Spring Conference 2017

NAMT’s Development Committee invites you to participate in a mini-retreat where we’ll brainstorm ideas for developing support for NAMT’s new strategic plan initiatives and also talk about expanding our Players program to build our individual giving base. Conference attendees are encouraged to drop by and participate any time during the session to share their knowledge and experience, pick up ideas for their own organizations and have coffee and donuts with development colleagues. The Pantages is easily accessible by public transit or ride-hailing apps, so check in to the Hilton and then come join us! The Committee welcomes input from anyone interested in attending!

Sponsored by Universal Stage Productions

Attendees who are departing from the Hilton Los Angeles Universal City will gather at the hotel’s “Ballroom Circle” to board buses departing for the Hollywood Pantages.

From the guest room elevators, just keep walking through the lobby, past the check-in desk, restaurant, and “coffee corner,” and straight ahead through the ballroom corridor.

The first bus will leave the Hilton as soon as it is full. The second bus will leave at 8:00.

Attendees who are departing from the Hilton Los Angeles Universal City will gather at the hotel’s “Ballroom Circle” to board buses departing for the Hollywood Pantages.

From the guest room elevators, just keep walking through the lobby, past the check-in desk, restaurant, and “coffee corner,” and straight ahead through the ballroom corridor.

Sponsored by The Hollywood Pantages

Robert Greenblatt joined NBCUniversal in January 2011 as Chairman, NBC Entertainment and reports to NBCU Chief Executive Officer Steve Burke. In this role, Greenblatt is responsible for all aspects of primetime, late night, daytime, and first-run syndication programming.

He also oversees the Universal Television and Universal Television Alternative Studios, which currently producing nearly 40 scripted series as well as late-night and reality programs for a variety of network, cable and digital platforms. In addition to NBC primetime series such as the successful Chicago franchise, Shades of Blue, Superstore and all of NBC’s hit late-night shows, Universal Television also produces the Golden Globe-winning Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Emmy Award-winning comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Master of None, The Mindy Project, Bates Motel, and The Path.

Under Greenblatt’s leadership, NBC regained its #1 status in the key 18-49 demographic after a decade in last place. NBC has won the last three 52-week broadcast seasons and is on track to win again for the ’16-’17 season. The network has also won five consecutive November sweeps and six consecutive summers in adults 18-49. And This Is Us – the biggest new hit on television – joins a wide range of leading reality shows that includes America’s Got Talent and The Voice as well as the two biggest sports franchises, Sunday and Thursday Night Football.

A Golden Globe Award-winning television producer (Six Feet Under) and Tony Award-winning Broadway producer (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), Greenblatt has also moved NBC to the forefront of live television events. He broke ground four years ago with the broadcast of NBC’s musical The Sound of Music Live!, which attracted 21 million viewers and has become a yearly tradition. NBC presented The Wiz Live! in 2015 and Hairspray Live! last December, with Bye Bye Birdie starring Jennifer Lopez on tap for December of 2017.

Greenblatt’s relationship with Dolly Parton led to him producing the Tony-nominated Broadway hit 9 to 5: The Musical with a score by Parton. And two telefilms for NBC — Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors and Christmas of Many Colors — each garnered 16 million viewers, making them the most-watched TV movies in nearly eight years.

Prior to NBC, Greenblatt was President of Entertainment for Showtime Networks, where he supervised a slate of original programming that re-positioned the company as a leader in premium cable. He was responsible for such hits as Weeds, Dexter, Shameless, Nurse Jackie, The Tudors, Californication, Episodes, United States of Tara, and This American Life among others. Over his seven-year tenure, the audience subscription base increased 52% – to a then-record high of 19 million subscribers in 2010 – and more than doubled the profit.

Before Showtime, Greenblatt was an award-winning producer of over a dozen series on various networks. The highlight was Six Feet Under, for which he was awarded the 2002 Golden Globe Award for Best Drama Series. It also garnered a slew of Emmy nominations, including four for Outstanding Drama Series, and it won the 2003 Producers Guild Award, three GLAAD Media Awards and the Peabody Award. He also produced two Emmy-nominated miniseries: Elvis for CBS (starring Golden Globe winner Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and Gregory Nava’s American Family for PBS.

