productions, it seemed the right way to pin point the sort of questions i needed to be focusing on, in order to connect them with my chosen future career path and awards title.

Here are 6 questions that initially spring to mind. I am yet to discover the line of inquiry I wish to persue but am hoping that these starting points will develop into further thinking?

I would love any of you to answer any of them and also ask further questions you feel may follow on and I will be taking my video camera out and about this weekend to record the opinions of other practitioners. Watch this space!

1. How should I advertise my company to new clients?

*Currently I use several ways to try and attract new clients, but again because the company is so diverse I am unsure how much information to give people and the best methods to do so?

*Is it best to focus more money and attention on one form of advertising or spread finances thinly across many different projects?

2. Should my company consider sponsorship?

http://www.mybusiness.co.uk/YXIDpgVotKRAKg.html 

*With very little funds to spare would this be an appropriate advertising option

*Who should I consider sponsoring in order to successfully reach my target audience

3. Do testimonials influence prospective clients?

*We have a few on our website but how many should we showcase?

*Is it worth requesting testimonials from past clients?

4. Is networking more effective via the web or face to face?

*Going back to our findings and feelings on the topic of web 2 technologies. More and more companies are networking via the web using sources such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Time plays a big factor in this as using the web is so quick and easy but is it impersonal and miss informative?

*So much of my company is visual and personal that I find it hard to promote and network via the web

5. How do you keep current clients? and keep them happy?

*There are always new companies offering lower prices and new deals. Is it enough to just have experience and rely on your past good work for the client to expect their loyalty or should I be running loyalty schemes?

*Should I stay strong and believe that our professionalism is reflected in the price if clients opt for cheaper alternatives or consider dropping the cost of my services to compete with new companies in the area?

6. Once leaving the performance side of the industry to take on a management role, are you at a disadvantage when it comes to staying current?

*New styles, terminology and industry professionals are always emerging. It proves difficult to keep up to date with the fast moving elements of the industry, whilst sustaining the day to day running of the business. Any ideas?

I very much look forward to your thoughts and comments!!

Line of inquiry into defining my professional practice and subsequently picking my awards title.

I have spent time researching terminology associated with my professional practice in the hope that I will be able to determine an exact title for my role in the industry. Here is an account of my findings and the thoughts that influenced the direction my research went.

I started with the words MANAGER and DIRECTOR as I have my own company and along with my business partner I am the manager / director of Manic Stage Productions. I wanted to discover which term encompassed my role with in the business best.

Manager - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manager 

Manager may refer to:

Anyone who uses management skills or holds the organizational title of "manager"

A manager of a department in an organization

A manager of a division (business)

Director  - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director 

Creative director, a person usually responsible for creative development of Interactive Entertainment, and is generally regarded as the prime design authority across the company's product range.

Director (business) may also be the title of a mid-level management position

Both definitions rang true with my position as the founder of the company but I was drawn to Manager over Director as although I am indeed the creative director of Manic Stage Productions I felt this was just one of my roles as a manager. The reference Director (business) may also be the title of a mid-level management position clarified my decision. But now to make sure I had made the right choice I looked further into the role of a manager and researched the word MANAGEMENT.

Management - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management 

Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources.

Because organizations can be viewed as systems, management can also be defined as human action, including design, to facilitate the production of useful outcomes from a system. This view opens the opportunity to 'manage' oneself, a pre-requisite in attempting to manage others.

Management can also refer to the person or people who perform the act(s) of management.

I felt the key skills this description mentioned reflected my day to day role within Manic Stage Productions busy office and was keen to discover other skills people thought were required to become a successful manager.  I came across this website and definition.

Skills - http://management.about.com/od/managementskills/a/ManagementSkillsPyramid.htm 

To be successful, there are many skills a manager needs to master. I adapted Kammy Hatnes' pyramid structure to show the increasingly difficult management skills you must master at each level and to also display how these management skills build on each other to help you achieve success in your management career. The result is the Management Skills Pyramid shown here. Each level of the Management Skills Pyramid is listed below and is discussed in more detail on the linked pages.

