Ahh the inaugural post

After that hefty introduction under the title, I don't know where to start. I guess I can do a little free PR for the places that have molded me into the wannabe arts administrator I am today.

I graduated last May from DePauw University in Greencastle Indiana. I majored in Music Business because I play the flute, but did not want to be an unemployed performance major (the joke's on me on that one) and I didn't want to teach. DePauw is a great school and I'm glad I went there, but the music business program is one of the oldest in the country...and hasn't done much to update itself.

My best internship/marketing experience has been the time I spent with the Chicago Chamber Musicians. In the 2 1/2 years since I was their intern they have been doing SO much with marketing and audience development and I'm very excited for them. I've done internships with the Harris Theater and learned a lot there and am currently Special Events intern at the Chicago Children's Theatre.

I did my Senior Thesis in college on Audience Development in Chicago Arts Organizations. I did some book research, but the majority of my research involved calling people up, reading marketing plans they sent me, and sometimes going in for interviews. I learned a lot of neat things from this expeience, and more importantly I learned that a lot of these marketing people had NO CLUE what all the other marketing people were doing. I'll save the ideas I got out of that for another post.

So basically all these experiences I've had, and the struggle I've been going through trying to get a job (I keep getting rejected for older people with "more experience") have led me to this blog. I need to vent my frustration a little bit, and show the world (and remind myself) that I do know what I'm talking about. I might not have 15 years as Marketing Director at FancyPantsTheatreCompany under my belt, but I have new ideas and am not so burned out I'm going to give up on them.