It’s a SELLOUT!

Our Debut Performance of The Truth About Bedtime… was an official SELL OUT! We sold 89 tickets but managed to extend our seating arrangement to accommodate our waiting list attendees as well. This was a massive achievement for us and meant that the atmosphere within the space was incredible. The audience reactions enhanced the lively and upbeat theme we have running throughout the performance and the comedy within our piece was extremely well -received. The feedback I have heard has been incredible and I am sincerely proud of what we have achieved as a company in such a short window of time.

 

Looking back, I would like to have had the poster designs finalised and sent to print slightly earlier as it would’ve allowed more time for flyering and putting up of posters. The creation of the posters was a learning experience that challenged me to design and produce materials that would hold up to a professional standard. If I were to continue marketing for the performance I would have a few amendments that I believe would improve the quality of the prints aesthetics. I would also want to further our exposure within community groups. Our callout was targeted to specific audiences across Lincoln to attract people from all different circles. For example, we wanted to capture the attention of new parents and so we directed our call out towards new parent groups such as LilPacs. This targeted marketing and outreach was extremely effective and I feel further exploration of this would be hugely beneficial to us as a company in future.

 

I cannot wait to see what is in store for Sherbet Lemon Theatre next!

E.L.

 

Networking!

One vital contributor to our marketing strategy was the amount of networking we did as a company. From the very beginning we wanted to establish our place within the arts community in Lincoln and in doing so meet some extremely valuable contacts. We immediately signed up to attend the WITA event on the 8th of March 2018 and that was the beginning of a great relationship! Through WITA, we have since formed relationships with poets, musicians and other artists who have inspired our process and performance. This networking has allowed us to become involved within many community groups and given us a wider base to promote through. I believe this involvement with other artists and collaboration with Women in The Arts would allow us meet Arts Council England’s criteria on Public Engagement as we are forming relationships within the community. Through these relationships we are striving to bring art to the community on a larger scale through hosting events and campaigns to promote performances on a larger scale. We have also commissioned other artists and photographers to contribute towards our marketing materials which I believe would demonstrate to Arts Council England that we are committed to spreading the awareness of work of local artists within the community. The relationships we have developed have provided us with options to continue our theatre company post graduation. We have received invitations to perform at the next WITA showcase and have welcomed a tremendous amount of support throughout this process. This partnership would also be a contributor to our ACE funding risk assessment as they question whether “appropriate partnerships in place to support the activity” (Arts Council England, 2016). WITA are a fantastic networking group that have allowed us the opportunity to meet fellow artists and supporters of the arts. This extended marketing platform also offers a more sustainable approach towards our future campaigns, standing us in good stead with ACE’s marketing policies. We are hugely appreciative for all the support we have received and are excited to see where this takes us in the future.

 

i support WITA
I Support WITA (Liddle, 2018)

E.L.

 

Cited

Arts Council England (2016) Appraisal Process For Grants For the Arts. Available From: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/download-file/Appraisal_process_for_Grants_for_the_Arts_AUG2016.pdf [accessed 3rd May 2018].

Liddle, E. (2018) I Support WITA.

Show Marketing Materials

 

As our show has developed I have started to draft and design our flyers and posters. My original drafts were paintings designed by Amanda that depicted starry night skies and shadows with text overlaid across the image. After further discussions with the group and an insight from Julie Ellerby (Marketing Manager at Lincoln Performing Arts Centre) it was decided that these images portrayed a show more suited to children than adults. We compared flyers we had seen and found to determine what we could do to capture the aesthetic of our performance. To combat this we contacted a local photographer, Toria Maxwell,  and commissioned her to take a variety of images that I used across our marketing materials. This allowed me to use the drawings to break up the empty space on the poster rather than them being the entirety of the poster itself. The bright and neon colours in the drawings foreshadow the neon drawing we use within the performance and tie the two together nicely. In order to appeal to the largest audience demographic possible for our production, I have utilised my understanding the Audience Finder tool (used by Arts Council England) to tailor our approach to specific audiences. This has allowed us to maximise our potential outreach and develop a better understanding of our target audience. This has been helpful ultimately across all areas as we can cater to all demographics by understanding their wants and requirements. When writing the copy for The Truth About Bedtime… I collaborated with our Director, Emelia, to get a better overall impression of her ideas for the show. This helped me write an unbiased copy that summarises the intentions and highlights of our show fairly. Below are our final show flyers, including the reverse side with copy.

