November 18, 2023 • 46 mins
When the world fell quiet during the pandemic, Annie DiMartino, Deputy Director of Performing Arts Center Eastside, found a way to bring back the music. With a background in the nonprofit sector and a passion for performing arts, Annie conceptualized and created the Arts Without Barriers program to offer a lifeline to out-of-work musicians and bring vibrancy back to her community responsibly after over a year of lockdown. Discover how she and her team turned public spaces into the stages for musicians to showcase their talent and restore simple humanity amid challenging times.
Launching Arts Without Barriers was no easy task. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, in just five weeks of intense planning Annie and her team breathed life back into public spaces, initially intended for a 90-day run. Hear the heartwarming story of how local musicians intersected with people in common areas, leading to an extension of the program across the calendar and multiple years.
In the latter part of our conversation, we delve into the evolving social trends in the event industry. We discuss the surge in no-shows and digital burnout due to the pandemic and how it has impacted event attendance. Despite these challenges and more, Annie's Arts Without Barriers program has successfully broken down access, transportation, and childcare barriers to live performance.
Arts Without Barriers has been made possible in part through visionary support of 4 Culture, OneRedmond, and Redmond Town Center.
The brilliant graphic designer behind the award winning AWB visual assets is Claire Zoghb.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Annie (00:00):
This is Annie DiMartino and you're listening to One Hour
to Doors.
Jon (00:10):
This is One Hour to Doors, a podcast about the business and
soul of the festivals andevents industry.
I am your host, Jon Stone.
My guest today is AnnieDiMartino.
Annie is the deputy director ofPerforming Arts Center East
Side, commonly known by theacronym PACE, in Bellevue,
Washington.
(00:30):
In 2021, annie created an adhoc community program named Arts
Without Barriers, which, whileintending to be a one-off event,
caught unexpected traction inthe community and not only
extended its initial run, butwas demanded by the communities.
It served to renew and is nowin its third season.
(00:51):
Annie, I am excited to catch upwith you today.
Welcome to the show, thank you.
How long have you been withPACE and what was your
background before that?
Annie (01:01):
Sure, I started with PACE in July of 2019 and I was
originally hired on as theireducation director.
So I was brought in to do someresearch, find out what our
community needed, so that wecould fill a gap in the arts
education sector, and that'swhat I did up until December of
(01:22):
2019, when we all know whathappened in March of 2020 and
everything kind of changeddramatically.
Jon (01:29):
It always makes me smile when I hear stories of people
who started a new job or startedthe new business right around
like January of 2020.
I just I keep running into alot of folks that had that
situation, you know.
Annie (01:43):
Yeah, it's like oops.
Yeah.
But you know, I find it to befortuitous for me in that moment
because it allowed me to divein and do what I love doing most
, which is arts education andfiguring out what our community
wants and responding to theirneeds and creating programming
based on, well, just true needsof the community, as opposed to
(02:06):
any assumptions that I've made.
But when COVID hit, it affordedme the opportunity to also
expand and showcase or highlight, I would say, that strategic
thinking side of my brain whichnot a lot of people had come to
recognize up until that point.
Because when you're in theeducation realm you tend to work
with surveys and participatoryaction, research methods and
(02:30):
bringing kids voices to life andgiving them the confidence that
they need, and everybody seesthat and values that and
understands it.
But I don't think they alsounderstand the strategy that
goes into the creating of or themaking of.
So it was kind of fun to takethat and bring it into where
pace was at that moment and howcould we utilize that thinking
(02:51):
to help pace move in a directionfor real time strategic
planning and gantt charting andrapid planning processes.
So it was an interesting momentin time.
Jon (03:04):
Strategy tells the story about where we are going, not
how we're going to get there.
And in order to do that, youhave to envision and make these
big, bold bets about what thefuture looks like, and that's
really hard to do.
The pandemic was like theultimate manifestation of the
future, coming out of nowhereand catching all of us off guard
(03:27):
Absolutely.
So I absolutely hear whatyou're saying about the silver
lining of the pandemic awakeningthe strategic thinking portion
of the brain by cruel bruteforce, but it's an awakening
nevertheless.
Have you always worked in thenonprofit sector?
Annie (03:45):
I have.
Actually, I started out my veryfirst gig.
I was 12, believe it or not andI was with a choir, the Island
Sound All Girls Choir, and wewere chosen to sing a jingle for
a Hawaiian Airlines.
So I was brought into arecording studio at 12.
Five other people, yeah, and weall sang this jingle.
(04:08):
And then we also I don't know,I'm going to completely date
myself we were also doing theopening baseball ceremonies for
the Mariners when the Kingdomwas still around, so we recorded
the music that I think at thattime there was 50 or 60
different choirs that wereperforming with the opening
ceremonies, so me and the fivegirls who did the jingle also
(04:31):
stuck around and recorded thesong and then did the
choreography and was at theKingdome for, I think, probably
their last kickoff celebration.
Jon (04:40):
Do you still remember that jingle?
Annie (04:42):
I don't remember the jingle, but I do remember the
dance that we had to do in theKingdome, which is the way my
body works, I guess.
Jon (04:52):
Describe for the listeners the Arts Without Barriers
program.
Annie (04:56):
Yeah, so this was something that came about, as we
had just alluded to.
During COVID, we had raisedmoney for a program which we had
been calling Arts WithoutBarriers, but it looked very
differently.
We had collaborated withanother group to bring in a
two-hander called the NaikaProject and it was supposed to
(05:17):
be something that was performedin three different venues and we
were going to collaborate withother organizations to do
symposiums and talk and have allof these free programming for a
period of three weeks indowntown Bellevue.
But clearly, when COVID hit andwe had to stop everything, we
had raised the money for thisprogram, which everyone was
(05:39):
considered of the fact that wehad to put it on pause,
obviously.
But what we had discovered wasthat this wasn't going to be a
one month, a two month, a threemonth postponement.
This was becoming a yearpostponement.
So what do we do?
How do we bring back life andsound and noise to a definitely
quiet city?
(05:59):
And that's where this versionof Arts Without Barriers came
into effect.
We were having a team meetingand our board president came in
talking about music that he hadjust heard being played on the
sidewalk by local artist JohnSolzano and how fascinating it
was and how he enjoyed thatsound and we were joking that,
(06:20):
oh, that was illegal right now,but it's not going to be illegal
in a little bit, because youactually were having
conversations with the governortalking about how to lift the
restrictions on buskers, and sowe said, okay, this is the
opportunity.
If we act now, we can get aheadof the curve.
We can be one of theorganizations to bring live
(06:41):
music and live entertainment andgive our out of work musicians
opportunities to go out thereand make some money and play
their joy.
And this did a couple of thingsfor us.
It was music in the air, twohour performances at high foot
traffic areas and multiplelocations throughout the East
Side, raising brand awarenessfor pace and raising brand
(07:04):
awareness for our artists whohad been out of work for 18
months.
So being able to contract them,have their name and social
media handles out there,reminding everyone that they're
back, that they had spent 18months maybe working on brand
new music that they were goingto showcase at some of these
locations.
Just the fact that they got toplay in front of an audience and
(07:25):
sometimes in front of no onefor the first five minutes, but
they felt so good being in frontof a PA system again was
exciting.
So we did so.
We kind of said, okay, who do weknow that works with musicians?
How many musicians can we get?
What are the differentlocations and areas?
We are performing arts centerEast Side.
So do we want to keep it inBellevue?
(07:45):
Do we want to branch out and bein multiple cities?
These were all the things thatwere literally talked about in a
staff meeting and theneverybody looked at me and went
you can do it right.
Tongue in cheek, and I said,okay, but when I get determined,
I get very determined and Imake sure that, no matter what,
(08:09):
it will come to fruition.
So, with a staff of three andwith one board chair, I took the
helm on making this projectcome to fruition, learning a ton
of things as we go.
Right Is hiring the buskers andfinding the locations and doing
it at times where we think ouraudience or community wanted to
(08:29):
go.
Being in high foot trafficareas, how do we get signage out
there?
What do we do about soundpermits?
permitting that I had never eventhought about, because that had
not been part of my regularworkflow as an education
director, right Like you workwith a team of 40 when you're
with a performing arts center ora nonprofit theater, which is
the world that I had been in for20 years up until that point.
(08:52):
So to all of a sudden be likeall right, roll up our sleeves
and make this happen ourselves.
That's what we did.
So in I think five weeks wewere able to book 62-hour
performances that we scheduledMay, june and July, all
throughout downtown Bellevue andRedmond and Kirkland Renton.
Jon (09:14):
Woodinville, I think, Woodinville, I think there could
be a few out there.
Annie (09:17):
Yeah, we did.
And what was funny is you havethese conversations and people
are in their COVID worlds andall of a sudden I'm talking to
them about bringing in freeprogramming and there's that
element of skepticism like whatis this?
What are you doing?
I don't really understand, butsure, okay.
So there was a real leap offaith and trust on both sides
(09:38):
that we were going to be able todeliver and make something
happen.
Not really knowing what thisexperiment is, the best word
that I could come up with wouldturn into.
So for those first three monthsit was a real tiptoe.
Is this going to work?
Are people going to listen?
Are they going to stay?
Are we going to get theaudiences?
