Birdfeed

Have you heard? The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe is taking over!

emaleigh — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 03:56:43 +0000

The countdown is over. The 14th Annual Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe opens today (Sept. 3-18)! The performing arts Festival is one of Canary’s biggest publicity campaigns. The next 16-days will bring a marathon of dance, theater, music and more all over the city. Running right alongside all the shows and special events is the media takeover.

Nicholas Gilewicz over at the Official Festival Blog featured a round up of today’s leading stories in a blog post aptly titled, “We have killer press.” It’s true. News of the Festival is beyond all over. Watch artists on TV, hear the inside story on the radio, read about artists and performances generating buzz in print, on the web, and even in space… Okay, well maybe not that last one.

In short, the Festival is mammoth and the press coverage is monumental. (Hey all you reporters, thank you in advance for all of your work!) If you want to dig in to Live Arts and Fringe but don’t know where to begin and need some help navigating your way, check out some of the media coverage below for tips!

The lowdown from the Festival Blog:

>>>City Paper cover story is more like a cover package: A.D. Amorosi interviews Charlotte Ford about CHICKEN, Mark Cofta on all the Billy Shakes, a piece on all the undead (so many undead), Shaun Brady on Bang on a Can and Release, and more.

>>>Peter Crimmins had a big feature on WHYY this morning about how the Festivals feature not only artists who’ve been in Philadelphia for a long time, but also artists from elsewhere who’ve chosen to make Philly home. Interviewees include Eun Jung Choi, John Rosenberg, and Quinn Bauriedel.

>>>Shaun Brady writes a huge story in the Daily News on the experimental side of things, focusing on Danny Yung, Cankerblossom, Jester’s Dead, and more.

>>>Wendy Rosenfield recommends family-friendly shows for the Inquirer, including Cankerblossom, Bang on a Can Marathon, Scorch, and more.

>>>Philadelphia magazine’s website has a slideshow of 11 of your favorite Festival performers.

>>>Also at the Inky, Ellen Dunkel writes up “some of what looks hot on the creative front.” Too many to list, so just click through to read her picks.

>>>Daily News: Jonathan Takiff interviews Joe Blake, former DN reporter turned playwright and writing teacher, about his Philly Fringe show A Separate Sun.

>>>The Reporter out of Lansdale has a nice article on the Festivals, focusing on Montgomery County artists who are performing in Philly Fringe. AND an interview with Pia!

PS: You should be reading the Festival blog on the regular. We are! The blog features show tips, performance videos and photos, the latest press, insider interviews with Live Arts and Fringe artists, Festival volunteers and supporters, and pretty much anything else you can think of arts-related. Bookmark it: www.livearts-fringe.org/blog.

PSS: Below is a trailer for Nichole Canuso Dance Company’s TAKES. The installation is beautiful. Come see for yourself!

Small

Two thumbs up for Mauckingbird's revamped queer "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

emaleigh — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:56:12 +0000

“Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming.” - Flute

Last night, I got to check out the opening of Mauckingbird Theatre Company’s gender-bent mash-up of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I’ve been working on publicity for the play here at Canary for the last few months and I have to say, even with all my insider info, I had no idea what to expect. I simply had a blast. The show was: Fast. Funny. Insightful. Sexy. Nerdy. Modern. Trippy. I could go on…

The talented cast, a diverse mix of professional actors and down right amazing students from Temple University’s Department of Theater, had the SOLD OUT crowd in hysterics. You truly have never seen A Midsummer Night’s Dream like this. I urge you to go. So does Philadelphia Inquirer theater critic Toby Zinman. Check out what she tweeted after the show below!

Mauckingbird’s queer Midsummer is for everyone. From the pop culture lover to Bard aficionados, gays and straights, young and old. I was talking with a friend after the show about how GLBTQ youth in particular would just fall over getting to see such an amazing, all-inclusive production like this. So spread the word…

Check out a few photos from the production after the jump and view a video interview with the play’s actors below.

Get your tickets online

Medium

Sorry, you need to install flash to see this content.

How creative PR & marketing work together to draw in new audiences

melissa — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:52:57 +0000

Recently, the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage released an Audience Engagement Study on one of our client projects – Brat Productions’ 2009 smash-hit Haunted Poe, which received funding from Marketing Innovation Project. The production pulled in an audience of 5,347 theatergoers last Halloween season – a record-breaking number for the company – and perhaps most notably, approximately 3,700 members of that audience were NEW theatergoers.

