A Look Back at Nearly 30 Days on the Road

I am home, getting ready to enjoy Thanksgiving with friends in Atlanta, and reflecting on the better part of the past 30 days spent on the road. Lots of things to reflect on, including:

• One new Chapter (Old Dominion, Richmond VA) going strong and one potential chapter to be added
• A pledge from people who make things happen there to renovate the Mosque organ in Richmond (now the Altria Theatre)
• Progress on the historic Byrd Theatre Wurlitzer as work progresses and fundraising continues
• A concerted effort to find new homes for organs, with two brand new potential venues, and one upcoming theatre restoration showing interest from management in installing pipe organs
• Renewed efforts on the fundraising front with some good news soon to report
• A most successful “Step Up Your Playing” event in San Diego, with some of our adult players getting a weekend of instruction to help improve their playing skills – and more to come on this front for future events
• The Annual Drive underway
• The Retreat Forward process progressing with steps moving forward, and committees at work.

  There is more travel ahead including a post-Thanksgiving weekend in Indiana with programs at the wonderful “Firehouse Pipes,” Dick and Linda Wilcox’s Page installation in Union City, IN this coming Saturday, and a program at the Warren Center Barton in Indianapolis on Sunday.

  This is an interesting date. Officials at Warren Performing Arts Center decided to produce their own holiday show. They added this performance to their regular schedule of concert productions in their series, and as of this writing, about 10 days ahead of the concert, 350 tickets have been sold in advance.

  In recent months we have witnessed a concert in Omaha draw over 500; two silent films in Chattanooga draw over 600 each; the screening of the silent film Phantom of the Opera draw nearly 2000 in Seattle; Russ Peck’s silent film programs drawing over 600 regularly at the Copley Hall (former Fox Theatre) in San Diego.

  Why? Good, sound marketing and promotions. If this doesn’t tell us something about the fact that, “Yes, Virginia, there IS an audience out there for this,” then we are NOT paying attention.

  If you are doing the same old things over and over, and wondering why nobody is coming, then perhaps the same old things don’t work.

  If you are not investing in marketing and promotion, and more importantly, taking advantage of the FREE marketing available via Facebook, Twitter and the social media that young people live in, you are missing an obvious marketing opportunity.

  We will explore this in depth in upcoming issues of the journal in an effort to both educate and assist our local chapters in taking better care of the promotional side of our concert efforts. It is guaranteed that 100% of the people who have no idea we are staging a concert WILL NOT ATTEND THE EVENT!!!

  Have a great Thanksgiving. Say a little prayer for our friends in upstate New York.
  Their snow season just began. 70-plus inches on the ground and months more to come. Yikes.

  Will chat again soon.

  Ken Double, President/CE
  ATOS
  November 21, 2014