(09:58):
Are they going to recognizeperforming arts center east side
?
How are our musicians?
What are we going to do withaudience interaction and keeping
everyone six feet away?
Hence, we had our arts withoutbarriers, artists, but then also
the gig manager there to makesure that we were following
protocols.
There were just layers uponlayers upon layers of things
that I hadn't thought about, butevery day presented a new
(10:19):
challenge, which was fun toovercome in some regards.
And then when the three months,like you had said, we're done.
We were getting phone callsfrom various location sites that
said no, we want this tocontinue through the summer or
through the fall, and then allthe way through to December.
So this little three monthssnippet in time all of a sudden
(10:42):
turned into a six month and anine month snippet in time.
Jon (10:46):
In full disclosure to the listening audience.
At the same time that you andyour staff were kicking around
this idea that would grow intoarts without barriers, I was
finishing up work with acommission of sorts that the
governor had put together ofvolunteers charged with writing
(11:07):
the pandemic reopening processesand procedures for the
performing arts sector had beenworking on that for months,
super anxious to just get a planthat could be green lighted so
that the sector could go back towork.
And of course, at that time Iwas working with an organization
that was programming buskers incommercial municipal spaces.
(11:30):
I still do that work and that'swhen the phone call came.
So that's how you and I met waswhen you guys were thinking
it's like, okay, we have thisvision to how in the heck are we
going to accomplish that?
And through mutual friends youreached out and I said that
sounds like a fine idea.
Annie (11:47):
Absolutely.
People don't recognize trulyhow small but how vast, and I
know that that soundsantithetical, but our industry
is.
It really comes down to who youknow and everybody knows
everybody.
So coming out of COVID andhaving people who knew you, who
knew, who had a lifeline and apipeline into the musicians,
(12:09):
into the buskers, intoeverything, it was one of the
reasons why we were able to makeit happen in five weeks.
Otherwise I think it would havetaken five months.
Jon (12:17):
I remember at the time so this is April 2021, it felt like
we had been on pandemiclockdown for 50 years.
The entire industry waschomping at the bit to get back
out there and work, to do whatthey do, to be who they are, and
so it was exciting and we weregoing to come right out of the
(12:37):
gate swinging with all theseperformances and put music in
the air for the public to enjoy.
I'm super excited, the artistsare super excited, and I
remember the very first gig.
Do you remember where the firstperformance was?
Annie (12:49):
Yeah, the Mayuri, it was the shopping center that they
opened.
Jon (12:53):
Oh, you're right, See, your memory is better than me.
That wasn't the one I wasthinking of.
So the first event that we didwas that shopping center grand
opening and that was very wellreceived.
But everybody was there for theshopping center opening.
The music was kind of abackground-ish thing, but I
remember that was all right, wewere just happy to be working,
(13:14):
just happy to be making music.
Do you remember the secondperformance?
No, the second performance wasin the Pavilion, the Pavilions,
maybe it's Pavilion Park, Ican't remember what the name of
it is.
Yeah, beautiful facility.
And so this is going to be thefirst true public play and we
had Country Dave Harmanson outthere.
There's no better way to kickthis thing off.
(13:36):
Super excited, get out there,get set up.
Country Dave shows up, startsplaying beautiful music and
there's nobody there.
The streets are just empty, thebusinesses are still closed.
It was just us and Dave.
Annie (13:53):
And the 150 people who lived in the apartment complexes
around there.
And that's the moment of magic.
Jon (14:03):
That's what I was just going to say.
So for like the first 10 or 20minutes I'm like, oh man, maybe
this is a little premature.
But then I looked up and I sawthe park is surrounded by
high-rise apartments and condos,with retail on the ground level
.
And I looked up into theapartments and I saw the first
person that opened up the windowand the look of surprise but
(14:25):
pleasant surprise on their facewhen they looked out and they
realized, like what's that sound?
That sounds like live music.
I haven't heard that in ages.
And then, soon, like, a secondwindow opened up, and then more,
and then more, and then it wasalmost like the Muppet Show or
something like that Just allthese people hanging out the
window, hanging out of theirwindows, listening to music.
(14:47):
And it put smiles on their faceand it was springtime.
Cherry trees were starting toblossom, the weather was
overcast, but it wasn't cold orwindy or anything like that, and
it just felt good.
Annie (15:00):
It did Well.
And what was awesome is weweren't just hitting these
locations for a one-timeperformance and then we never
went back.
It was a consistent everyWednesday night from five to
seven.
We were at that spot for thethree months straight.
So yes, that in that first timeit did feel like the Muppets,
(15:20):
as you saw the windows open andeveryone start coming out.
But then as week three, four,five progressed, I remember
being out there and having ourA-frame sign and sticking it out
and making sure the soundlevels and I'm standing in the
background and trying to takepictures and making sure the
artists were okay.
But there was that oneapartment and I don't know the
number of it.
(15:41):
It was the third floor, but Ican still remember to this day
the couple who would come outand it looked like it was common
practice.
She had the charcuterie board,he had the two glasses of wine
and they sat and it was likethis is what we do every
Wednesday for five to seven.
This is our tradition now.
Jon (15:59):
They're no dummies, no.
Annie (16:02):
It was awesome.
Jon (16:04):
The crowd's coming back on the street.
That was a slow process, evenin some of the more commercial
areas.
We were playing malls, library,all these great locations.
But throughout 2021, I rememberit was relatively light
pedestrian traffic everywhereyou went, and so the program ran
(16:25):
for its 90 days or what haveyou, and then we're kind of
wrapping it up.
But what happened when youtried to kind of sign off and
check out with some of theseproperties?
Annie (16:36):
Some of the venues, yes, so we had a system in place
because, again, one of ourstrategies was to raise brand
awareness and I wascommunicating with them and
saying these are your artistsfor our last month.
Here are their headshots.
This is how we're going to becross promoting on social media.
Make sure to get the word outthere.
And I immediately got a coupleemails back saying well, can we
(17:01):
continue?
We want to go all the waythrough the summer, because we
were originally scheduled forApril, may and June, that's it.
And we know that LV bites andbeats were starting up and that
was their summer gig and wedidn't want to step on any toes
or do multiple programming withthe same outcome in mind, right,
so we were happy to do ourthree months and then silently
(17:22):
kind of disappear into the winda little bit and then come back
with our original idea of whatwe thought our to that barriers
was going to be.
But each of these locationsites, I would say we were at
nine or 10 in the very firstyear and we had three wanting to
continue through the summer,all the way through August 31st,
and then one who said can weextend that through October?
(17:43):
Can we extend that throughNovember.
We want to bring you back forour December rush.
Jon (17:48):
And, to be clear, your funding for this had been
expended.
So when people wanted to extendit, they were asking if they
could extend it on their dime.
Annie (17:55):
On their dime.
Yeah, that's how much theyvalued the music in their
location and I think that isanother indication of what they
saw in terms of economicstimulus and their own locations
, as they're starting to seepeople feeling a little safe
because they're safe in music.
Jon (18:12):
They're certainly saying something because that
phenomenon, that just doesn'thappen in nature all that often.
People saying can we pleaseextend your program and I'm
happy to pay for it?
Yeah, that just doesn't happenall that often.
Annie (18:27):
No, I had never seen it happen.
Jon (18:31):
When some of those initial April, even May performances
were so sparsely attended, didthat demoralize you at all?
Annie (18:39):
A little bit.
A little bit, because youalways want to show immediate
success and justification forall of the hard work and hours
that you poured into bringingsomething to life.
Sure, so it was a slow birth,if I can use that metaphor.
It was a long time coming.
(19:00):
But when June came around andall of a sudden, we really did
see an explosion in audiencemembers in June, and then when,
to your point, the locationsites came back and said can we
extend?
We knew we had somethingspecial.
And, going back to theassessment side of things, it
was when we got that firstrequest to continue to have the
(19:23):
program visit their locations orhave the musicians come back.
Or my favorite was is thisperson available for this date?
We really like them or ouraudience is really like this
musician?
I got excited about where thisprogram could potentially go and
said OK, 2021 is the first year, but to see what kind of an
(19:44):
impact we are actually makingout in the community, let's not
change anything for 2022.
Because we need to.
We have our meter for where weneed to gauge.
So now let's see what 2022brings and then we can start
making plans to alter theprogramming based on our
community's needs in 2023.
I know, I just skipped aroundtalking a little bit about that,
(20:04):
but that's kind of where weended up with the extension.
Jon (20:07):
It's super smart.
If you ask anybody who hasproduced events over time, they
will tell you that if you arestarting up something truly new
from scratch, it takes threeyears Like.
You can't even second guess foryourself.
You're not allowed to for threeyears.
You need three years of data tobe able to even attempt to be
(20:28):
objective about evaluating theconcept.
Annie (20:32):
Yeah Well, and we had been working with the musicians
and with the gig managers andone of the things that we really
wanted to make sure that wewere capturing were audience
attendance and audienceresponses.
So that was a huge burden beingput on the gig manager to do.
Counting every 15 to 20 minutes, because a lot of what we did
(20:53):
were called walk bias, so ouraudience members didn't stick
around for the full two hourshows.
They would stick around for 15to 20 minutes and then they
would go on their merry way andget their cup of coffee and go
shopping or go home or dowhatever.