The study considers how the show’s run was positively impacted by the work of our media relations team here at Canary Promotion, in conjunction with marketing and community outreach by the folks at Lime Projects.

We’re thrilled to have our work highlighted in the study which says, “Press coverage of these events, secured by Canary Promotion, led to a growing citywide awareness of Haunted Poe, along with the media-rich blog, and the launch of a viral engagement campaign on Facebook and Twitter… With local free newspaper Philadelphia Weekly on board as the exclusive media sponsor of Haunted Poe, print, online, TV and radio outlets reported on everything from Poe’s Philadelphia connections to the live cockroaches and other macabre elements of the show.”

You can read the full study on the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage website, here.

We’re happy to be handling media relations again, in addition to marketing and social media outreach, for Brat Production’s next theatrical event. Carrie, Erik Jackson’s black comedy adaptation of Stephen King’s legendary 1979 novel runs October 6 - November 7, 2010 at Underground Arts at the Wolf Building, starring Erik Ransom as the iconic telekinetic outcast for a gender-bent twist. Stay tuned!

Audience Engagement Study from Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

Brat Productions Website

Haunted Poe EPK

Brat Productions' Carrie EPK

Medium

Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO wins Philadelphia Magazine BEST of PHILLY 2010 Award!

melissa — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:53:45 +0000

We’re excited to congratulate Fairmount Park Art Association on a Philadelphia Magazine BEST of PHILLY 2010 win for “Best Cheap Thrill!” with the newly launched Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO!

Launched in June, Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO offers participants an insider’s view of Philadelphia’s outstanding collection of public art with 35 professionally produced audio segments revealing the stories behind 51 sculptures along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, a great urban thoroughfare, and the connecting Kelly Drive in Fairmount Park. Users can access the segments for free and through their own cell phones or hand-held devices, providing a high quality way to access information and experience outdoor sculpture in an innovative, engaging, fun and meaningful way.

Download the Fairmount Park Art Association’s new—and free—audio guide to 51 of our city’s public sculptures at www.museumwithoutwallsaudio.org to your ipod and check it out!

For more info about Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO, check out the Philadelphia Inquirer story about the program or visit their online EPK page on the Canary site, and keep an eye out for their win in Philadelphia Magazine’s “BEST of PHILLY” edition in August.

Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO Website

Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO EPK page

Medium

The Rosenbach's new 'Dreadful Things Happen' exhibition reviewed in today's Inquirer

melissa — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:55:04 +0000

In today’s Inquirer, art critic Victoria Donohoe weighs in on the Rosenbach Museum & Library’s new exhibition “Dreadful Things Happen: The Brothers Grimm & Maurice Sendak,” which explores the world-renowned illustrator Maurice Sendak’s perspective on the 200 years of folktales–Hansel and Gretel, Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White, Cinderella, and more–immortalized by Jacob and Wilheim Grimm.

Donohoe applauds the exhibition, which is currently running through November 7, saying, “The summer exhibit ‘Dreadful Things Happen: The Brothers Grimm & Maurice Sendak’ at the Rosenbach Museum and Library is remarkable for its spooky power,” also noting,”The mystery of this show’s references entices adults and children alike, engaging us rather like a cabinet of curiosities.”

Read the full review on philly.com, and to check out the exhibition for yourself, museum hours are available on rosenbach.org

Link to "'Dreadful Things Happen': The spooky power of Sendak"

Medium

Philadelphia Weekly “Picks for Best Theater This Year” Includes Five Canary Client Mentions!

melissa — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:32:14 +0000

We’re excited for our clients who were mentioned in J. Cooper Robb’s recent “PW’s Picks for Best Theater This Year” article which gives a run-down of the finest in Philly theater.

As we proudly represent Brat Productions’ next Halloween production set for this fall, Carrie, Philadelphia Weekly recognized Brat’s Haunted Poe as the Best Production of a Play and Haunted Poe’s Alisa Sickora Kleckner with Best Costume Design, calling the production “the season’s wildest ride.”

The Wilma Theater’s “wickedly funny” Becky Shaw was among the top ten productions this year, while the Wilma was also credited with Best Lighting Design (Thom Weaver) and Best Original Music (Mogauwane Mahloele), both for Athol Fugard’s Coming Home. The Wilma also racked up two Honorable Mention nods for the productions of Coming Home and Language Rooms.

