What to do with the small town concert hall

[Our Friend Cody Heitschmidt has a new project. I offered him a few ideas, but he needs your ideas, too. -Becky]

I just leased a 2300 seat concert hall in Hutch for all of 2010. Gonna see if we can liven Hutchinson, Kansas, up a little. Thoughts?

No, really, I want your thoughts!

I love my hometown, but just like my kids, I know there is room for improvement.

Will the readers of Small Biz Survival help me with thoughts/discussion/ideas on what we can do with this new venture to improve on a great little town (population 40,000) in the middle of Kansas?

1. What kind of events should we pursue? Don't come back with local community concerts, we already got those. Gimme something I haven't thought of?

2. How do we get a younger crowd involved in community events? Short of booking Kenny Chesney (little short of being able to pay his fees?!?!?)

3. How do we use this facility to actually improve the economic situation of our community? (It's in the dead middle of our downtown, this is a baited question!)

4. Becky McCray rocks and if she doesn't include this on this blog post I will sue her for infringing on my copyright with unapproved editing. [I paid Cody $20 to put that in there. ;) -Becky]

Our site is at http://www.hutchhall.com kinda bare now. But its there.


Cody Heitschmidt
http://www.twitter.com/codyks
www.codytalks.com
www.whatsuphutch.com

New here? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Subscribe.
Posted by Becky McCray on Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Categories: , ,

15 comments:

  1. Seriously... I am incredibly open-minded guy that loves the feedback on this site and is looking for a virtual brainstorming session here.

    Thanks!
    ReplyDelete
  2. My browser ate the long response I wrote. I'm going to try this again.

    Traditionally, these sorts of spaces were used for not only musical events, but for lecture series. Samuel Clemens, for example, performed readings and talks on a lecture circuit as Mark Twain for the latter portion of his life in places much like this. He appeared between performances of early vaudeville or concerts.

    There are many educators, authors and pop culture figures who would love a venue like this to use for similar purposes. I would begin by contacting local universities and colleges and finding out what speakers they have/use, what the topics are, and what turnout is like. Then look at your population data to discover which age groups are most active in your area and their levels of education, etc. If there is a large set of, say, 20-something singles who work in a nearby big city, you may be able to get their attention by featuring speakers or presenters who are in the music industry. That population set would join up with a younger population set if you were to invite people such as comic book writers or speakers who have worked in film or music. See how strong your local indie scene is there and use that as a starting point for topics.

    Contacting local schools, universities, colleges, private schools, and other institutions to set up a month of concerts would be an eye-opener to many in your area, I think. You'd have parents, friends, grandparents, and associates of varying types coming to visit your venue, which may itself be a place they wouldn't ordinarily go. Once they're in it, they'll remain more aware of it and what it is offering in the future.

    Best of luck with this! I think this is a good time to go back to basics with venues such as this. Not only are lecture series and smaller performances cheaper to attend than a night bowling or at the movies (a huge consideration in our economy), our entire culture is shifting back toward a "simplify" mentality. This means farmer's markets, public festivals and fairs, and old-fashioned entertainments are moving to the forefront of our consciousness.
    ReplyDelete
  3. How about community Theater, talent shows, mystery dinner theater for adults, battle of the bands for youth groups (prepare for loud noise)target your great Third Thursday's for some of the special events to help small businesses.
    ReplyDelete
  4. Our Community Theatre group recently leased a 300-set auditorium in our community of 3,600. Here's some things we've done / plan on doing:

    -Obviously this is home for our local performing arts group. We do three plays per year.

    -We recently partnered with the local community college to provide a summer acting workshop for local youth. It was well attended by both the youth and community at large.

    -Traveling theatre groups. This is the second year we've had Nebraska Shakespeare (a traveling Shakespeare troupe) present in our theatre.

    -Music. In a smaller town, there aren't many opportunities for a variety of live music. We strive to bring in a wide variety of unique groups. Bluegrass, classical (violin, harp, etc.)

    -Lecture. Again, this sort of thing is hard to come by in a smaller community. Provide interesting speakers on a wide variety of subjects. Perhaps this could even be a stopping point for various political stops.

    -In essence, our view is that anything within the realm of the arts has a home at our theatre. We're still fleshing out what that means in day-to-day practice, but we're getting there.

    Now, in direct response to your questions.

