Andrew Girvan

Twespians Fringe: Theatre PR – Pushing it to its limits

By: agirvan

24-11-2011

Arts Marketing, Digital Theatre, Facebook, London Theatre, Marketing, New Media, Personal Marketing, Social Media, Twitter

After their first crack at the digital theatre PR whip, ‘Are we doing all we can?’, theatre/twitter meet-up Twespians rounded up another panel to tackle ‘Pushing it to its limits’, supported again by the lovely folks at Mobius.

With the digital world being so important, do we need to rethink the tried and tested methods that so many still rely on today? Can we learn from what people are doing in other disciplines? Is a fundamental shift required in how we perceive audience, community and promotion?

Twespians Fringe: Theatre PR – Are We Doing All We Can?

By: agirvan

20-09-2011

Arts Marketing, London Theatre, Marketing, New Media, News, Social Media, Twitter, Whatsonstage

Hosted by Whatsonstage.com deputy editor Andrew Girvan, the latest Twespians Fringe event brings PRs and journalists together with a panel discussion on ‘Theatre PR: Are we doing all we can?’

PR has been changing as an industry at the same rate that Twitter changes trending topics recently. Is theatre PR keeping up with the moving industry? We discus the good side and bad side of current theatre PR, where we can move forward and where we need to trim the fat in an industry that Lyn Gardner refers to as ‘criminally undervalued’.

The event combined a combination of questions from Andrew, the live audience and Twitter.

Towards Defining a Successful Run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

By: agirvan

01-09-2011

Edinburgh Fringe, European Theatre, Marketing, Personal Marketing, Professional Performers

Edinburgh Fringe Posters

Now that I’m a year on from graduating LIPA’s Music, Theatre and Entertainment Management degree I thought it was probably safe to publish my Management Research Paper, titled Towards defining a successful run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Abstract

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival, an event with a 60 year history which remains three times bigger than its nearest competitor.

This paper examines a number of semi-professional companies presenting shows at the 2008 Fringe, their work competing against 2,100 other shows for the attention of audience members, press and promoters.

Musical Marketing Coup: Rocky Horror Glee Show

By: agirvan

14-11-2010

Actors, American Theatre, Broadway, Marketing, Musical Theatre, New Media, Old Media, Social Media, Television

I have used my blog to write about Glee before. Seeing the buzz the show was generating in the States I have to say I was intrigued as to whether the show would hit the mark on this side of the pond. At this point there is really no question about it, Glee is huge business. The show has rewritten music marketing and I personally believe is one of the best promotional tools musical theatre has going for it at the moment. So imagine my surprise when I heard the show would be dedicating its Halloween episode to Richard O’Brien’s 1975 cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Musical marketing genius. Here’s why:

I would almost go so far as to argue that Glee has rewritten the rule of music publishing. “The Glee Effect” has led to weeks when 25 songs on the Billboard Top 100 Charts have been songs from the show. Not only do recordings of numbers sung by the cast, released straight after that week’s broadcast for sale on iTunes, but original recordings of the songs the show has covered see huge sales.

Amsterdam Theatre Review: Upgrade or Die at Boom Chicago

By: agirvan

22-06-2010

Digital Theatre, European Theatre, Theatre Review, Travel

You can read my five-part blog about visiting Amsterdam, created entirely using my iPhone 3 at girvgoesdutch.tumblr.com

Having spotted in my Rough Guide and cycled past it on my bike tour I was determined to consume the theatrical offering of Boom Chicago, an English language comedy/improv/cabaret venue in the heart of the city’s cultural centre.

There isn’t much English theatre on offer in Amsterdam, and neither there should be, if a culture is to be represented, examined and better understood through traffic on the stage then it should be done in the mother tongue, how else is it to speak to its audience? It could be argued that Boom Chicago fits within this statement as more tourists performing to tourists. The mainly American accented cast had a Dutch speaker amongst them and made enough Dutch language and political jokes to keep locals feeling that they were in on something the rest of us weren’t, but the main comedy offering was one of universal appeal and was genuinely funny.

#CIAM: Will Digital Innovation be the future of theatre – Presentation Video

By: agirvan

06-05-2010

Conference, Copyright, Digital Theatre, London Theatre, Marketing, Television

This is the video from my Contemporary Issues in Arts Management conference paper, Will digital innovation be the future of theatre? The paper was delivered as the penultimate module of my Music, Theatre and Entertainment Management degree at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. To find out more about the conference, as well as the abstracts of all of my classmates delivering papers, visit artsconferences.co.uk.

There were a huge variety of papers, all covering contemporary issues which interested those speaking. They covered a range of topics, including music sync fees, social media and the evolution of the live music industry. To read the abstract for my paper as well as a little bit more about the topic itself, have a read of my previous #CIAM post. You might also want to follow the #CIAM hashtag on Twitter, where a variety of links are posted reflecting the reality young performing arts managers think they will be facing upon graduation.