So capturing the number ofaudience members that we had and
then any sound bites that wecould capture from our audiences
(21:14):
was critical for us in thatfirst year.
So when I was able to go backto our board or when we were
able to start advertising,60,000 people reached in the
very first year of Arts WithoutBarriers I got a lot of how to
reach 60,000 people in thatfirst time.
There's no way that's notpossible, but it really is when
you're in 12 different locationseach week for 90 days and you
(21:39):
have walk bias and they're onlythere for 20 minutes and then
they leave.
It's that's how.
Jon (21:44):
We were very deliberate about getting counts at every
show.
The methodology we used andcontinue to use for this day is
very simple.
We would just make randomcounts.
A five minute count.
Super easy to do for fiveminutes.
Just count how many people arewalking through and we'd do at
(22:06):
least three of those for everytwo hour performance and then we
just average those out and I'lltake those numbers to the bank.
They're very, very accuratenumbers.
Annie (22:17):
Absolutely Well, as evident in some of our locations
, which were pretty consistentin the early days of, we had 12
people, 12 people in some ofthose first counts.
Jon (22:28):
Those were really easy to count.
Annie (22:29):
They were really easy.
But then, as we were performingin what we were talking about
high foot traffic areas, when wewere at Redmond Town Center,
when we were at two, threedifferent slots surrounding the
Bellevue collection, when wewere at the pavilion, when we
were at those high foot trafficareas, we could reach 250, 300,
or more, just because it wassunny and everyone was out and
(22:52):
enjoying the music and theshopping and, I think, breathing
a little bit easier.
Jon (22:56):
I'm bouncing around in time a little bit, but in the first
season, the 2021 season, likeyou just said, sometimes you can
count the number of passers-byon both hands, but towards the
end of that season those numbershad gone up significantly.
You go to the 2022 season andall of those numbers, I think
(23:20):
overall doubled or somethinglike that.
Oh yeah, or maybe a little more, but it's really been this year
2023, where the numbers haveexploded.
The program's still the same.
Nothing's changed there.
It's a reflection of peopleactually coming back out into
the community post-COVID.
Annie (23:39):
Yes, and just to add to that, I would say that this year
we did shift because we heardwhat our community was saying
and April was a horrible time tostart.
So they said what we wouldreally benefit from is full
summer program.
So May, june, july, august Ifyou can give us those four
(24:00):
months, then that is how we candive in and reach the majority
of our audiences.
So that was the one shift thatwe made through this entire
program over the last threeyears was we just altered?
But we still have a number oflocation sites who want us all
the way through December still,oh yeah.
So that hasn't stopped.
Jon (24:22):
I think that 2021 versus 2023, some of the sites, the
attendance has increasedprobably tenfold.
Annie (24:30):
Oh easily.
Jon (24:30):
There's no exaggeration.
I'm just doing a quick mathhere.
Annie (24:33):
but You're absolutely right and I can tell you because
I looked at the numbersyesterday.
So 60,000, just a little over60,000 in that first year.
I was then charged with thechallenge of reaching 75,000 or
more in the second year, whichwe hit.
Jon (24:48):
How many did we do in the second year?
Annie (24:48):
I want to say it was 78 and change.
Jon (24:51):
Okay.
Annie (24:52):
So I did the second year and then I just did quick
statistics on just May and Juneof this year 90,000 in just
those two months.
Again, though, multiplelocations.
This is the thing that people Iwant to drive in multiple
locations.
Two hour sets.
We're talking 12 showssometimes.
(25:12):
I mean five in a week,sometimes as much as 12 in a
week, depending on if we'redoing wine walks and we're in
multiple locations.
So that's how all of that comesto fruition.
Jon (25:24):
One of the little threads of humor that I found in that
first year.
As you said, a lot of artistshave been spending a great deal
of time during the pandemicwriting new material and so all
of a sudden here's this firstout-of-the-door opportunity to
get back out and play right.
So everybody's like, oh yeah,I've got new materials.
So they come out with all thismaterial they wrote in the
pandemic and so much of it wasreally depressing.
(25:46):
That's true.
I think that was love.
You know, it was reallydepressing rightfully so.
So, that was a little odd, butwhat are you going to do?
It was real, it was real.
It was very real, got a love ofthat Jumping back to 2021, so
(26:08):
this new project that launches,it catches unexpected traction,
time gets extended, numbersexceeded expectations.
It was a success by any measureand you were probably wrapping
that project up and putting iton the shelf for the year when
the Washington Festival andEvents Association called.
(26:31):
And let me hear that story fromyour perspective.
Annie (26:37):
So it was very exciting.
A colleague a mutual colleagueof ours, let me know about the
possibility of submitting ourprogram for awards, and I said,
why not?
So we pulled all of ourmaterials together and I
submitted, for I think it wasthree different awards that I
(27:01):
thought we could be incompetition with.
So it was poster design andbrochure design, because we have
a fantastic graphic designer.
I'm going to give her a majorshout out right now, claire Zob,
whom, again, we talk aboutsmall communities.
She and I worked together atLongworth Theater for 10 years.
She's East Coast.
(27:22):
I knew we needed the graphic, Iknew we needed a logo, I knew we
needed something, and so I wentto the person whom I knew would
be brilliant at it and calledup Claire, and she and I are
still collaborating to this dayand she pulled together a design
that just sang.
It had life and vibrancy andthe colors were perfect.
(27:43):
And even as we got theextension for the fall, I went
back to her and said can youjudge our springtime into a
summer poster and then oursummer poster into a fall poster
and then our fall into a winter?
And she did, and they all lookso cohesive and beautiful
together.
So I said, well, thesedefinitely need to be at least
(28:05):
promoted through this potentialaward for our brochures and
poster design.
And when we also talk aboutpostcard design, I will throw
out that in that first year wehad a wonderful collaboration
with Zeke's Pizza, who was alsojust starting to open their
doors, and so we had thepostcard pizza promo, where
anybody who went to Arts WithoutBarriers and they had their
(28:26):
postcard could come in for apercentage off of a pizza.
Right Again, we go back toeconomic stimulus and growth and
how do we get people back intothese businesses?
So we tried to catalyze thatopportunity and work with our
community to make it happen.
So again, we were able to putthat postcard out there for a
potential award.
And community programming,which was really the crux in the
(28:49):
heart of why we started ArtsWithout Barriers, was for our
community, and we were fortunateenough to then be invited to
attend the award ceremony.
Jon (29:00):
Well, you know, whenever WFEA reaches out and says, hey,
you might want to be sure toattend this year's annual awards
gala, you should probably go.
Annie (29:12):
Yeah, so we had a whole table and it was exciting.
It was really, really cool tosee our program celebrated that
night.
Jon (29:22):
And so, in the way that those statewide industry awards
work, everything's divided intobudget classes.
So you were entering in the$150,000 or less budget that was
the program budget and you wonthe gold award for promotional
(29:44):
materials, the poster, thepostcard, those types of things.
You won the gold award in thebudget class for best community
programming, best communityengagement, yeah.
But then the big surprise camewhen you won the grand summit
award, which is the overall bestevent in the state in your
(30:05):
budget category, and you wonthat in your very first year,
right out of the gate.
I don't know that.
I've ever seen anything likethat before.
Annie (30:15):
Oh, it was pretty awesome .
I mean I'm I am so proud ofthis program and where it came
and what we were able to do forour community and that was a
huge surprise, and of just aglorious one that I think I
wrote that excitement wave for alittle while.
I'm not going to lie.
Jon (30:33):
Well, I hope so.
Annie (30:34):
Yes, I did.
Jon (30:38):
What was going through your mind as your name kept getting
called for her to go up and getall these awards?
Annie (30:43):
It was pretty awesome.
It was a well.
That night in particular wasalso incredibly special because
I remember Robin was beingcelebrated and Robin Kelly yes
she was being celebrated and Ihad just joined the East Side
Culture Coalition, so I was juststarting to get used to some of
the major players on thenonprofits on the East Side and
(31:04):
to watch our fellow ECC personalso be celebrated that night
was huge for me, and justhearing about her career and
where she went and what she hasdone was inspiring.
So I think the whole night yes,winning those awards were
fantastic, but alsocommunicating with other arts
(31:24):
festivals and hearing how theycame out of the pandemic in that
year and we all were able tobreathe a little bit that night
and celebrate our successes waswhat I remember most.
Jon (31:36):
What other events or festivals have you seen lately?
That's inspired you.
Annie (31:43):
Well, I've been very fortunate this year to be able
to explore a number of differentfestivals, partly for research
for a festival that I'mproducing right now and also for
fun.
So I was able to check outPicathon in Oregon, which was
pretty cool, oh cool, yeah, itwas a cool.
One of my takeaways from goingto Picathon actually was seeing
(32:06):
how they have curated each oftheir stages very specifically,
so their artists are truly putin an area where they think they
would have the best audienceattraction and would fit for the
time and would fit for the day,and that is a takeaway that I
have brought with me for forBellwether in particular, which
(32:26):
is the Art and Tech Festivalthat we are producing right now.
Again, bringing the festivalout to the people, not having
the people come to a setlocation, is also exciting,
invigorating, and anothertakeaway, post pandemic, that
I'm watching other organizationsnationwide starting to do.
