{"id":182,"date":"2009-02-04T15:38:15","date_gmt":"2009-02-04T15:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp\/?p=182"},"modified":"2009-02-04T15:38:15","modified_gmt":"2009-02-04T15:38:15","slug":"getting_with_the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/2009\/02\/getting_with_the\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting with the"},"content":{"rendered":"

The (now not so) new Carnegie Hall programs are fantastic. I’ve been meaning to write this since seeing Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Orpheus there in October, but my scanner has been on the fritz. I was reminded how much I liked said programs, however, on Sunday night at the Kurtag recital<\/a> (um...go Steelers?<\/i>) and promptly repaired my scanner<\/a> for this purpose.
 
\"Carnegie-program.jpg\"<\/span>Such nice bright colors in the calendar section! Gives the hall the opportunity to highlight specific concerts in an aesthetically pleasing fashion without using wasteful and noisy program inserts. The blocks of color are clean and distracting in a good way. There are few things worse than venues trying to be cool with their marketing materials and, in doing so, losing sight of their established brand. The new calendar pages are still very “Carnegie” just…a bit more fun than the standard black, white and re(a)d all over.. Another great improvement is the inclusion of big artist photos above the bios; MUCH better than the tiny thumbnail treatment artist photos used to get:<\/p>\n

\"Carnegie-Program2.jpg\"<\/span>On Sunday, I also noticed a page I’d not seen before: “From Where I Sat”, billed as a “Carnegie Hall Recollection”. February’s re-collector is Glenn D. Lowry from MOMA, who talks about the energy contrast between pre-concert buzzing and the hush just before the first notes. The quote is only a couple paragraphs, but it’s nice to think about folks from around the city coming to Carnegie and then reflecting in print. I hope they choose people completely outside of the arts in the future, too. <\/p>\n

I, personally, always save my programs. I put them in a basket, and then in ziplock bags when the basket overflows, and then bring them to my mom’s house in Connecticut en masse whenever I visit. Some unsuspecting future relative will someday discover how many performances “crazy great-aunt Amanda” actually went to.  Every time I leave a concert, though, there are used programs lingering on the floor and on seats, not to mention boxes of untouched programs by the doors. In the interest of saving some trees and shekels, should presenters do away with printed programs? <\/p>\n

At the point of purchase, ask if the patron would like to be e mailed the program. Get his\/her e mail address. (Two birds, one click.) Advertisers will like this because they will now be able to get click-through reports from these e-programs. Patrons can print out the pages they want (most likely the actual list of pieces) and bring them to the concert.  If they print the whole thing, fine: it’s not your paper and printing costs! At the same time – and they’ve been doing this in England, at least with West End shows, as long as I can remember –  charge $1-$2 for printed programs, and tack that charge onto the ticket price. “Would you like to add a program?”, click. Print a handful of extras for walk-ups, and have the single pages with the list of pieces available at the box office just in case. Press and artist comps, of course, always get free programs included with their tickets.<\/p>\n

While you’re at it, announce that your house is “Going Green!” and get some local press for your troubles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The (now not so) new Carnegie Hall programs are fantastic. I’ve been meaning to write this since seeing Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Orpheus there in October, but my scanner has been on the fritz. I was reminded how much I liked said programs, however, on Sunday night at the Kurtag recital (um…go Steelers?) and promptly repaired […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}