Greenblatt began his television career at the Fox Broadcasting Company where he ran primetime programming  from 1992-97 and developed such memorable shows as Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place, The X-Files, Party of Five, Ally McBeal and King of the Hill,  in addition to the pilot for The Sopranos.

In 2011, he received the Stephen F. Kolzak Award from GLAAD, and The Actors Fund Medal of Honor in 2016. Greenblatt is a member of the Broadway League of Theatrical Producers, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Producers Guild of America.

Over the next two days you’ll be hearing a lot about “the full patron experience.” So how do we define that? How do marketing and fundraising best (or begin to) communicate with each other and with patrons in a unified and meaningful way? Where does the patron’s experience begin? Their mailbox or computer? Your lobby or box office? When they get to their seat or when the curtain goes up? Whose job is it to create all of those different experiences and ensure that they add up to a meaningful whole that represents your theatre in a positive way? Our panelists will answer those questions — and so will you, in a group discussion digging into how your individual theatre defines these terms.

Moderated by Frank Stilwagner (Village Theatre), with Marisa Butler (Phoenix Theatre), Gretchen Feyer (Berkeley Playhouse), David Seals (TRG Arts) and Daniel Thomas (42nd Street Moon).

Nicholas Ronan (AudienceView)

Over lunch, NAMT member New Musicals Inc. will present selections from several shows they’re developing with local Los Angeles writers.

Lunch sponsored by R&H Theatricals

Concurrent breakout sessions for casual discussion on various topics. Come to learn more, ask questions, or share your company’s success stories.

Surveys: Not Just for Marketing
Led by Daniel Thomas (42nd Street Moon)
West Inner Lobby

Balancing Print and Digital Media
Led by Michael Betts (Musical Theatre West)
East Inner Lobby

Social Media For Everyone: Beyond Giving Tuesday
Led by Frank Stilwagner (Village Theatre)
West Lower Bar

Marketing To Millennials…By Millennials!
Led by Jennifer Hunter, Thomas McCarthy, Daniel McLaughlin and Samantha Raun (University of St. Paul)
East Lower Lobby

How do you break down silos within your organization to integrate communication across departments — not just marketing and development, but artistic, production, education, front-of-house and more — and send a unified message to your patrons? We’ll hear from teams from some of our member theatres — and put them on the spot to see how well they really work together!

Moderated by Courtney Simms (The MUNY), with Nancy Altschuler & Dan McMahon (Goodspeed Musicals), Dan Breen & Cheryl Farley (Ogunquit Playhouse) and Marc Robin (Fulton Theatre).

How can we rally our loyal patrons, donors, board members and artists into being our ambassadors in the community? How can we best use community partners, beyond hanging posters in their windows? How can we cultivate active and vibrant volunteers? What “shareable” content can we provide to assist our supporters in these tasks, as well as to engage and excite our audiences and donors?

Moderated by Elisbeth Challener (ZACH Theatre), with Michael Ballam (Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre), MIchael Betts (Musical Theatre West), Wayne Bryan (Music Theatre Wichita) and Van Kaplan (Pittsburgh CLO).

Sponsored by Pittsburgh CLO & The Hollywood Pantages

For those not attending An American In Paris who would like to return to the hotel. Feel free to explore Hollywood and travel on your own, or to take the post-show bus back from the Pantages.

Following An American In Paris.

Attendees who are departing from the Hilton Los Angeles Universal City will gather at the hotel’s “Ballroom Circle” to board buses departing for the Hollywood Pantages.

From the guest room elevators, just keep walking through the lobby, past the check-in desk, restaurant, and “coffee corner,” and straight ahead through the ballroom corridor.

The first bus will leave the Hilton as soon as it is full. The second bus will leave at 8:15.

Attendees who are departing from the Hilton Los Angeles Universal City will gather at the hotel’s “Ballroom Circle” to board buses departing for the Hollywood Pantages.

From the guest room elevators, just keep walking through the lobby, past the check-in desk, restaurant, and “coffee corner,” and straight ahead through the ballroom corridor.