Actually, they no longer havetheir brick and mortar.
(32:48):
Instead, they're taking theirart out to the community in
different locations.
So Art Without Barriers wasdoing that in 2021 in our own
way.
Jon (32:58):
So currently you're working on another festival, the
Bellwether Festival.
Describe that, if you would.
Annie (33:05):
So Bellwether is an Art and Tech Festival that the city
of Bellevue and Bellevue ArtsCommission had been producing
for a number of years and comingout of COVID again, I think,
they realized that they justdidn't have the infrastructure
to carry it off probably in thesame vision and vein that they
wanted to previously.
So they put out a call forproposals and we were very
(33:29):
excited about the opportunity totake Bellwether and mesh it
with some of the principles ofArt Without Barriers again
taking it to the people, to highfoot traffic areas, curating
based on the location site andso we put in our proposal and we
were awarded the contractofficially in February and we
(33:50):
are now producing this festival,which is going on throughout
the month of September.
So another trend that I'mnoticing is a very short amount
of lead time to get some ofthese things up and running.
And having that energy and thatstructure in place,
understanding where Art WithoutBarriers were and being able to
plop it into you how to makeBellwether work within a six
(34:12):
month timeframe was incrediblyhelpful.
Jon (34:17):
You know I hadn't thought about this till this
conversation just now.
The idea of taking your eventout to the people rather than
trying to coax people to comesee your event it makes me think
about how it's not getting anyeasier to get people to make
that commitment to go toanything, to physically show up
(34:40):
to attend anything Everywhere Ilook that's just becoming harder
and harder and harder.
And just when you do events oreven have meetings, for people
RSVP right, if you were to goback in time, if you RSVP'd yes,
for something that was acommitment, like that was
something that you honored andas the person throwing the party
(35:04):
, the event, the meeting,whatever you can count on it,
you didn't need to think anyfurther.
You knew exactly how manypeople were coming.
But as a social trend, I havewatched that guarantee.
If you will slowly start toerode over the last 10 or 20
years, it might even be like agenerational thing.
I don't know what it is exactly.
(35:24):
I can remember exactly when Ifirst started to notice this.
It would have been in the late2000s, like 2007, 2008, 2009.
All of a sudden I noticedpeople would RSVP and then not
show.
It's like what the heck is thatas a trend that is continued to
deteriorate.
I just went out on a speakingcircuit of seminars for a couple
(35:51):
of weeks across the state andthis is in the context of
professional development and theno show rate for people who
registered, paid money, peoplethat registered and paid money
the no show rate was about 50%5-0.
It didn't matter if it werewhere it was, just anywhere we
(36:12):
went, it was about the same,about 50% no shows.
That's really interesting.
Annie (36:17):
Do you think I'm going to throw this question out?
You've seen this trend startingto build up since 2007, 2008.
I've noticed a increase in thattrend since COVID because
everyone's expecting a digitalversion that they can go to,
that they don't actually have tobe there in person, because
they can just watch it later on.
(36:37):
I'm wondering if there's acoalition there.
Jon (36:40):
That's a good question.
I don't know.
Annie (36:43):
It's fascinating because with Bellwether, right now we
have four in person events, butthere's definitely a digital
aspect to it and we're startingto watch another surge in COVID,
which is also making producingin person events another
challenge, because, as much asyou think we have contingency
plans in place, there's alwayssomething that's going to pop up
.
Jon (37:03):
See from my perspective, I'm feeling a trend of digital
burnout.
Yeah Right, if you're talkingabout something.
If there is a live and inperson option and a digital
option, hell, no, I don't wantthe digital option.
I'm digitaled out.
Yeah, I've had my fill ofdigital.
Annie (37:24):
Now is that because you are so heavy on the producing
side of it?
Jon (37:29):
Certainly there's bias in there somewhere.
I don't know exactly what it is.
It's fascinating, isn't it?
Well, it's like these podcasts.
That's why, whenever I can, Igo to the person live.
They could do this all on Zoomnow, right, but that's not what
it feels different to me.
Yeah, it's not real.
Yeah, that's interesting.
Annie (37:53):
A topic for another podcast.
Jon (37:55):
Well sure, and just think about this.
What does it mean for liveevents?
Certainly the concert industry.
When concerts finally came outen masse from under the cover of
the pandemic, they couldn'tprint enough tickets, so to
speak.
I mean, it was.
Everything you did was that youwere experiencing a capacity
(38:15):
crowd that's died out.
Now it's actually raisingeyebrows in how it's moving in
the opposite direction.
There's a lot of seats beingunfilled right now and the one
school of thought is that thatbig rush back post pandemic was
kind of a reflex action Peopletrying to make up.
(38:37):
It's like if you haven't had adrink of water in two days, when
you next come across wateryou're going to drink a lot of
it really fast, but then you getyour fill and you slow it back
down.
So I think in a lot of aspectsof the entertainment industry
we're in a little bit of a lullright now from people having
come back hard and fast into themarketplace.
(39:00):
So the question is what'stomorrow going to look like?
It's a good question.
I hope there's not a shift backto digital.
Annie (39:10):
Yeah, I do too.
I also hope, whenever we askthe question, well, that's a
question for tomorrow.
All of a sudden, even when Ihear that now there's such a
level of uncertainty, because Inever would have imagined a
pandemic in 2020.
So just knowing that's aquestion for tomorrow, I'm like,
okay, great, but what otherapocalyptic thing is going to
happen that's going to preventus from being able to produce
(39:32):
our work again?
Right, and see you next year.
But we're keeping this positive, john.
Jon (39:37):
We're keeping this positive in line.
Well, the positive angle, Ithink, getting back on the arts
without barriers bandwagon, it'sjust the idea of taking it to
the people.
We're seeing that that works.
Annie (39:49):
It does work Well.
And when people ask me so whatdo you mean for arts without
barriers?
What is the idea behind thattitle?
And it's very simple for meit's eliminating access barriers
.
It's eliminating monetarybarriers, transportation
barriers, also babysittingbarriers.
I'm a single mom.
I remember many times where Icouldn't just leave my kid to go
(40:11):
watch a concert, even though myfavorite person was playing.
But these are being played inoutside public locations.
I can bring my kid, I can enjoya cup of coffee while he plays
in the fountain All of thesethings that were barriers to
being able to experience liveentertainment, and high quality
(40:32):
live entertainment right.
Jon (40:34):
Yeah, well, that's key.
Annie (40:35):
These are key.
Exactly these musicians arephenomenal, so to be able to go
and experience that was allwrapped up in the reasoning
behind it.
Jon (40:47):
Another societal benefit of the program is just the fact
that positive activity in publicspaces tends to displace
negative activity in publicplaces.
Annie (40:58):
Agreed, and there's nothing more joyful than music,
in my opinion.
Jon (41:03):
Did you have any mentors throughout your career?
Annie (41:06):
I have.
I've had a number of them.
Jim Vols was a mentor that Ihad early on in college who
really helped me understand moreof the business side of things
Because, again, I have my BA andmy MFA in theater performance.
I'm an actor, that's where mydegrees come from and he really
(41:27):
opened my eyes to the businessside of things, which I think
unlocked that strategic thinking.
And when I was at Long Wharf,josh Bornstein was, and
continues to be, a huge mentorof mine.
He was the first generalmanager and then the managing
director for Long Wharf and heasked some really great
questions and then again builtupon understanding the business
(41:50):
side of things.
So those would be two of mymain mentors.
Jon (41:55):
Who do you think you are?
Annie (41:58):
Who do I think I am?
You want to build out on thatquestion?
Who do I think I am?
I am a mom, I am an artist, Iam an actor, I am an arts
administrator, I am an artsadvocate and I am a trauma
(42:23):
survivor.
Jon (42:24):
Who is your favorite ancestor?
Annie (42:30):
My mom was the strongest woman that I ever met, and if
there was a role model that saidthat it was the epitome of
resilience, it would be her, andI think that's where I get my
fight and my resiliency from.
Jon (42:48):
Describe your favorite chair that you ever sat in.
Annie (42:53):
OK, this is going to sound very strange.
My family has a tradition ofgoing to ocean shores every
Thanksgiving and this has been atradition that we have had
since I was two or three.
So we're coming up on 40 yearsof getting the same three rooms
(43:15):
from the same three Polynesianhotels, the same time frame,
every single year.
And there is one chair in.
Mike has an Allison's room.
That has become the favoritechair and it's big and round
almost as big as this tableactually, and it swivels around
that you could almost fallasleep in it, but it's the most
(43:36):
comfortable chair I ever sleptin, sat in, so that's my
favorite chair.
Jon (43:42):
Sounds like my kind of a chair.
What is your favorite sound?
Rain?
That is a very common answer.
Annie (43:57):
I used to babysit for someone who had a tin roof and
so when the rain would fall,that was pretty magical.
My favorite smell is the smellat 10 o'clock at night, right
when it's starting to shift fromsummer to fall, and you can
smell the fall in the air.
It's a very specific smell, butthat's.
(44:19):
I was fortunate enough to haveto run an errand late last night
and I didn't get home untillate and as I was getting out
and walking to my apartment, Ikind of went it's time.
It's here.
Now is my favorite time becauseI could smell it in the air.
