Institute Increases PR and Other Initiatives
Higher profile created for outdoor theatres
from the Summer 2000 U.S. Outdoor Drama, pages 1-2
by Todd M. Lidh
At the 1999 National Conference on Outdoor Drama in Farmington, NM, attendees from all over the country expressed a strong desire for raised national awareness of outdoor drama. Representatives from the Institute of Outdoor Drama discussed ongoing efforts as well as future projects, all part of a plan to raise the national profile of outdoor theatres affiliated with the Institute (46 historical dramas, 62 Shakespeare festivals and 13 religious dramas in 37 states).
In the past twelve months, the Institute has initiated a year-long PR campaign that is well beyond any mounted in previous years. Some of the initiatives mentioned below may be familiar while others might come as no small surprise. Either way, it should be clear that the Institute’s highest priority is preserving outdoor drama and promoting it to all corners of the country.
June 1999: The Institute commissioned Dr. Larry Gustke, professor of tourism management at North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC), to conduct two professional focus groups. The goal was to assess public perception of outdoor historical drama and target ways of raising awareness and establishing which marketing techniques would be more effective than others. Many of Gustke’s findings were incorporated in his presentation at the National Conference on Outdoor Drama and subsequent articles in U.S. Outdoor Drama for the benefit of theatres across the country.
August 1999: In what is easily the largest international exposure ever for U.S. outdoor historical drama, the Institute initiated and facilitated a major feature story in Hemispheres, the award-winning in-flight magazine for United Airlines. Appearing in the May 2000 issue, the story, entitled "Heritage Theatre," reached an estimated 2,000,000 readers from all parts of the globe. The Institute coordinated the visit of Marilyn Stasio, a New York Times writer hired to write the story, to four outdoor historical dramas as well as providing her with videos, brochures and other materials from theatres around the nation for the piece.
September 1999: The Institute held a North Carolina Outdoor Drama Summit, a meeting of general managers and other theatre personnel from across the state to troubleshoot the declining attendance dilemma. The Institute brought in expert speakers (Larry Gustke; Mikie Wall from the NC Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development; David Weiss, a theatre consultant from Charlottesville, VA; and Mark R. Sumner, director emeritus of the Institute) for the two-day event which focused on problem-identification and possible solutions.
January 2000: Acting on the request of theatre mangers at the 1999 National Conference, the Institute began the process of grouping outdoor theatres into regional coalitions as well as selecting and contacting coalition leaders. It is hoped that these coalitions will allow theatres within a region to combine marketing and advertising resources to the mutual benefit of all involved as well as increase the range of contact for potential audience members.
April 2000: The Institute applied for grant money from the North Carolina Arts Council and the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation to hire Gustke as a full-time employee for the next year. As of July 3, both grants had been approved which will fund Gustke’s salary and programming needs. Dr. Gustke, a long-time advocate of the tourism potential of outdoor drama, will focus on helping revamp theatres’ marketing strategies, conducting audience surveys, meeting with theatre managers and other efforts to increase awareness and attendance of outdoor theatre.
May 2000: For the first time ever, the Institute distributed its annual Directory of Outdoor Drama in America with a full press kit, complete with two four-color photograph composite sheets; separate sample feature stories on historical dramas, Shakespeare festivals and religious plays; a fact sheet on outdoor drama in America; and the Directory itself. The press kit was mailed to nearly 800 magazine and newspaper editors, travel writers and other media professionals in a four-color, custom-designed envelope. Stories resulting from the Directory mailing have appeared in The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other major dailies across the country. Additionally, the Institute included CVB contact information in the 2000 Directory to encourage would-be visitors to learn more about the areas in which outdoor dramas are located.
May 2000: The Institute purchased a professional-quality video-capture computer card which will allow presentation of video from various outdoor dramas via the Internet as well as eventual in-house creation of training videos, selected scenes videos and workshop materials taken from the annual National Conference on Outdoor Drama. The Institute also purchased a photo-quality color printer which has already been used for the Directory press kit; additionally, the printer will allow photographs to be made of various slides already in-house and utilized by media unable to accept electronic submissions.
June 2000: The Institute continues to upgrade its website which now includes a comprehensive online Directory (with state locator maps); a full contact list of outdoor drama personnel; a media page with facts, figures, photographs, video clips, sound clips and news releases; over four dozen full-color, publication-quality photographs; and online registration for the annual conference in addition to existing information on the newsletter, annual auditions and other services provided by the Institute. The number of visitors to the website per month has increased from 350 in June 1999 to over 1300 in June 2000.