 

Flyer Portrait Design FINAL
Flyer Design (Sherbet Lemon Theatre, 2018)
Flyer Portrait Reverse Design FINAL
Flyer Design Reverse (Sherbet Lemon Theatre, 2018)

 

 

E.L.

 

Cited

Sherbet Lemon Theatre (2018) Flyer Design.

Sherbet Lemon Theatre (2018) Flyer Design Reverse.

Social Media Presence

We want to cover all bases with our social media presence, attracting and reaching as many potential audience members and verbatim participants as possible. In order to ensure our posts are consistent and insightful I have created a schedule that runs alongside our activity schedule tailored around the events we have planned. This does not include every post I will be publishing but does indicate the main events and deadlines that I will be tailoring my posts around. Our social media presence will mainly include updates on rehearsals and process. This schedule will simply guide my marketing strategy.

 Topic  Platform
 07/02 Verbatim Call Out  ALL
 08/02 Blog Link  ALL
 21/02 Fundraising Jar  ALL
 02/03  WITA event  Twitter
 04/03  Verbatim Call Out (link to blog)  ALL
 04/03  Fundraiser in LPAC 1-5  ALL
 05/03  Fundraiser Jar Animation  ALL
 08/03  Poster Photo Shoot  ALL
 08/03  International Women’s Day/WITA Event  ALL
 09/03  Fundraiser in GCW Library  ALL
14/03 Fundraiser in Students Union 11-3 ALL
14/03 Verbatim Call Out ALL
18/03 WITA Survey Twitter
23/03 Ticket Link (LPAC) ALL
30/03 Fundraiser Jar Winner ALL
17/04 Spotify Playlist ALL
07/05 Fundraising Bear Animation ALL
08/05 Fundraising in LPAC 9-12 ALL
11/05 Ticket Sales Update ALL
12/05 Siren Radio Interview Twitter
14/05 Promote Level 3 Productions Twitter
15/05 TECH DAY ALL
15/05 Tech Day Filter SnapChat
16/05 Fundraising Bear Ended ALL
16/05 Tech Day Animation Twitter
17/05 Full Jar (4 Days) ALL
17/05 INKA/Bleeding Edge ALL
18/05 3/4 Jar (3 Days) ALL
18/05 The Assassination of Michael Baxter/Think Box ALL
19/05 1/2 Jar (2 Days) ALL
21/05 Fundraising Bear Winner ALL
21/05 Empty Jar (Showday!) ALL

E.L.

Making our Manifesto

When deciding on how we want to be viewed as a company and considering how we want our externally facing materials to reflect us, it is important we bare in mind the style of theatre and audience we are trying to appeal to. I have recently sat down with our company director and stage manager to get a better sense of what their aspirations for the company are and from there I have begun drafting our Manifesto and Mission Statement. My intentions are to create a manifesto that articulates the importance of audience and reality within our company. I hope to demonstrate the level of engagement we are hoping to encapsulate within performance and present the fundamental basis of our companies future work. Our mission Statement is slightly more colloquial as I intend on using this to portray the relaxed environment we intend on creating throughout our companies productions. We want to create theatre that is easily accessible to those who wouldn’t normally visit a traditional theatre space. It is important to us that we can create an environment where participation and audience reaction is encouraged and embraced. We intend on creating a theatre environment that allows our audience to relax and go back to the basics. Our mission statement encourages our audience to consider what is truly important to us as humans, the things we cannot live without, and take some time to stop clouding their day to day lives with the worries and stress of ‘living’.

 

Sherbet Lemon Theatre Manifesto

We are Sherbet Lemon Theatre. We are a group of artists who devise performance incorporating verbatim techniques to portray the reality of our day to day lives. We take the sweet and sour of being human and address the aspects we cannot live without! We invite our audience to take a step back from the complications of life and instead acknowledge the essentials. We create a comfortable and relaxed environment where our audience can feel immersed in our performance. This is vital to us as a company as we want to involve real people through their words and experiences.

 

Sherbet Lemon Theatre Mission Statement

Life can be overwhelming sometimes. The complications that fog our day to day lives can get in the way of what we truly need as humans. We invite you to take a step back from the complications of your everyday life and focus in on the essentials.  

We are an all female collective inspired to create original performance. We want to tell the stories of real people using their own words to add a sense of authenticity to our performance. We take the sweet and sour of being human and address the aspects we cannot live without! We want to create a relaxed atmosphere where everyone can feel comfortable and involved in the action around them.  

Our style of theatre is inclusive, relatable, sweet and a little bit sour. We are Sherbet Lemon Theatre!

 

E.L.