Jon (44:37):
Well, I think one of my favorite smells is a summertime
smell and it's that mixture inthe air of fresh cut grass and
charcoal briquettes burning.
Yes, it's a very nostalgicthing for me, definitely
(44:58):
Childhood.
It's like the best of timesmid-summer.
Annie (45:01):
Yeah.
Jon (45:02):
And then the charcoal the promise of the the impending
barbecue.
To this day those combinationsof smells can command my
attention.
It can snap me out of thedeepest focus, Absolutely.
Annie (45:21):
OK, so what is a song that will always make you dance?
Jon (45:26):
That will always make me dance?
Annie (45:27):
It will always make you want to get up and dance.
Jon (45:29):
I don't know, not being one who's prone to getting up and
dancing.
That's a tricky one.
I know what you're getting at,so I'm thinking I want to give
you my best answer on that.
What's popping into my head?
I don't know if this is exactlydance.
Well, it was dance music, butthis is obscure but a band
(45:52):
called Shriekback.
Shriekback was like a cult kindof band, right.
Not many people know who thatis, but if you do, you tend to
be really into everythingthey've done.
And they were around since the80s still around and it was like
former members of some morepopular bands like Gang of Four
(46:13):
and that kind of thing, XTC.
But they had a song called AllLined Up with an infectious
baseline.
So that's a song that pops intomy head.
Annie congratulations on thethird season now of an amazing
(46:34):
program and it's been wonderfulcatching up with you and hope to
talk again soon.
Annie (46:39):
Thank you.
Me too, I've enjoyed this.
This is an all call, one hourto doors.
This is Annie DiMartino and you're listening to One Hour
to Doors.
Jon (00:10):
This is One Hour to Doors, a podcast about the business and
soul of the festivals andevents industry.
I am your host, Jon Stone.
My guest today is AnnieDiMartino.
Annie is the deputy director ofPerforming Arts Center East
Side, commonly known by theacronym PACE, in Bellevue,
Washington.
(00:30):
In 2021, annie created an adhoc community program named Arts
Without Barriers, which, whileintending to be a one-off event,
caught unexpected traction inthe community and not only
extended its initial run, butwas demanded by the communities.
It served to renew and is nowin its third season.
(00:51):
Annie, I am excited to catch upwith you today.
Welcome to the show, thank you.
How long have you been withPACE and what was your
background before that?
Annie (01:01):
Sure, I started with PACE in July of 2019 and I was
originally hired on as theireducation director.
So I was brought in to do someresearch, find out what our
community needed, so that wecould fill a gap in the arts
education sector, and that'swhat I did up until December of
(01:22):
2019, when we all know whathappened in March of 2020 and
everything kind of changeddramatically.
Jon (01:29):
It always makes me smile when I hear stories of people
who started a new job or startedthe new business right around
like January of 2020.
I just I keep running into alot of folks that had that
situation, you know.
Annie (01:43):
Yeah, it's like oops.
Yeah.
But you know, I find it to befortuitous for me in that moment
because it allowed me to divein and do what I love doing most
, which is arts education andfiguring out what our community
wants and responding to theirneeds and creating programming
based on, well, just true needsof the community, as opposed to
(02:06):
any assumptions that I've made.
But when COVID hit, it affordedme the opportunity to also
expand and showcase or highlight, I would say, that strategic
thinking side of my brain whichnot a lot of people had come to
recognize up until that point.
Because when you're in theeducation realm you tend to work
with surveys and participatoryaction, research methods and
(02:30):
bringing kids voices to life andgiving them the confidence that
they need, and everybody seesthat and values that and
understands it.
But I don't think they alsounderstand the strategy that
goes into the creating of or themaking of.
So it was kind of fun to takethat and bring it into where
pace was at that moment and howcould we utilize that thinking
(02:51):
to help pace move in a directionfor real time strategic
planning and gantt charting andrapid planning processes.
So it was an interesting momentin time.
Jon (03:04):
Strategy tells the story about where we are going, not
how we're going to get there.
And in order to do that, youhave to envision and make these
big, bold bets about what thefuture looks like, and that's
really hard to do.
The pandemic was like theultimate manifestation of the
future, coming out of nowhereand catching all of us off guard
(03:27):
Absolutely.
So I absolutely hear whatyou're saying about the silver
lining of the pandemic awakeningthe strategic thinking portion
of the brain by cruel bruteforce, but it's an awakening
nevertheless.
Have you always worked in thenonprofit sector?
Annie (03:45):
I have.
Actually, I started out my veryfirst gig.
I was 12, believe it or not andI was with a choir, the Island
Sound All Girls Choir, and wewere chosen to sing a jingle for
a Hawaiian Airlines.
So I was brought into arecording studio at 12.
Five other people, yeah, and weall sang this jingle.
(04:08):
And then we also I don't know,I'm going to completely date
myself we were also doing theopening baseball ceremonies for
the Mariners when the Kingdomwas still around, so we recorded
the music that I think at thattime there was 50 or 60
different choirs that wereperforming with the opening
ceremonies, so me and the fivegirls who did the jingle also
(04:31):
stuck around and recorded thesong and then did the
choreography and was at theKingdome for, I think, probably
their last kickoff celebration.
Jon (04:40):
Do you still remember that jingle?
Annie (04:42):
I don't remember the jingle, but I do remember the
dance that we had to do in theKingdome, which is the way my
body works, I guess.
Jon (04:52):
Describe for the listeners the Arts Without Barriers
program.
Annie (04:56):
Yeah, so this was something that came about, as we
had just alluded to.
During COVID, we had raisedmoney for a program which we had
been calling Arts WithoutBarriers, but it looked very
differently.
We had collaborated withanother group to bring in a
two-hander called the NaikaProject and it was supposed to
(05:17):
be something that was performedin three different venues and we
were going to collaborate withother organizations to do
symposiums and talk and have allof these free programming for a
period of three weeks indowntown Bellevue.
But clearly, when COVID hit andwe had to stop everything, we
had raised the money for thisprogram, which everyone was
(05:39):
considered of the fact that wehad to put it on pause,
obviously.
But what we had discovered wasthat this wasn't going to be a
one month, a two month, a threemonth postponement.
This was becoming a yearpostponement.
So what do we do?
How do we bring back life andsound and noise to a definitely
quiet city?
(05:59):
And that's where this versionof Arts Without Barriers came
into effect.
We were having a team meetingand our board president came in
talking about music that he hadjust heard being played on the
sidewalk by local artist JohnSolzano and how fascinating it
was and how he enjoyed thatsound and we were joking that,
(06:20):
oh, that was illegal right now,but it's not going to be illegal
in a little bit, because youactually were having
conversations with the governortalking about how to lift the
restrictions on buskers, and sowe said, okay, this is the
opportunity.
If we act now, we can get aheadof the curve.
We can be one of theorganizations to bring live
(06:41):
music and live entertainment andgive our out of work musicians
opportunities to go out thereand make some money and play
their joy.
And this did a couple of thingsfor us.
It was music in the air, twohour performances at high foot
traffic areas and multiplelocations throughout the East
Side, raising brand awarenessfor pace and raising brand
(07:04):
awareness for our artists whohad been out of work for 18
months.
So being able to contract them,have their name and social
media handles out there,reminding everyone that they're
back, that they had spent 18months maybe working on brand
new music that they were goingto showcase at some of these
locations.
Just the fact that they got toplay in front of an audience and
(07:25):
sometimes in front of no onefor the first five minutes, but
they felt so good being in frontof a PA system again was
exciting.
So we did so.
We kind of said, okay, who do weknow that works with musicians?
How many musicians can we get?
What are the differentlocations and areas?
We are performing arts centerEast Side.
So do we want to keep it inBellevue?
(07:45):
Do we want to branch out and bein multiple cities?
These were all the things thatwere literally talked about in a
staff meeting and theneverybody looked at me and went
you can do it right.
Tongue in cheek, and I said,okay, but when I get determined,
I get very determined and Imake sure that, no matter what,
(08:09):
it will come to fruition.
So, with a staff of three andwith one board chair, I took the
helm on making this projectcome to fruition, learning a ton
of things as we go.
Right Is hiring the buskers andfinding the locations and doing
it at times where we think ouraudience or community wanted to
(08:29):
go.
Being in high foot trafficareas, how do we get signage out
there?
What do we do about soundpermits?
permitting that I had never eventhought about, because that had
not been part of my regularworkflow as an education
director, right Like you workwith a team of 40 when you're
with a performing arts center ora nonprofit theater, which is
the world that I had been in for20 years up until that point.
(08:52):
So to all of a sudden be likeall right, roll up our sleeves
and make this happen ourselves.
That's what we did.
So in I think five weeks wewere able to book 62-hour
performances that we scheduledMay, june and July, all
throughout downtown Bellevue andRedmond and Kirkland Renton.
Jon (09:14):
Woodinville, I think, Woodinville, I think there could
be a few out there.
Annie (09:17):
Yeah, we did.
And what was funny is you havethese conversations and people
are in their COVID worlds andall of a sudden I'm talking to
them about bringing in freeprogramming and there's that
element of skepticism like whatis this?
What are you doing?
I don't really understand, butsure, okay.
So there was a real leap offaith and trust on both sides
(09:38):
that we were going to be able todeliver and make something
happen.