I related well to all the skills in the triangle and certainly felt my role to be  in management. Yet I still felt that MANAGER / MANAGEMENT was not specific enough and didn’t capture the essence of my managerial role. I started to think about the areas my company was involved in.  DANCE is how the company evolved through Matt (my business partner) and our professional careers as dancers.

Dance - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance 

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music,[1] used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting.

Yet 5 years down the line the company had grown and we were now involved with all aspects of  the arts. With this in mind did I need to broaden my definition of our work to THE ARTS?  

Arts - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_arts 

The arts are a vast subdivision of culture, composed of many creative endeavors and disciplines. It is a broader term than "art," which as a description of a field usually means only the visual arts.[1] The arts encompasses visual arts, literary arts and the performing arts - music, theatre, dance and film, among others.[2] This list is by no means comprehensive, but only meant to introduce the concept of the arts.

My findings when researching THE ARTS highlighted that infact this was to broader term to use in association with Manic Stage Productions as we are not working within   any other aspect than PERFORMING ARTS.  I suddenly felt that I had been possibly searching for a title that should have been obvious to me right from the start. Taking into consideration my previous training at a ‘Performing Arts College’ and subsequently pursuing a successful career as a ‘Performer’ I excitedly looked to the definition of  PERFORMING ARTS

Performing Arts - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performing_arts 

The performing arts are those forms of art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object. The term "performing arts" first appeared in the English language in the year 1711.

The Performing Arts - http://www.barlowandassociates.com/INTRODUCTION%20TO%20PERFORMING%20ARTS%20TERMINOLOGY.htm  Music, dance, theatre and/or opera in a relationship between performers and an audience, conceived by an artist and performed in a venue.

I was certain that I had narrowed it down to the words that captured my professional practice exactly PERFORMING ARTS MANAGEMENT and when placing these words in to Goggle was excited at my findings. This is in fact a well used and recognized title that is highly sort after and respected.

Performing Arts Management - http://www.ukperformingarts.co.uk/management/ 

Your love of the performing arts may not necessarily mean you want to be in front of an audience or camera, or behind the scenes working in a technical capacity. Successful performances don't ever 'just happen', they are the result of a person or a group of people who are superb communicators, have the ability to motivate people and work extremely efficiently under pressure. Welcome to the World of Management.

The role of a performing arts manager - http://www.ukperformingarts.co.uk/management/manacourses.asp

What do performing arts managers do? Managers use their knowledge, skills and experience to present arts and cultural events to the public. They act as bridges, bringing together artists and audiences. Their work is usually carried out behind the scenes, ensuring that artists, venues and projects get recognition, funding and are able to operate in a sustainable way. They also make certain that the public experience arts and cultural events in the most appropriate and therefore enjoyable ways.

By allowing myself to be open to different terminology and wanting to define my professional practice accurately I am happy to say that I have found a title that fits perfectly with the position I am currently in with my company Manic Stage Productions and also will carry me in good steed when developing my future career.

BA (HONS) Professional Practice (Performing Arts Management)

A summery of campus Session 8th Feb 2011

Campus Session 8th Feb

Todays campus session was my 1st (oops) and even though I competed module 1 without any previous attendance to campus, I was sure that I would certainly benefit from these one off sessions. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and all of the new and interesting people I met.  It was great to meet students who’s blogs I had become familiar with and most of all I now feel officially part of a new family all on the same path.   I feel this can only help towards my development on the course both in achievement and personal gain.

I quickly want to summaries today’s session for my own clarification and also to inform those of you who were unable to attend.

Task 1

We 1st discussed mapping our knowledge of professional practice. The following 2 questions were asked

*What do I need to know to be a professional practitioner?

*What else do I need to know to be successful?

Using these questions as a starting point we were then asked to think within our whole profession and represent our thoughts and findings graphically.

