Breaking the Fifth Wall: Rethinking Arts Marketing

Presented by Arts & Business Council of Chicago

What if you could "Break the Fifth Wall?" and reconnect with your patrons beyond your venue, using technology to become a part of their day-to-day lives?

Join co-author of Breaking the Fifth Wall: Rethinking Arts Marketing for the 21st Century, Eugene Carr (CEO) from Patron Technology, as he presents results from the company's nationwide survey of online arts patron behavior, and talks about how to transform your organization's audience-development efforts using e-mail marketing, website design, social media, and CRM, as well as ponder the future direction of technology and how it will impact arts marketing.

Featured Presenter:
Eugene Carr, CEO, Patron Technology

Eugene Carr, founder and CEO of Patron Technology, has been an innovator in the area of e-marketing for arts & cultural organizations for 15 years. In 1996, AOL invested in his first Internet company, CultureFinder.com, which became an award-winning nationwide arts calendar and online ticketing service.

In 2001, Mr. Carr founded Patron Technology with a mission to revolutionize the way arts & non-profit organizations operate by providing them with cutting edge technology at an affordable price. The company's first service, PatronMail, is a web-based e-mail marketing system used by over 1,800 institutions in all 50 states and eight foreign countries, which now handles 25 million e-mail messages per month. PatronManager CRM, launched in June 2010, is an all-in-one web-based system built in partnership with salesforce.com and the Salesforce Foundation that combines ticketing, subscriptions, fundraising, e-mail marketing, day-to-day tasks, and staff collaboration.

Mr. Carr earned a BA in History from Oberlin College, and a BMus in cello performance from Oberlin Conservatory, earning Phi Kappa Lambda honors. Mr. Carr began his career working for the American Symphony Orchestra in New York City, producing concerts at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and on PBS. He then earned an MBA from Columbia Business School and worked in Gold and Platinum Card marketing at American Express. He was invited to return to the American Symphony as Executive Director from 1991-1996, and in an innovative management arrangement he devised, he served in the same role for the Concordia Orchestra from 1992-1996.

Mr. Carr has written extensively about e-marketing for the arts. He co-authored his most recent book, Breaking the Fifth Wall: Rethinking Arts Marketing for the 21st Century(www.thefifthwall.com), which was published in April 2011. His previous books include: Wired for Culture: How E-mail is Revolutionizing Arts Marketing (Third Edition) (2007),Sign-Up for Culture: The Arts Marketer’s Guide to Building an Effective E-mail List (Second Edition) (2007), and Web Sites for Culture: Essential Principles for Great Arts Web Sites (2005). He also writes a blog: Wired for Culture.

Mr. Carr was a founder, first board chair, and board member of New York's High Five - Tickets to the Arts which enables NYC high school students to buy tickets for arts events for $5.00. He is currently a board member and co-chairman of the development committee of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, and serves on Oberlin College's President's Advisory Council.