Not really knowing what thisexperiment is, the best word
that I could come up with wouldturn into.
So for those first three monthsit was a real tiptoe.
Is this going to work?
Are people going to listen?
Are they going to stay?
Are we going to get theaudiences?
(09:58):
Are they going to recognizeperforming arts center east side
?
How are our musicians?
What are we going to do withaudience interaction and keeping
everyone six feet away?
Hence, we had our arts withoutbarriers, artists, but then also
the gig manager there to makesure that we were following
protocols.
There were just layers uponlayers upon layers of things
that I hadn't thought about, butevery day presented a new
(10:19):
challenge, which was fun toovercome in some regards.
And then when the three months,like you had said, we're done.
We were getting phone callsfrom various location sites that
said no, we want this tocontinue through the summer or
through the fall, and then allthe way through to December.
So this little three monthssnippet in time all of a sudden
(10:42):
turned into a six month and anine month snippet in time.
Jon (10:46):
In full disclosure to the listening audience.
At the same time that you andyour staff were kicking around
this idea that would grow intoarts without barriers, I was
finishing up work with acommission of sorts that the
governor had put together ofvolunteers charged with writing
(11:07):
the pandemic reopening processesand procedures for the
performing arts sector had beenworking on that for months,
super anxious to just get a planthat could be green lighted so
that the sector could go back towork.
And of course, at that time Iwas working with an organization
that was programming buskers incommercial municipal spaces.
(11:30):
I still do that work and that'swhen the phone call came.
So that's how you and I met waswhen you guys were thinking
it's like, okay, we have thisvision to how in the heck are we
going to accomplish that?
And through mutual friends youreached out and I said that
sounds like a fine idea.
Annie (11:47):
Absolutely.
People don't recognize trulyhow small but how vast, and I
know that that soundsantithetical, but our industry
is.
It really comes down to who youknow and everybody knows
everybody.
So coming out of COVID andhaving people who knew you, who
knew, who had a lifeline and apipeline into the musicians,
(12:09):
into the buskers, intoeverything, it was one of the
reasons why we were able to makeit happen in five weeks.
Otherwise I think it would havetaken five months.
Jon (12:17):
I remember at the time so this is April 2021, it felt like
we had been on pandemiclockdown for 50 years.
The entire industry waschomping at the bit to get back
out there and work, to do whatthey do, to be who they are, and
so it was exciting and we weregoing to come right out of the
(12:37):
gate swinging with all theseperformances and put music in
the air for the public to enjoy.
I'm super excited, the artistsare super excited, and I
remember the very first gig.
Do you remember where the firstperformance was?
Annie (12:49):
Yeah, the Mayuri, it was the shopping center that they
opened.
Jon (12:53):
Oh, you're right, See, your memory is better than me.
That wasn't the one I wasthinking of.
So the first event that we didwas that shopping center grand
opening and that was very wellreceived.
But everybody was there for theshopping center opening.
The music was kind of abackground-ish thing, but I
remember that was all right, wewere just happy to be working,
(13:14):
just happy to be making music.
Do you remember the secondperformance?
No, the second performance wasin the Pavilion, the Pavilions,
maybe it's Pavilion Park, Ican't remember what the name of
it is.
Yeah, beautiful facility.
And so this is going to be thefirst true public play and we
had Country Dave Harmanson outthere.
There's no better way to kickthis thing off.
(13:36):
Super excited, get out there,get set up.
Country Dave shows up, startsplaying beautiful music and
there's nobody there.
The streets are just empty, thebusinesses are still closed.
It was just us and Dave.
Annie (13:53):
And the 150 people who lived in the apartment complexes
around there.
And that's the moment of magic.
Jon (14:03):
That's what I was just going to say.
So for like the first 10 or 20minutes I'm like, oh man, maybe
this is a little premature.
But then I looked up and I sawthe park is surrounded by
high-rise apartments and condos,with retail on the ground level
.
And I looked up into theapartments and I saw the first
person that opened up the windowand the look of surprise but
(14:25):
pleasant surprise on their facewhen they looked out and they
realized, like what's that sound?
That sounds like live music.
I haven't heard that in ages.
And then, soon, like, a secondwindow opened up, and then more,
and then more, and then it wasalmost like the Muppet Show or
something like that Just allthese people hanging out the
window, hanging out of theirwindows, listening to music.
(14:47):
And it put smiles on their faceand it was springtime.
Cherry trees were starting toblossom, the weather was
overcast, but it wasn't cold orwindy or anything like that, and
it just felt good.
Annie (15:00):
It did Well.
And what was awesome is weweren't just hitting these
locations for a one-timeperformance and then we never
went back.
It was a consistent everyWednesday night from five to
seven.
We were at that spot for thethree months straight.
So yes, that in that first timeit did feel like the Muppets,
(15:20):
as you saw the windows open andeveryone start coming out.
But then as week three, four,five progressed, I remember
being out there and having ourA-frame sign and sticking it out
and making sure the soundlevels and I'm standing in the
background and trying to takepictures and making sure the
artists were okay.
But there was that oneapartment and I don't know the
number of it.
(15:41):
It was the third floor, but Ican still remember to this day
the couple who would come outand it looked like it was common
practice.
She had the charcuterie board,he had the two glasses of wine
and they sat and it was likethis is what we do every
Wednesday for five to seven.
This is our tradition now.
Jon (15:59):
They're no dummies, no.
Annie (16:02):
It was awesome.
Jon (16:04):
The crowd's coming back on the street.
That was a slow process, evenin some of the more commercial
areas.
We were playing malls, library,all these great locations.
But throughout 2021, I rememberit was relatively light
pedestrian traffic everywhereyou went, and so the program ran
(16:25):
for its 90 days or what haveyou, and then we're kind of
wrapping it up.
But what happened when youtried to kind of sign off and
check out with some of theseproperties?
Annie (16:36):
Some of the venues, yes, so we had a system in place
because, again, one of ourstrategies was to raise brand
awareness and I wascommunicating with them and
saying these are your artistsfor our last month.
Here are their headshots.
This is how we're going to becross promoting on social media.
Make sure to get the word outthere.
And I immediately got a coupleemails back saying well, can we
(17:01):
continue?
We want to go all the waythrough the summer, because we
were originally scheduled forApril, may and June, that's it.
And we know that LV bites andbeats were starting up and that
was their summer gig and wedidn't want to step on any toes
or do multiple programming withthe same outcome in mind, right,
so we were happy to do ourthree months and then silently
(17:22):
kind of disappear into the winda little bit and then come back
with our original idea of whatwe thought our to that barriers
was going to be.
But each of these locationsites, I would say we were at
nine or 10 in the very firstyear and we had three wanting to
continue through the summer,all the way through August 31st,
and then one who said can weextend that through October?
(17:43):
Can we extend that throughNovember.
We want to bring you back forour December rush.
Jon (17:48):
And, to be clear, your funding for this had been
expended.
So when people wanted to extendit, they were asking if they
could extend it on their dime.
Annie (17:55):
On their dime.
Yeah, that's how much theyvalued the music in their
location and I think that isanother indication of what they
saw in terms of economicstimulus and their own locations
, as they're starting to seepeople feeling a little safe
because they're safe in music.
Jon (18:12):
They're certainly saying something because that
phenomenon, that just doesn'thappen in nature all that often.
People saying can we pleaseextend your program and I'm
happy to pay for it?
Yeah, that just doesn't happenall that often.
Annie (18:27):
No, I had never seen it happen.
Jon (18:31):
When some of those initial April, even May performances
were so sparsely attended, didthat demoralize you at all?
Annie (18:39):
A little bit.
A little bit, because youalways want to show immediate
success and justification forall of the hard work and hours
that you poured into bringingsomething to life.
Sure, so it was a slow birth,if I can use that metaphor.
It was a long time coming.
(19:00):
But when June came around andall of a sudden, we really did
see an explosion in audiencemembers in June, and then when,
to your point, the locationsites came back and said can we
extend?
We knew we had somethingspecial.
And, going back to theassessment side of things, it
was when we got that firstrequest to continue to have the
(19:23):
program visit their locations orhave the musicians come back.
Or my favorite was is thisperson available for this date?
We really like them or ouraudience is really like this
musician?
I got excited about where thisprogram could potentially go and
said OK, 2021 is the first year, but to see what kind of an
(19:44):
impact we are actually makingout in the community, let's not
change anything for 2022.
Because we need to.
We have our meter for where weneed to gauge.
So now let's see what 2022brings and then we can start
making plans to alter theprogramming based on our
community's needs in 2023.
I know, I just skipped aroundtalking a little bit about that,
(20:04):
but that's kind of where weended up with the extension.
Jon (20:07):
It's super smart.
If you ask anybody who hasproduced events over time, they
will tell you that if you arestarting up something truly new
from scratch, it takes threeyears Like.
You can't even second guess foryourself.
You're not allowed to for threeyears.
You need three years of data tobe able to even attempt to be
(20:28):
objective about evaluating theconcept.
Annie (20:32):
Yeah Well, and we had been working with the musicians
and with the gig managers andone of the things that we really
wanted to make sure that wewere capturing were audience
attendance and audienceresponses.
So that was a huge burden beingput on the gig manager to do.