Philadelphia Weekly also praised Swim Pony Performing Arts for its innovative interstellar site-specific world premiere of SURVIVE!, the company’s inaugural production.

Click here to check out the full article on the PW website.

Link to "PW's Picks for Best Theater This Year"

Medium

Canary News: Announcing some changes & new opportunities

megan — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:04:08 +0000

Today, we are announcing a transition at Canary Promotion. Canary co-owner and head of our design department, Mason Wendell, has taken a new position as Creative Director at another Philadelphia web development firm called Zivtech. We’re thrilled for Mason and this new opportunity to develop the newly created design department at Zivtech. And although Canary Promotion will no longer offer design services, we’re excited about the opportunity to focus fully on the “Promotion” side of our business and expand our publicity, marketing, social media and consulting services with some new clients and upcoming projects.

On a personal note, Mason and I have been working together in some form for about 17 years - pretty much since we met the first day of college. First, we worked together as musicians and songwriters, then as indie record label owners, and for the past nine years, as co-owners of Canary Promotion + Design. Most people say to us, “Oh, I could never work with my spouse.” But it’s always worked for us. We motivate and inspire each other to do our best work (even if the constructive criticism isn’t always easy to swallow).

I’ll miss having Mason in the Canary office, but thankfully we’ll still see each other at quitting time. And yes, as Technically Philly reported this morning, “marital bliss remains in place.”

Read on for our official press release on the transition.

-Megan Wendell
Owner, Publicity & Marketing Director

Medium

We're Looking for PR/Marketing Interns for the Fall!

melissa — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:30:43 +0000

Are you a smart arts & culture enthusiast with a keen sense for public relations and marketing? Our internships offer an excellent opportunity for real, hands-on experience with our rapidly-growing public relations and marketing company. Interns will assist in the development and execution of campaigns with a strong focus on arts and cultural organizations, from major theater and dance companies to museums, arts festivals and more. Read on for more details and to learn how to apply.

E-mail your resume: info@canarypromo.com

Medium

Fringe Fest Sideshow: Opportunity for Philly Fringe Artists & Fans

megan — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:00:40 +0000

If you want to get an early sneak preview of what’s happening in this year’s Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe, or if you’re an artist who wants to workshop some new material, make sure you head to National Mechanics (22 S. 3rd St. in Old City on Monday, June 28 for “The Fringe Fest Sideshow.”

The first night of a three-part series, this is a FREE event open to any artists or festival fans 21 and up. Here’s what the organizers say you can do with this opportunity:

Small

Today, Celebrate Bloomsday with the Rosenbach Museum & Library at Trinity Center for Urban Life

melissa — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:08:35 +0000

It’s that time of year again! It’s June 16th, which means it is time for friends, neighbors, Joyce enthusiasts, and curious passersbys to join together for Bloomsday hosted by the Rosenbach Museum & Library to celebrate the day on which James Joyce’s famed protagonist Leopold Bloom made his fictional odyssey through Dublin in Ulysses! In anticipation of rain in today’s forecast, the Rosenbach, home of the original manuscript of Joyce’s classic novel, will be hosting the annual Philadelphia tradition at Trinity Center for Urban Life at 22nd & Spruce Streets.

Stop by between noon and 7 p.m. tonight to hear some of Philadelphia’s most notable personalities read from Ulysses, including Mayor Nutter, Nobel Prize-winner Baruch Samuel Blumberg, President and CEO of the Kimmel Center Ann Ewers, Director of the Rosenbach Derick Dreher, and the former Associate Director of the Rosenbach, currently with the Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative, Mike Barsanti, among others.

Mike Barsanti, who will be reading immediately following Mayor Nutter at 3:20 p.m., is the founding partner of Throwaway Horse, the company developing the online comic book version of Ulysses, ulyssesseen.com, for which Mike is also an editor. This year, on the brink of Bloomsday, ulyssesseen.com has found itself in the midst of a censorship battle with Apple over the comic’s iPad app. To read up on the developing controversy, check out the articles recently featured in The New York Times and The New Yorker.

For the latest updates and to see a full list of 2010’s Bloomsday participants visit the Rosenbach’s Bloomsday page on the Rosenbach website.

You can also follow the Rosenbach on Twitter as the museum live-Tweets Bloomsday today.

The Rosenbach Museum & Library's Bloomsday page

Follow the Rosenbach as it tweets Bloomsday

Medium