87: Behind The Scenes: Classical Music PR (Part 4)
Final Reflections & Lasting PR Advice
with Beth Stewart
What do you wish artists did to prepare for photoshoots?
Think about the end usage. So for our artists, we actually just did this wild multi-day photoshoot. The whole team flew to Atlanta and we knocked out three artist photoshoots on subsequent days as well as a team photoshoot. And one thing that I really harped on for all of us was thinking about how those images would be used.
So for artists, that's generally photos as banners or contextualized photos on their website, more casual shots for social media, headshots to go on programs for presenters, personality rich shots or action shots for the press or promotional posters. There are all these different usages and they all require something different. Right?
You might want a fun photo where you're laughing or winking at the camera for social media, but you probably wouldn't want that same image to be your headshot in your Carnegie Hall recital program. So you need to think about the end usage. And then just from a logistical standpoint, I always recommend that you ask for mostly horizontal shots with negative space around you. The reason is that gives you room to play. It's very easy to crop to a vertical shot from a horizontal one, whereas when you're going from vertical to horizontal, particularly if it's a very close-cropped image, now you're trying to Photoshop in your left elbow and it gets real awkward.
So especially when we're talking about website usage, always aim for horizontal images with negative space. That space around you can be cropped where it can be used to highlight your next season or add a cheeky thought bubble. You want to give yourself as many options as possible.
I always prefer to work with photographers who will give us a lot of images. While you're coming up, you might still be figuring out what stories you want to tell, what brand resonates with you. So you want a broad selection to choose from. You don't want end up in a situation where you're working from the same five shots for the next five years. And I think that that work you did when thinking about how you want to be perceived, sort of those 3 to 5 words, that should really be driving your outfits, your expressions, your settings.
So if you are, for example, a composer who is often inspired by the natural world, I would love to see some publicity shots or portraits of you in nature. That purview, that scope of work wouldn't make as much sense to me in a very posed formal studio shot. So you really want the images to reflect the story.
Kellogg:
Could you give an example of really good storytelling?
Stewart:
So right now we're working with the bass-baritone, Ryan McKinny, who's just about to open the Metropolitan Opera season as the starring role, Joseph De Rocher, the Dead Man Walking, in Jake Heggie’s opera. And there is kind of a famous scene from the show in which De Rocher sings while doing a ton of push-ups. And I don't know if it's actually written in the score, but it advances to clapping push-ups and it's just, it's physically exhausting and really compelling.
So there's always a lot of talk about the push-ups. People get excited about that scene. And one of the inbound ideas for social media publicity around this project was a push-up contest. Now Ryan has a really personal connection to the show in that he lost a friend and artistic collaborator named Terence Andrus on death row. So I knew right away that a push-up contest might feel a little surface, a little lighthearted for the approach Ryan is taking to promoting the show.
So we really thought about what's a way to address this in a way that feels respectful and contextualizes the issues that we want to talk about. And Ryan had a brilliant idea and execution. So what he did was took a video backstage at the Met in which you kind of only see his upper body and he's doing push-ups in the background whole time. And then there's a voiceover. And in the voiceover he says, “Everybody wants to talk about the push-ups, so let's talk about the push-ups.” And he uses that to talk about how the character, as well as real life people on death row, living in eight-by-eight cell, 23 hours of every day, often for 16, 17 years, knowing that what's on the other end of those years is not better, perhaps.
So he talked about the ways in which you might use exercise to pass time to remain connected to yourself. So he used those push-ups, that ‘eye candy’ moment, perhaps, to talk about how people have to maintain a hold on their whole humanity when they are in inherently inhumane conditions
That can be broadened to talk about his work in a variety of villainous roles. One of the ways in which he is such a compelling actor is that he really makes those characters believable people who have reasons that even if they don't make sense to us, make sense to the characters. And I think that that really helps his portrayal feel very rooted in reality, even through all those push-ups.
Kellogg:
Thank you. What is something you wish you could change about how classical music presents itself and tell stories to the world?
Stewart:
I wish we thought about the end user a little more. So one of my pet peeves is when I go on a presenting organization's website and I can't find the information that I need. So the information I usually need at the very last second is how do I get to the venue? How long is the show? And very important, is there an intermission? And it's amazing how often that basic information: the directions usually have to go to, an about us, direction, situation, where the venue is, then Google Maps, just to figure out something very simple, like how to get there from where I am. And often the run time and/or intermissions isn’t listed until you get to the venue where it's in the program.
I really wish we made things more easily accessible. I mean, think about it. Like I do this for a living. I go to shows five nights a week, so if I can't find the information that I need, what does that say about someone who's trying to come to the symphony for the first or second or third time? I think we really want to make things as easily parsable as possible.
One of the things that I refer to a lot a friend, client, colleague of mine, Aubrey Bergauer, did a really fascinating series of experiments called Orchestra X when she was Executive Director of the California Symphony. Looking at not just how do we get new audiences, but how do we retain the ones that come the first time and then never come back. She often really points out that in no other industry would we have someone come once and then immediately spam them with requests for money and funding and donations and subscriptions.
One of the things that I really took away from her Orchestra X research was how to speak about what we do in terms that make sense to people outside the industry. So that might mean a ‘sounds like’ list, like, “You might like this piece if you like ____” and the ‘…if you like ____’ should not be all classical composers. That could be other kinds of music. It could be, “You might be into this show if you're into ‘this’ TV program”. I really like it when there is some sense of vibe or interest overlap that would make sense to someone who's not already a classical music fan.
I think there's a lot of inside baseball that goes on [in classical music] and a lot of sort of ivory tower, gatekeeping stuff. If we want to be relevant and embraced by larger society, I think we need to talk about our work in a way that's passionate and also accessible.
Kellogg:
Beth, thank you very much for coming by.
Stewart:
Absolutely.
Kellogg:
As we wrap up our conversation, curious, what is the single most important things you wish artists would understand about PR?
Stewart:
I think that it's not like a made up, froofy, vanity driven thing. The way that we do the work, it's really about zooming in on the issues that really matter to a client and the conversations that they want to be a part of. And you can do that for yourselves. PR is much less about glamorous evenings out and being Samantha Jones and demanding the best table at a restaurant. It's less about that than it is about being really intentional-- It's being intentional about what authentic representation of a client looks like and how they want to contribute to moving the industry forward in a way that's meaningful to them.
Kellogg:
Thank you very much.
Stewart:
Absolutely.