    1) I offered some ideas above, but ultimately it's knowing your crowd. What do people in your area enjoy? What to people go out of town to go see?

    2) I see from your website that you already are utilizing all the social media outlets, which is a good start in answering this question. Again, what do your area young people enjoy? Could you do some sort of Rock Band competition? Consistently provide an after school getaway for HS kids?

    3) I think the key here is thinking big. We show movies in our theatre as well. (The closest movie theatre is 30 minutes away.) Consistently, you can look at the parking lot and see cars from at least 3 different counties. What will bring in people from outside the community?

    It's a big task, to be sure! Surround yourself with other progressive thinkers and see where this goes! Best wishes!
    ReplyDelete
  5. We've done a few things up here in Hampton Iowa and are looking at some other things.
    Book tours and signings (and those scifi writers have an incredible audience that will travel from all over to get their latest book signed), have singers do acoustic sets between gigs (performing in Minneapolis going to Des Moines - we are right in between), church event (Christian concerts are very popular) -- and that should start you off!
    @debworks
    ReplyDelete
  6. Holy crap... great reponses! Thanks to all of you and these 4 comments alone have put several wheels in motion this morning. (don't stop!!) I love brainstorming!!
    ReplyDelete
  7. Couple of ideas:

    1) Have a "Film Race" and screen the finished movies at the hall.

    2) Check out what happened recently at a venue in Tulsa, OK. Site is ignitetulsa.org, but YouTube channel for IgniteTulsa has all the vids. Think "IgniteHutch". (Several of my friends presented and others were very involved in making event happen.)

    3) Consider screening independent films. (Another example from my hometown is CircleCinema.org.

    Most importantly. GO. DO. SOMETHING.
    ReplyDelete
  8. What about holding a fashion show? Have local stores put together outfits and recruit their good customers to be models? Or have local designers present their latest designs, or some combination of the two. Would have LOVED to have something like this going on when I was growing up in a small town.

    Good luck with this venture!
    ReplyDelete
  9. Gladys has a great idea there! I have seen membership organizations do these, and they were a big hit with the community.

    Also, speaking of membership organizations, how about talking a few of the local groups into moving their annual awards event. Instead of the usual awards dinner, make it a gala event in the theatre, like the Oscars.

    Actually, everyone has contributed great ideas! Crystal, OkieJ, Chase, Deb, Scott, Gladys, thank you all for contributing!

    Still plenty of room. What other ideas do you have, folks?
    ReplyDelete
  10. No kidding there are great comments! Thanks to everyone. We already have a spring fashion show in the works... great thought and additional ideas. Thanks so much to everyone and especially Becky!!
    ReplyDelete
  11. Great ideas - I'd suggest you also try and create a few small meeting spaces within the building if possible eg the foyers, other rooms. There's much more demand for space for 20 people for short meetings or all day seminars - put together some catering packages for them too. Can be a nice earner in between big events, and allows the theatre to be discovered by a lot more people.

    Make it quirky but 'corporate' with good facilities eg private, sound-proof, comfortable chairs, trestle tables etc - surprising how much demand there is for this type of space. Ask govt departments if they're interested, and find out about their hiring requirements eg OH&S policies etc so there are no impediments for them.
    ReplyDelete
  12. Art expo. Our local school has an annual art show that is the biggest social event of the year. Well known artists exhibit, school takes a % of sales, food, wine, beer, music, on opening night. Paintings, jewellery, craft all on show. Its a winner.
    Karen
    ReplyDelete
  13. More great comments.... Thanks again to everyone and I am filling a google doc with the great comments from here.

    Thanks again Becky... best focus group I have had yet!!!!
    ReplyDelete
  14. Ice cream social, Halloween costume contest (or safe indoor trick or treating venue, if such doesn't already exist), really big book club meetings, baked goods judging contest, community potluck, safe indoor "rave" or karaoke for your teens (using volunteer police/firefighter time for security), share-your-wares event, amateur Antiques Roadshow type event, indoor dog show (stock up on brooms and mops!) and definitely movies, movies and more movies.

    Amateur talent competition? Wine tasting? Gingerbread house competition?
    ReplyDelete
  15. Again Awesome ideas Carrie...

    I really like the Halloween Costume contest... contests in general.

    We are also going forward with talent competition ideas.

    Thanks
    ReplyDelete

>Having trouble commenting? Read our comment help.
Use only your real name in the name field. Read our full comment policy.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...