Here is my groups (Nicholas, Mark, Jo and myself) interpretation 

BUILDING BLOCKS FOR OUR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE AS ARTS MANAGER

                                 B3 SPECIALIZED 

            B2  ADAPTABLE

B1GENERIC

B1 - We felt this to be the foundation for any professional practitioner and we named it “Generic”.  Within this block we included skills and knowledge that are required what ever practice you pursue.

B2 - This block was called “Adaptable”.  We felt that again many different practitioners would relate to having these skills and knowledge but depending on each individuals professional practice these sub headings would be developed and used differently. I.E. Marketing Strategies, I as an Arts Manager would market my business as a whole and also have to market internal aspects of the business as and when required.  I would possibly organize Events, Media Publicity, Publicity stunts and Promotional Material.  Where as a performers marketing strategy would be implemented differently and maybe include, finding an agent, producing a Z-Card, constructing a C.V.

B3 - This is our top block and is the block that helps define our professional practice as an Arts Manager.  It is called “Specialized” as it includes very specific skills and knowledge associated and needed to succeed in our chosen field.

By developing this block design we could now easily distinguish the skills and knowledge we required to be successful.  We could use it as a tool to individually start to recognize the  things we were capable of and competent at and the things we needed to acquire or refine.  In turn we were enlightened to the gaps between capability and competency.

Most groups focused on skills but it is equally important to gain knowledge throughout your professional practice.  A skill is something you acquire and become competent at, but knowledge is never ending.  There is always more unknown than can ever be known.

This lead nicely on to more stimulating questions.

*What do you know?

*What do you yet know?

*What do you want to know?

*What are your big professional questions? (Starting to produce thoughts for inquiry)

As a group we proposed and discussed “Big questions” trying to stimulate ideas for our individual lines of inquiry.  Unfortunately I am yet to stumble upon anything that I may wish to inquire but I will use the above questions over the next few days to hopefully generate a clearer idea.

To once again disect our individual professional practice we were asked

*Within your professional practice what are your personal advantages and what are your challenges?

Here are my thoughts

CHALLENGES	ADVANTAGES
Not becoming stereotyped	My developing knowledge
Establishing new contacts & clients	My age and experience
Maintaining status	My previous career as a performer
Staying current	Business has been established for 5yrs
Finding suitable committed employees	Recommendations
Networking	Being in a partnership
Funding

Within our group which consisted of myself - Arts Manager, Ellenor - Performer, Lisa - Performer, Nicholas - Arts Manger and Mustafa - Graphic Designer we were very interested to discover that what was an advantage to one profession actually challenged another.

I.E The older I have become whilst running my company Manic Stage Productions the more respect I seem to gain from my piers and clients as they seem to associate age with knowledge and success.  Where as a performer felt challenged by age as although more experienced sometimes they are deemed not as employable as a young fresh graduate.

The final part of the day focused on Special Interest Groups (SIG) we worked as a group to develop a strategy that worked best for all participants of BAPP Module 3835

Here is a brief outline of what was proposed

• A closed BAPP Module 3835 group would be created by Paula Nottingham on Facebook
• Everybody on this module would be invited to join
• Threads would be started by individuals wishing to discuss aspects / questions relevant to their professional practice
• Others would comment and reply to threads they were interested / knowledgeable in
• There would be no limit to the amount of threads you can involve yourself in
• If a thread was particularly interesting to you, you are encouraged to blog about your thoughts
• The person who started the thread should evaluate it on their blog and post this to the group
• At some point (Time frame to be discussed on a separate thread) more specific groups would be created to go further and deeper into discussions thus creating a more concentrated membership
• You would not be limited to the number of core groups you join
• These new core groups would also be closed and include students on the module but also invited industry professional relevant to the groups topics.
• These professionals would hopefully inject useful questions, knowledge, proposals etc to help us progress with our own development in our chosen professional practice.

All in all the session was a great inspiration to me and has defiantly given me the enthusiasm to get cracking with this modules tasks. I hope my summary has helped anyone that was unable to attend and feel free to ask any questions if you are unsure.