Counting every 15 to 20 minutes, because a lot of what we did
(20:53):
were called walk bias, so ouraudience members didn't stick
around for the full two hourshows.
They would stick around for 15to 20 minutes and then they
would go on their merry way andget their cup of coffee and go
shopping or go home or dowhatever.
So capturing the number ofaudience members that we had and
then any sound bites that wecould capture from our audiences
(21:14):
was critical for us in thatfirst year.
So when I was able to go backto our board or when we were
able to start advertising,60,000 people reached in the
very first year of Arts WithoutBarriers I got a lot of how to
reach 60,000 people in thatfirst time.
There's no way that's notpossible, but it really is when
you're in 12 different locationseach week for 90 days and you
(21:39):
have walk bias and they're onlythere for 20 minutes and then
they leave.
It's that's how.
Jon (21:44):
We were very deliberate about getting counts at every
show.
The methodology we used andcontinue to use for this day is
very simple.
We would just make randomcounts.
A five minute count.
Super easy to do for fiveminutes.
Just count how many people arewalking through and we'd do at
(22:06):
least three of those for everytwo hour performance and then we
just average those out and I'lltake those numbers to the bank.
They're very, very accuratenumbers.
Annie (22:17):
Absolutely Well, as evident in some of our locations
, which were pretty consistentin the early days of, we had 12
people, 12 people in some ofthose first counts.
Jon (22:28):
Those were really easy to count.
Annie (22:29):
They were really easy.
But then, as we were performingin what we were talking about
high foot traffic areas, when wewere at Redmond Town Center,
when we were at two, threedifferent slots surrounding the
Bellevue collection, when wewere at the pavilion, when we
were at those high foot trafficareas, we could reach 250, 300,
or more, just because it wassunny and everyone was out and
(22:52):
enjoying the music and theshopping and, I think, breathing
a little bit easier.
Jon (22:56):
I'm bouncing around in time a little bit, but in the first
season, the 2021 season, likeyou just said, sometimes you can
count the number of passers-byon both hands, but towards the
end of that season those numbershad gone up significantly.
You go to the 2022 season andall of those numbers, I think
(23:20):
overall doubled or somethinglike that.
Oh yeah, or maybe a little more, but it's really been this year
2023, where the numbers haveexploded.
The program's still the same.
Nothing's changed there.
It's a reflection of peopleactually coming back out into
the community post-COVID.
Annie (23:39):
Yes, and just to add to that, I would say that this year
we did shift because we heardwhat our community was saying
and April was a horrible time tostart.
So they said what we wouldreally benefit from is full
summer program.
So May, june, july, august Ifyou can give us those four
(24:00):
months, then that is how we candive in and reach the majority
of our audiences.
So that was the one shift thatwe made through this entire
program over the last threeyears was we just altered?
But we still have a number oflocation sites who want us all
the way through December still,oh yeah.
So that hasn't stopped.
Jon (24:22):
I think that 2021 versus 2023, some of the sites, the
attendance has increasedprobably tenfold.
Annie (24:30):
Oh easily.
Jon (24:30):
There's no exaggeration.
I'm just doing a quick mathhere.
Annie (24:33):
but You're absolutely right and I can tell you because
I looked at the numbersyesterday.
So 60,000, just a little over60,000 in that first year.
I was then charged with thechallenge of reaching 75,000 or
more in the second year, whichwe hit.
Jon (24:48):
How many did we do in the second year?
Annie (24:48):
I want to say it was 78 and change.
Jon (24:51):
Okay.
Annie (24:52):
So I did the second year and then I just did quick
statistics on just May and Juneof this year 90,000 in just
those two months.
Again, though, multiplelocations.
This is the thing that people Iwant to drive in multiple
locations.
Two hour sets.
We're talking 12 showssometimes.
(25:12):
I mean five in a week,sometimes as much as 12 in a
week, depending on if we'redoing wine walks and we're in
multiple locations.
So that's how all of that comesto fruition.
Jon (25:24):
One of the little threads of humor that I found in that
first year.
As you said, a lot of artistshave been spending a great deal
of time during the pandemicwriting new material and so all
of a sudden here's this firstout-of-the-door opportunity to
get back out and play right.
So everybody's like, oh yeah,I've got new materials.
So they come out with all thismaterial they wrote in the
pandemic and so much of it wasreally depressing.
(25:46):
That's true.
I think that was love.
You know, it was reallydepressing rightfully so.
So, that was a little odd, butwhat are you going to do?
It was real, it was real.
It was very real, got a love ofthat Jumping back to 2021, so
(26:08):
this new project that launches,it catches unexpected traction,
time gets extended, numbersexceeded expectations.
It was a success by any measureand you were probably wrapping
that project up and putting iton the shelf for the year when
the Washington Festival andEvents Association called.
(26:31):
And let me hear that story fromyour perspective.
Annie (26:37):
So it was very exciting.
A colleague a mutual colleagueof ours, let me know about the
possibility of submitting ourprogram for awards, and I said,
why not?
So we pulled all of ourmaterials together and I
submitted, for I think it wasthree different awards that I
(27:01):
thought we could be incompetition with.
So it was poster design andbrochure design, because we have
a fantastic graphic designer.
I'm going to give her a majorshout out right now, claire Zob,
whom, again, we talk aboutsmall communities.
She and I worked together atLongworth Theater for 10 years.
She's East Coast.
(27:22):
I knew we needed the graphic, Iknew we needed a logo, I knew we
needed something, and so I wentto the person whom I knew would
be brilliant at it and calledup Claire, and she and I are
still collaborating to this dayand she pulled together a design
that just sang.
It had life and vibrancy andthe colors were perfect.
(27:43):
And even as we got theextension for the fall, I went
back to her and said can youjudge our springtime into a
summer poster and then oursummer poster into a fall poster
and then our fall into a winter?
And she did, and they all lookso cohesive and beautiful
together.
So I said, well, thesedefinitely need to be at least
(28:05):
promoted through this potentialaward for our brochures and
poster design.
And when we also talk aboutpostcard design, I will throw
out that in that first year wehad a wonderful collaboration
with Zeke's Pizza, who was alsojust starting to open their
doors, and so we had thepostcard pizza promo, where
anybody who went to Arts WithoutBarriers and they had their
(28:26):
postcard could come in for apercentage off of a pizza.
Right Again, we go back toeconomic stimulus and growth and
how do we get people back intothese businesses?
So we tried to catalyze thatopportunity and work with our
community to make it happen.
So again, we were able to putthat postcard out there for a
potential award.
And community programming,which was really the crux in the
(28:49):
heart of why we started ArtsWithout Barriers, was for our
community, and we were fortunateenough to then be invited to
attend the award ceremony.
Jon (29:00):
Well, you know, whenever WFEA reaches out and says, hey,
you might want to be sure toattend this year's annual awards
gala, you should probably go.
Annie (29:12):
Yeah, so we had a whole table and it was exciting.
It was really, really cool tosee our program celebrated that
night.
Jon (29:22):
And so, in the way that those statewide industry awards
work, everything's divided intobudget classes.
So you were entering in the$150,000 or less budget that was
the program budget and you wonthe gold award for promotional
(29:44):
materials, the poster, thepostcard, those types of things.
You won the gold award in thebudget class for best community
programming, best communityengagement, yeah.
But then the big surprise camewhen you won the grand summit
award, which is the overall bestevent in the state in your
(30:05):
budget category, and you wonthat in your very first year,
right out of the gate.
I don't know that.
I've ever seen anything likethat before.
Annie (30:15):
Oh, it was pretty awesome .
I mean I'm I am so proud ofthis program and where it came
and what we were able to do forour community and that was a
huge surprise, and of just aglorious one that I think I
wrote that excitement wave for alittle while.
I'm not going to lie.
Jon (30:33):
Well, I hope so.
Annie (30:34):
Yes, I did.
Jon (30:38):
What was going through your mind as your name kept getting
called for her to go up and getall these awards?
Annie (30:43):
It was pretty awesome.
It was a well.
That night in particular wasalso incredibly special because
I remember Robin was beingcelebrated and Robin Kelly yes
she was being celebrated and Ihad just joined the East Side
Culture Coalition, so I was juststarting to get used to some of
the major players on thenonprofits on the East Side and
(31:04):
to watch our fellow ECC personalso be celebrated that night
was huge for me, and justhearing about her career and
where she went and what she hasdone was inspiring.
So I think the whole night yes,winning those awards were
fantastic, but alsocommunicating with other arts
(31:24):
festivals and hearing how theycame out of the pandemic in that
year and we all were able tobreathe a little bit that night
and celebrate our successes waswhat I remember most.
Jon (31:36):
What other events or festivals have you seen lately?
That's inspired you.
Annie (31:43):
Well, I've been very fortunate this year to be able
to explore a number of differentfestivals, partly for research
for a festival that I'mproducing right now and also for
fun.
So I was able to check outPicathon in Oregon, which was
pretty cool, oh cool, yeah, itwas a cool.
One of my takeaways from goingto Picathon actually was seeing
(32:06):
how they have curated each oftheir stages very specifically,
so their artists are truly putin an area where they think they
would have the best audienceattraction and would fit for the
time and would fit for the day,and that is a takeaway that I
have brought with me for forBellwether in particular, which
(32:26):
is the Art and Tech Festivalthat we are producing right now.
