Orchestras of all sizes rely on in-person fundraising events to develop relationships with their donors, and to sustain the orchestra’s activities. But how do we approach fundraising now, when we must stay apart to stay safe? One option is to reimagine it – online.
OC was pleased to welcome leaders from three orchestras across the country, who shared their experiences with and advice for successful online fundraising amidst COVID-19. Jim Campbell (Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra), Chris Sharpe (Stratford Symphony Orchestra) and Jean R. Dupré and Céline Choiselat (Orchestre Métropolitain) discussed the approaches their orchestras took to moving their fundraising events online, how they managed to keep things personal with their donors, and the place they see online events holding in the future. Listen to the recording below, or read on for 4 key learnings from Jim, Chris, Jean and Céline:
An audio recording of this session can be found here.
1. Online fundraising is an opportunity to broaden your event’s reach
After moving their Cork and Canvas art auction online this spring, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra reached more bidders than ever before – double the number compared to their in-person auctions! Jim remarked that the auction was more accessible and inclusive in its online format for those outside its typical geographic and price range.
One of Stratford Symphony Orchestra’s existing online fundraising activities, the annual Phantom Ball, got more attention than ever this spring – even internationally. Chris remarked that as we stay home, people are especially keen for connection through the arts online. Thus, orchestras should “ride the wave” in our fundraising efforts, as Stratford Symphony plans to do while reimagining their upcoming annual Cows and Classics concert fundraiser as an online livestream.
2. Share an experience, make it special
Jean and Céline attributed the success of the Orchestre Métropolitain’s Gala Virtuel to the intimacy they were able to cultivate, even in a digital space. They capped the event at 50 guests and partnered with a renowned chef to deliver custom gift baskets right to attendees’ doorsteps, featuring champagne and hors d’œuvres to taste together (while apart) at the event. This translated the shared experience and exclusivity traditionally valued in an in-person gala to a virtual format.
3. The “Top 100 Strategy”
Jim recommended nurturing connections with your orchestra’s current top 100 donors (including government) first and foremost in tough times. Maintaining strong relationships with those who are already invested in your orchestra’s mission and success can help carry you through now, and in the future.
4. Focus on the music
Donors want more of what brings them to the orchestra in the first place – the music and the musicians! Jean and Céline noted that the highlight of Orchestre Métropolitain’s Gala Virtuel was the orchestra’s moving performance of Nimrod, an extract from Elgar’s Enigma Variations pre-recorded from their homes for the event. Jim highlighted Calgary Philharmonic’s individual videos to donors, wherein musicians recorded personalized thank you messages before performing a piece they had selected for the donor.
Consider: your mission is more important than the traditional ways in which you have been delivering it. The main activities of our orchestras have always been bringing large groups of people together for live performance. But orchestras’ missions are potentially more profound than the tactics used to achieve them. If your mission commits you to delivering community service and community value, can you reimagine what that engagement might look like? Rather than moulding existing activities to fit health restrictions, what would it look like if you exploded your orchestra’s seasons entirely? What might a season of smaller-scale community activities look like? How might you achieve mission-consistent results in a different way?
Plan for the worst, but be ready for the best. Susan and Bailey emphasized the importance of being agile in planning. They suggested starting with the worst case scenario and building plans up from there. As mentioned before, they suggest planning in rolling quarterly cycles, reassessing upcoming cycles as more information becomes available to you.
Linda spoke about the three key stages of the pandemic and how each of them will affect orchestras. The first (and current, as we write this) stage is the shutdown. While this phase is about staying visible and close to your audience, it’s also important to think about the monetization of content, so you can sustain the quantity and quality of your output. The second stage will be the transition towards some resuming of activities. With people economically hard-hit by the pandemic, orchestras will need to pivot their activities, and craft a plan that will work in an economy where many are living with reduced means. Stage three is the post-vaccine future. This stage will not, in Linda’s view, be a “return to normal”. Success in stage three will require a thoroughly examination and renovation of existing business models and a genuine commitment to bringing value to the communities we serve.
Orchestras should consider how emerging gaps in traditional leisure activities might create opportunities, then pivot our programming and promotion to respond. Linda gave the example of orchestras and other cultural activities as potential alternatives to international travel. Orchestras create memorable and transformative experiences, close to home: can we take advantage of this at a time when travel will get more difficult?
How many musicians can your facilities (hallways, green rooms, dressing rooms, washrooms, stage) safely accommodate, within physical distancing guidelines?
I use a 2010 MacPro for editing and producing. I’ve found it a great operating system for my creativity, and love its workflow. However, this type of work can be done on either a Mac or PC, and many of the tools I use work on either operating system. My list of tools is not exhaustive, and you’re free to explore the many options out there – there are a ton of great tools, and free ones too! We’ll go through this workflow on both Mac and PC. I’m not a video editor: I’m approaching this more as an audio guy, so if there are people on your team, or yourself that have tips and tricks that are better than these, please use them!
Clearly define your project goals. Start small, and once you get the hang of it, you’re ready to expand. Try a test project first, which you can do on your own! Some guiding questions:
In a performance context, we are all synchronized on stage with a conductor, our ears, and our brains; which navigate the sometimes tricky dissonance between what we see, and what we hear. For a “recording session” like this, a well-defined beat that goes WITH the click, is really helpful. We don’t have the benefit of being able to push and pull our timing against our colleagues as we play – but we have a precise click that will keep us all in line as we separately record our music.
The simplest solution that allows us to collaborate with other musicians is an app called Acapella. You can record a video/audio track, and then record over the top of this up to 8 more times as we listen. By listening to ourselves carefully, we can stay on track, and harmonize and arrange.
We can also have the music “follow” an existing guide track. Let’s create that music guide, and do a technique called Beat Mapping, or Reclocking in order to match the grid of our project to the ever moving fractional tempo changes of all those individual beats.
Once we receive submissions from our performers, the EASIEST way to proceed is just to bring them into our video editor, align them, and set up our mosaic. To solve issues of balance, it’s usually best to do some audio editing at this stage, and to make sure that all of our videos are in the same format.