Consulting

offered by Susan L. Smith    Susan L. Smith
(contact here)

Audience Development Consulting services available for those who present or produce concerts, theatre, dance, cabaret, opera, and film.

Guidance and pragmatic steps to help your performing arts organization with:

  • Communicating with the press and nurturing media relations.
  • Creating an effective subscription campaign and group sales effort.
  • Developing brochures and direct mail pieces.
  • Using electronic media and print advertising.
  • Handling the care and feeding of the mailing list and media list.
  • Developing approaches for corporate sponsorships.
  • Discovering the joys of barter.

Client List

  • Monica Bauer (playwright)
  • Devanaughn Theatre Co. (Boston, MA)
  • Falcon Theatre (Garry Marshall/Burbank, CA)
  • Fiddlehead Theatre (Norwood, MA)
  • Sylvia Greenberg (Mass. Cabaret Artist)
  • “Jack’s World” (Inet Entertainment Corp.)
  • Master Singers of Worcester (Worcester, MA)
  • Millbury Improvement Initiative (Millbury, MA)
  • Musicians of the Old Post Road
  • New Century Theatre (Northampton, MA)
  • New England Theatre Company (Paxton, MA)
  • Quinsigamond Community College Theatre Dept. (Worcester, MA)
  • Andrea C. Ross (actress)
  • 1794 Meetinghouse (New Salem, MA)
  • Wellesley Symphony Orchestra (Wellesley, MA)

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Audience Development – Testimonials

“I personally found her advice on building a board and fundraising invaluable. She also gave us input on building our subscriber base and we doubled it in the first year, and have grown the base significantly each subsequent year. Her experience and insight have been crucial to the success of New Century Theatre.” Steve Abdow, Board Chair, New Century Theatre, Northampton, MA

 

“I LOVE your article. I agree with every sentiment. I especially love the point you make about a familiar face during intermission. That’s brilliant! It really is all about the human touch. Years ago, I was House Manager at the Santa Fe Opera, and I learned very early in my tenure, that every interaction had btwn me, an usher or a box office staff member and an audience member did one of two things: either cemented the relationship to the institution moving forward, or knocked it dead in the water”. Roland Tec, former Director of Membership, Dramatists Guild of America (referencing Arts Marketing online article)

 

“Susan ran a highly successful workshop on Audience Development for the Performing Arts that reached out to many professionals interested in improving their understanding of the art of promotion. The response from our students was wonderful and included comments such as ‘Susan did a superb job of sharing her talents with us’ and ‘knows the topic and communicates it thoroughly and effectively’. Charlene L. Martin, Dean, Continuing Educ., Assumption College

 

“I know a little bit about Audience Development and thus was able to evaluate the ideas that Susan Smith gave me against my own experience. Her ideas are very good. Practical, achievable, measurable. That sort of good. Plus, Susan is delightful to work with. When we met, she took the time to learn where we wanted to be and to review what we had done to get where we are. She did not come in and make us start over from scratch, but rather pointed out some improvements that we had not thought of. None o f this caused any disruption or additional cost to our organization”. Nicholas Thaw, Exec. Director, 1794 Meetinghouse, New Salem, MA

“Her presentation was right on the money, linking our pre-conceived notions about audiences and our relationship to them with bigger picture insights and strategies, helping us to understand them in totally new ways.” Rikki Nicolae, attendee, Artsfirst Need to Know Conference, 2002.

“I believe that consulting with Susan Smith would benefit any arts organization, large or small”.   Leslie M. Holmes, President, Wellesley Symphony Orchestra

“Susan offers not only solutions for immediate problems, but also provides a framework for long-term growth. Her suggestions are practical, pragmatic, and easy to implement. I am confident that Susan’s expertise, which she conveys professionally and pleasantly, will prove most valuable to the New England Theatre Company, as well as to other cultural organizations in the area. Her counsel to NETC reinforced our board of directors’ opinion of her excellence”. William C. Sigalis, President, New England Theatre Company

 

“Your guidance to us in preparing our cover letter and sponsorship proposal benefits directly resulted in the ‘Presenting Sponsor’ support from one of our local Millbury financial institutions for the 2004 season.” Cynthia K. Burr, Exec. Director, Millbury Improvement Initiative

 

“If you’re a performer and want to learn quickly how to expand your fan base, there is nobody better than Susan Smith.” Greg  Curtis, singer

contact Susan here.

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