How NOT to get to Carnegie Hall !

Last night I was fortunate enough to attend Conspirare’s “ Big Sing” produced by Carnegie Hall.   It was a Master class on how to sing, and how not to market.

A “big sing” is a free event where artists invite the audience to join them and live and learn their way. This should have been a resounding success. Conspirare is the Austin based professional choral powerhouse led by the infinitely gifted Craig Hella Johnson. The event was produced by Carnegie Hall  as part of their neighborhood out reach, which is celebrating its 35^th anniversary. It was presented at the beautiful new (?) Frank Sinatra School for the Performing Arts in Queens.

Why do I call this a master class?

Well mostly because the audience was smaller then the choir itself. Excluding those from the presenting organization, it numbered less then 25. I had more people in my college 8 am neuro-biology class

Despite what was likely a very large disappointment, the artists kept their remarkable musical standards. connected with their audience, and Mr. Johnson led, taught, cajoled and consoled his way through the program in a way that will long be remembered. The group is to be commended for grace under no fire.

So what did Carnegie get wrong?

I  do not have the inside track but it appears they badly misread their situation. There was no built in audience base. This was a new artist, in a new venue, with a new format, at a bad time, with lousy accessibility. While this was Conspirare’s first trip to NYC and Carnegie's first time in this venue, they apparently did not lay the ground work with their potential audience. Consider these observations

1. They had no notable online presence. A Google search  finds mostly mentions from Conspirare’s home town of Austin. For NYC there is one blog mention, no calendar or newspaper mentions, no use of Choral Net or VAN.  Carnegie does not list it under neighborhood concerts. An online press release finds it burried in a number of activities. It might as well have been a whisper campaign.
   
2. It was a Tuesday night, at a commuting high school, when school was on vacation. No students attended.
   
3.  Potential commuters were ignored with a 7 pm start time, no parking suggestions and the  directions on the link on the Carnegie website goes to THE WRONG location. And not in a small way

Choral Nation,  Has this ever happened to you? greater expectations then results? Feel free to share what you did to "master" the situation !