Touring to churches, school halls and community centres
'For an organisation like the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, touring to nontraditional venues such as churches, school halls and community centres is an essential part of life.
BBC NOW is unique in the UK in being both a broadcasting and national orchestra, funded by both the BBC and the Arts Council of Wales. We have a broad mission, to perform the greatest range of music to the widest possible audience, and virtually every public concert we give is broadcast on radio.
In Wales the majority of the population is concentrated in a few urban centres so, to serve 'the widest possible audience', BBC NOW must tour to the small, rural towns around the country, finding the most appropriate venue to house an orchestra. What this means in terms of our concert activity is that we can be performing in a purpose-built concert hall one week - such as our 2,000 seat performing home, St David's Hall in Cardiff - and in a rural church the next such as the 300 seat Brecon Cathedral.
The role of the marketing department in promoting concerts in more unusual venues varies quite significantly, depending on the 'deal'. Many of these performances take place under the auspices of arts or music festivals, where the festival is the concert promoter. In other cases the orchestra would usually hire the venue and take responsibility for promoting the concert; in these instances the marketing department's role is roughly defined as covering 'anything to do with the audience'.
The most important part of the marketing process for this type of concert is the recce, which ideally should be done at the same time as the technical team's recce. Over the years we have developed a master checklist of questions to ask and information to find out at the recce. Not all of the questions are relevant to every venue, but they are a useful starting point. It is important to see them as an addition to the usual marketing planning process.
- does the venue have its own seating or do you need to hire chairs?
- if the venue has its own seating, is it fixed or removable?
- who will set out the chairs? Is there caretaker or will BBC NOW's own staff have to set them out?
- what is the seating capacity? Does this figure take into account the size of the performing space required? Is the size of the required performing space likely to change between the time of the recce and the performance(s)?
- are there any restricted views? For example, in a church where are the pillars, pulpit and font?
- will the seating be reserved or unreserved? NB it is invariably easier, from both a ticket sales and stewarding perspective, in venues such as these to make the seating unreserved
From this information you can draw up a detailed seating plan, such as the one below from BBC NOW's concert at Brecon Cathedral in June 2002:
- main seating in nave and baptistry. New (comfortable) seats, not fixed position, facing forward towards the altar. Room for seating 213 in nave plus 66 in baptistry (279 in total). Could be turned round, but would need to bring additional staff to do this as there is not enough staff/helpers at the cathedral to do this
- choir stalls are fixed (huge, old-fashioned wooden pews) and face in towards the central aisle. Room for seating 56 (28 either side of aisle)
- additional seating using foldaway chairs at either side of the main seating in the nave. Room for approx 45-50 additional seats
- potential space also for additional seating towards the front of the cathedral behind the choir seats. Room for approx 80 additional seats (40 on each side)
Option 1 - performers at back of cathedral
- seating capacity is 165 min up to 210 max
- audience will enter via the 2nd entrance on the churchyard side of the cathedral
Option 2 - performers at altar end of cathedral
- seating capacity is 307 min up to 432 max
- audience will enter via the main entrance on the churchyard side of the cathedral
- does the venue have its own stewards or will you have to organise stewards yourself?
- will the stewards require contracting and paying separately to the hire of the venue?
- are there any conditions on the number and type of stewards required under the terms of the contract to hire the venue, eg do they have to be 'qualified doorpersons'?
- who will be the official first aider?
- does the venue have an outlet for selling tickets in advance, eg church shop or school office?
- if the venue doesn't have an outlet, is there another outlet where tickets can be sold in advance, eg tourist information centre, local council public information office (often known as 'one stop shops') or nearby venue which does have its own box office?
- is there a facility for accepting credit card bookings or will tickets be available for cash or cheque only?
- who will sell tickets on the night of the event? Does the venue have volunteers or staff available to do this or will you have to do this yourself? Is there a table or desk available or will you have to bring your own table?
- do you need to have tickets printed?
BBC NOW is fortunate in that it has its own call centre based box office, the BBC Call NOW Line, and can sell tickets for all its concerts irrespective of venue. However, we have found that it is always important to have a local ticket sales facility, as many customers prefer not to phone a box office which is based many miles away.
- is there a foyer (or vestibule or porch) or does the entrance open directly into the hall? If there is no foyer, where will latecomers wait, particularly in bad weather?
- how many entrances are there? Will all of them be open?
- is there access for disabled patrons? Is this the same as the main audience entrance, or will a separate entrance have to be opened and stewarded?
- what toilet facilities are there and are these shared with the performers? In many churches there are a limited number of toilets, perhaps none available for audience members
- is there a cloakroom? If there is, is it secure and/or staffed? If there is no cloakroom is there sufficient room for audience members to keep their coats/belongings with them (eg in church pews) or will this have an effect on the seating space available?
- can the audience lighting be dimmed during the performance, or will all lights have to be left on?
- how long does it take for the heating in the main seating area to warm up? Does a special request have to be made for the heating to be switched on early?
- is there sufficient parking for audience members along with performers' and technical vehicles? If not, you may need to specify alternative parking on promotional materials
- is there a suitable area for serving refreshments? If so, does the venue have appropriate staff or volunteers available for this?
- can refreshments be provided in an adjacent building, eg church hall?
- who will run the refreshments on the night? For BBC NOW concerts in the past we have asked the PTA at a local school to organise refreshments, and on another occasion a local pub set up their own bar in a corner of the hall
- who will take the income from any refreshments? Does a bar licence need to be applied for?
- who will run the show on the night of the event? Who will signal for the start of the show from front of house and how will that message get backstage?
- are there any local print distribution networks, eg parish noticeboards?
- is there a parish or school newsletter available for advertising or editorial promotion?
- are there any local arts groups, societies or festivals which can assist with local promotion, such as providing mailing lists or print distribution?
- what local contacts are there who can help with marketing the concert, eg local council arts development officers, youth orchestra organisers, music teachers, festival and music society organisers?
After the recce has been completed all the information gathered should be incorporated into the marketing plan for the event, and any action points should be completed as early as possible.
Planning, organising and marketing events in nontraditional venues, where there is little or no infrastructure, can be one of the most hectic and nail-biting periods of an arts manager's working life, but it can also be one of the most artistically enjoyable. One of the most stressful concerts (from an organisational point of view) that BBC NOW gave was also one of our best. The concert took place in the intimate, 13th century St Asaph Cathedral in December 2000 and was well oversubscribed, as well as being broadcast live on BBC Radio Wales. Once we had managed to get everyone into a seat - just seconds before we went on air -we enjoyed a truly stunning concert. The audience was spellbound by a beautifully atmospheric performance of Faure's Requiem and we felt all the effort had been well worthwhile.'
Joanna Sigsworth, Marketing & Publicity Manager, BBC National Orchestra of Wales