Eight Essential Elements For Success: For Artists or Agents PASSION- This is the single most important element. Y o u must passionately love what you do and the art form you represent. The art must excite you, fill you, compel you, sustain you through difficult times and lift you to heights that others often don't understand. If you enter this field to make a lot of money or look at it as any other kind of work you are doomed to fail. P L A N - This is often the most difficult for those of us in the arts, but the business of selling and promoting performing arts must be treated like a real business. Y o u need to develop a long range plan and short term goals. You need to dream where you w i l l be in ten years and strategically plot what you w i l l do in six months, next week, and this afternoon. P R O D U C T - Your art must be exemplary. Even with the deepest passion and best organization and promotion, if your product (i.e. You!) isn't of the highest quality you w i l l not survive in this field. Y o u must always be creating and improving your product. P R O M O T I O N - Y o u must provide materials that enable you to market yourself and for presenters to market you to their audiences. This includes good photos, fliers, video, press kits, audio tapes, ideas for sponsors to promote you, etc. This is an area where it is wise to seek some professional advice. To do it well w i l l require investing some money in your future. P R O C E D U R E S - Set up an office with your best organizational skills. Develop systems to track each step of the booking and touring process. Use a good accounting system. Analyze what your real costs of touring are before you set and quote fees. K n o w what the technical needs are and what kinds of venues are appropriate for your works. Computers can be a big help here. There are a number of excellent programs available for contact management and accounting. P R O B E - This is really about asking the right questions and active listening. To find out what kinds of things a theatre presents, get on their m a i l ing list and study their season, diligently read the entertainment section of newspapers where you would like to tour, attend as many events as your time w i l l allow. Most importantly talk to the presenters and ask them questions about what they do and what their timeline is. F i n d out what their mission and purpose is. D o they buy artist s who they see showcased? D o they only deal with established agents? Too many eager, talented artists and agents rush to immediately sell themselves rather than probing to find out i f they are indeed appropriate for a particular venue. This also helps to develop a relationship with the presenter. Chances are even i f they are not the right venue for you they may refer you to someone else who is appropriate. P E R S I S T E N C E - This is about not giving up, being consist ant and upbeat even after you have heard no a lot. This means sending notes to presenters in the area inviting them to see a performance. This means always doing what you say you w i l l do... sending the reviews, calling back in two weeks, re-working you tech rider, whatever. This is a difficult thing for artists, Ego has to be put aside or very thick skin developed. There is also a fine line between persistent and pushy. The latter w i l l lose dates for you. P A T I E N C E - We are in a field where nothing happens very quickly. Presenters are working on seasons a year or more in advance. M a n y must take their programming ideas to a board or committee. Some presenters want to know you w i l l be around a year from now and won't even consider you until you have proven some longevity. Through it all you must take a deep breath and try to be patient. If you do all of the above there is one last 'P' that should happen: P R O F I T . I am a firm believer that artists must be paid and be able to sustain themselves with their creative work. Don't Space For Rant by Ingrid Kidd-Goldfarb undersell your potential! * - Ingrid Kidd-Goldfarb was a founding partner and owner of Mainstage Management International until 1996. She is a former president of the National Association of Performing Arts Managers and Agents. Ingrid and her daughter Kiersten bollmann run the West Coast office of Classical Action, Performing Arts Against AIDS. Ingrid has served three years on the board of Western Alliance of Arts Administrators, and is currently WAAA's President This article was first published in Volume 16, Issue I of Arts Northwest News. Reprinted by permission. Witness A r t s E x h i b i t i o n open to the public December 18, 1997 -^January 18, 1998 Witness is a collaboration of the Squamish Nation and Vancouver's Roundhouse Community Centre. Artists are invited to participate in this interdisciplinary arts exhibition--an inter-cultural dialogue concerning Squamish Nation land title, culture, community and ecology. Work to be submitted Dec. 12. Contact Irwin Oostindie at 713.1800 for information. Roundhouse D a v i e &. P a c i f i c , V a n c o u v e r