Ordinary Days
Setting the stage at Playhouse Square
The final course at Baldwin Wallace that all Arts Management students take is their capstone collaboration. Every spring for the past 17 years, BW and Playhouse Square have partnered to produce a musical in Playhouse Square’s Helen Theater. This year, the musical is Ordinary Days, created by Adam Gwon.
As a non-major, I volunteered to partake in the project to gain first-hand experience and make connections with the Playhouse Square staff. I report directly to Stephanie Keefer, senior communications manager for Playhouse Square. The main goal of my team is to sell out all tickets for the production.
Graphic Design
As the designer for the team, I designed the poster for the show and developed all of the branding associated with the production.
I adapted the logo into a brand kit, promotional digital screens for the BW campus, and video animations for the marquees downtown on Euclid Avenue.
I made preliminary designs on Canva Pro based on the themes of the show. This process proved to be difficult and required a lot of creativity as I had to color, size, and rotate each of the flyers depicted on the poster individually.
The designs were presented to the director as well as the marketing team at PSQ and immediately approved.
Firstly, I created a strategic plan for email campaigns to ensure no audience segment is oversaturated or targeted. This utilized both Conservatory email lists and Playhouse Square’s.
Coordinating with Conservatory Communication Manager Jenny Taraba on email marketing procedures. I created the e-blasts in Mailchimp and used the target audiences of previous ticket buyers and alumni.
I also organized copy and graphics for Playhouse Square e-blasts and newsletters to reach the much larger PSQ audience.
Email Marketing
Team Management
Communication was vital on this project as I must be the liaison between BW and PSQ.
I have weekly meetings with the PSQ senior communications manager and social media coordinator regarding their content calendar and scheduling e-blasts.
We are also in constant communication with the programming for updates on ticket sales and production details.
Reporting to BW faculty, including the program director, Victoria Bussert, and producer, Bryan Bowser, for approvals and scheduling.
Scheduling, delegation, and strategizing were all done within Notion; this was the easiest way to ensure no one took on too much work and visualize when content would be put out.
Analyzed the licensing agreement to ensure all legal requirements were met and implemented throughout the project.
My Success
Tickets launched on February 9th, and completely sold out a week prior to the opening of the show.
My designs were displayed on the marquees across Euclid Avenue.
Tools I Used
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CanvaPro
Graphic Design & Content Creation
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Chat GPT
Caption & Content Ideation
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Google Drive
Storage, Sharing and Team Organization
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Mailchimp
E-Blasts to Ticket Buyers
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Meta Business Suite
Content Scheduling & Analytics
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Notion
Team Management, Scheduling & Delegation