Sponsored by MTI & TRG Arts

Members of the marketing and strategy teams from Walt Disney Imagineering and The Disneyland Resort© will present case studies examining the connections between marketing and patrons, with a look at how artistic content is incorporated into marketing messages for their guests. Even with a worldwide known brand like Disney, effective positioning is key to attracting guests, reaching developing markets and managing expectations about new entertainment offerings. We’ll explore where these strategies overlap with those of traditional theatres, for lessons you can take back and apply to your organization.

Moderated by Shelby Jiggets-Tivony, with Dana Harrel, Jeff van Langeveld and Marty Muller.

Wendi Lebow (Goldstar)

A cold, hard look at some of the challenges in implementing the ideas and goals we discussed yesterday. What are the “pinch points,” both inside and outside the organization? Is your company culture resistant to change? Are your patrons? Do you feel budget, staffing or technology restrictions are getting in the way? We’ll collect some examples from our attendees throughout the conference, and our panelists will discuss clever and practical ways to overcome these obstacles — many of which may simply be matters of perception — and create a culture of “yes.”

Moderated by Donna Lynn Hilton (Goodspeed Musicals), with Keith Cromwell (Red Mountain Theatre Company), Kim Glann (LA County Arts Commission), Amelia Heape (The Hollywood Pantages), Tim Kashani (Apples and Oranges Arts) and Ralph Weeks (Walnut Street Theatre).

Lunch sponsored by Ticketmaster.

Concurrent breakout sessions for casual discussions on how you and your teams market and fundraise for seasons of…

Classics
West Inner Lobby

New Works
East Inner Lobby

Plays and Musicals
West Lower Bar

Musicals Only
East Lower Lobby

We know these topics overlap and that many organizations will have multiple staff members in attendance, so this is your chance to divide and conquer!

How does everything we’ve discussed over these two days get distilled into what your patrons and donors see and experience? Who speaks for your newly unified theatre? What sort of character do you want your theatre to have? How will you implement the tools of this Conference next week, next month, next season, next decade?

Moderated by Matt Morrow (Diversionary Theatre Productions), with Kwofe Coleman (The MUNY), Gigi Fusco Meese (3-D Theatricals), Scott Goldman (GRAMMY Foundation) and Jamie Lilly (Village Theatre).

Attendees meeting us at Center Theatre Group will have plenty of time to explore Hollywood or Downtown Los Angeles on their own. Public transit, cabs, or ride-hailing services are readily available.

Tour the offices and studios where the Disneyland magic is made! See where sets, costumes, animatronics and more come to life, including Walt Disney’s original sculpture studio.

If you are not planning to attend the reception at Center Theatre Group and are returning to the hotel, we recommend using a ride-hailing app to call a car, or taking this bus to Downtown Los Angeles where you can connect to public transit. The bus will return to the hotel following the reception as well.

Bus will return those not attending Fun Home to the hotel. Feel free to explore Downtown Los Angeles and travel on your own, or to take the post-show bus back from the Ahmanson.

Following Fun Home.

Registration for this add-on event includes special behind-the-scenes tours of park operations (a great example of the full patron experience in action!), VIP seating and an exclusive Q&A with the creative team at the brand-new Frozen stage musical, round-trip transportation to the parks from the Hilton Los Angeles Universal City, lunch, and a Park-Hopper ticket with admission to Disneyland and California Adventure for you to explore and play as much as you want! See below for schedule details.

Bus will depart from the Hilton at 8 am sharp. Breakfast is on your own. The trip is around one hour.

Your tickets will give you access to both Disneyland Park© and California Adventure Park©. We will drop off the group at Disneyland and recommend starting there, as we’ll be at California Adventure later for lunch and Frozen, but you are free to explore and play however you like!

All Disneyland guests are subject to security checks and restrictions. Please plan accordingly.

We will meet and be escorted to our lunch location by park staff. Meet at the flagpole just inside the California Adventure main gate.

Lunch and Learn panel with Disneyland staff and creatives.

VIP seats for the brand new Frozen live stage show!

Your tickets will give you access to both Disneyland Park© and California Adventure Park©. We recommend this schedule but you are free to explore and play however you like!