Again, bringing the festivalout to the people, not having
the people come to a setlocation, is also exciting,
invigorating, and anothertakeaway, post pandemic, that
I'm watching other organizationsnationwide starting to do.
Actually, they no longer havetheir brick and mortar.
(32:48):
Instead, they're taking theirart out to the community in
different locations.
So Art Without Barriers wasdoing that in 2021 in our own
way.
Jon (32:58):
So currently you're working on another festival, the
Bellwether Festival.
Describe that, if you would.
Annie (33:05):
So Bellwether is an Art and Tech Festival that the city
of Bellevue and Bellevue ArtsCommission had been producing
for a number of years and comingout of COVID again, I think,
they realized that they justdidn't have the infrastructure
to carry it off probably in thesame vision and vein that they
wanted to previously.
So they put out a call forproposals and we were very
(33:29):
excited about the opportunity totake Bellwether and mesh it
with some of the principles ofArt Without Barriers again
taking it to the people, to highfoot traffic areas, curating
based on the location site andso we put in our proposal and we
were awarded the contractofficially in February and we
(33:50):
are now producing this festival,which is going on throughout
the month of September.
So another trend that I'mnoticing is a very short amount
of lead time to get some ofthese things up and running.
And having that energy and thatstructure in place,
understanding where Art WithoutBarriers were and being able to
plop it into you how to makeBellwether work within a six
(34:12):
month timeframe was incrediblyhelpful.
Jon (34:17):
You know I hadn't thought about this till this
conversation just now.
The idea of taking your eventout to the people rather than
trying to coax people to comesee your event it makes me think
about how it's not getting anyeasier to get people to make
that commitment to go toanything, to physically show up
(34:40):
to attend anything Everywhere Ilook that's just becoming harder
and harder and harder.
And just when you do events oreven have meetings, for people
RSVP right, if you were to goback in time, if you RSVP'd yes,
for something that was acommitment, like that was
something that you honored andas the person throwing the party
(35:04):
, the event, the meeting,whatever you can count on it,
you didn't need to think anyfurther.
You knew exactly how manypeople were coming.
But as a social trend, I havewatched that guarantee.
If you will slowly start toerode over the last 10 or 20
years, it might even be like agenerational thing.
I don't know what it is exactly.
(35:24):
I can remember exactly when Ifirst started to notice this.
It would have been in the late2000s, like 2007, 2008, 2009.
All of a sudden I noticedpeople would RSVP and then not
show.
It's like what the heck is thatas a trend that is continued to
deteriorate.
I just went out on a speakingcircuit of seminars for a couple
(35:51):
of weeks across the state andthis is in the context of
professional development and theno show rate for people who
registered, paid money, peoplethat registered and paid money
the no show rate was about 50%5-0.
It didn't matter if it werewhere it was, just anywhere we
(36:12):
went, it was about the same,about 50% no shows.
That's really interesting.
Annie (36:17):
Do you think I'm going to throw this question out?
You've seen this trend startingto build up since 2007, 2008.
I've noticed a increase in thattrend since COVID because
everyone's expecting a digitalversion that they can go to,
that they don't actually have tobe there in person, because
they can just watch it later on.
(36:37):
I'm wondering if there's acoalition there.
Jon (36:40):
That's a good question.
I don't know.
Annie (36:43):
It's fascinating because with Bellwether, right now we
have four in person events, butthere's definitely a digital
aspect to it and we're startingto watch another surge in COVID,
which is also making producingin person events another
challenge, because, as much asyou think we have contingency
plans in place, there's alwayssomething that's going to pop up
.
Jon (37:03):
See from my perspective, I'm feeling a trend of digital
burnout.
Yeah Right, if you're talkingabout something.
If there is a live and inperson option and a digital
option, hell, no, I don't wantthe digital option.
I'm digitaled out.
Yeah, I've had my fill ofdigital.
Annie (37:24):
Now is that because you are so heavy on the producing
side of it?
Jon (37:29):
Certainly there's bias in there somewhere.
I don't know exactly what it is.
It's fascinating, isn't it?
Well, it's like these podcasts.
That's why, whenever I can, Igo to the person live.
They could do this all on Zoomnow, right, but that's not what
it feels different to me.
Yeah, it's not real.
Yeah, that's interesting.
Annie (37:53):
A topic for another podcast.
Jon (37:55):
Well sure, and just think about this.
What does it mean for liveevents?
Certainly the concert industry.
When concerts finally came outen masse from under the cover of
the pandemic, they couldn'tprint enough tickets, so to
speak.
I mean, it was.
Everything you did was that youwere experiencing a capacity
(38:15):
crowd that's died out.
Now it's actually raisingeyebrows in how it's moving in
the opposite direction.
There's a lot of seats beingunfilled right now and the one
school of thought is that thatbig rush back post pandemic was
kind of a reflex action Peopletrying to make up.
(38:37):
It's like if you haven't had adrink of water in two days, when
you next come across wateryou're going to drink a lot of
it really fast, but then you getyour fill and you slow it back
down.
So I think in a lot of aspectsof the entertainment industry
we're in a little bit of a lullright now from people having
come back hard and fast into themarketplace.
(39:00):
So the question is what'stomorrow going to look like?
It's a good question.
I hope there's not a shift backto digital.
Annie (39:10):
Yeah, I do too.
I also hope, whenever we askthe question, well, that's a
question for tomorrow.
All of a sudden, even when Ihear that now there's such a
level of uncertainty, because Inever would have imagined a
pandemic in 2020.
So just knowing that's aquestion for tomorrow, I'm like,
okay, great, but what otherapocalyptic thing is going to
happen that's going to preventus from being able to produce
(39:32):
our work again?
Right, and see you next year.
But we're keeping this positive, john.
Jon (39:37):
We're keeping this positive in line.
Well, the positive angle, Ithink, getting back on the arts
without barriers bandwagon, it'sjust the idea of taking it to
the people.
We're seeing that that works.
Annie (39:49):
It does work Well.
And when people ask me so whatdo you mean for arts without
barriers?
What is the idea behind thattitle?
And it's very simple for meit's eliminating access barriers
.
It's eliminating monetarybarriers, transportation
barriers, also babysittingbarriers.
I'm a single mom.
I remember many times where Icouldn't just leave my kid to go
(40:11):
watch a concert, even though myfavorite person was playing.
But these are being played inoutside public locations.
I can bring my kid, I can enjoya cup of coffee while he plays
in the fountain All of thesethings that were barriers to
being able to experience liveentertainment, and high quality
(40:32):
live entertainment right.
Jon (40:34):
Yeah, well, that's key.
Annie (40:35):
These are key.
Exactly these musicians arephenomenal, so to be able to go
and experience that was allwrapped up in the reasoning
behind it.
Jon (40:47):
Another societal benefit of the program is just the fact
that positive activity in publicspaces tends to displace
negative activity in publicplaces.
Annie (40:58):
Agreed, and there's nothing more joyful than music,
in my opinion.
Jon (41:03):
Did you have any mentors throughout your career?
Annie (41:06):
I have.
I've had a number of them.
Jim Vols was a mentor that Ihad early on in college who
really helped me understand moreof the business side of things
Because, again, I have my BA andmy MFA in theater performance.
I'm an actor, that's where mydegrees come from and he really
(41:27):
opened my eyes to the businessside of things, which I think
unlocked that strategic thinking.
And when I was at Long Wharf,josh Bornstein was, and
continues to be, a huge mentorof mine.
He was the first generalmanager and then the managing
director for Long Wharf and heasked some really great
questions and then again builtupon understanding the business
(41:50):
side of things.
So those would be two of mymain mentors.
Jon (41:55):
Who do you think you are?
Annie (41:58):
Who do I think I am?
You want to build out on thatquestion?
Who do I think I am?
I am a mom, I am an artist, Iam an actor, I am an arts
administrator, I am an artsadvocate and I am a trauma
(42:23):
survivor.
Jon (42:24):
Who is your favorite ancestor?
Annie (42:30):
My mom was the strongest woman that I ever met, and if
there was a role model that saidthat it was the epitome of
resilience, it would be her, andI think that's where I get my
fight and my resiliency from.
Jon (42:48):
Describe your favorite chair that you ever sat in.
Annie (42:53):
OK, this is going to sound very strange.
My family has a tradition ofgoing to ocean shores every
Thanksgiving and this has been atradition that we have had
since I was two or three.
So we're coming up on 40 yearsof getting the same three rooms
(43:15):
from the same three Polynesianhotels, the same time frame,
every single year.
And there is one chair in.
Mike has an Allison's room.
That has become the favoritechair and it's big and round
almost as big as this tableactually, and it swivels around
that you could almost fallasleep in it, but it's the most
(43:36):
comfortable chair I ever sleptin, sat in, so that's my
favorite chair.
Jon (43:42):
Sounds like my kind of a chair.
What is your favorite sound?
Rain?
That is a very common answer.
Annie (43:57):
I used to babysit for someone who had a tin roof and
so when the rain would fall,that was pretty magical.
My favorite smell is the smellat 10 o'clock at night, right
when it's starting to shift fromsummer to fall, and you can
smell the fall in the air.
It's a very specific smell, butthat's.
(44:19):
I was fortunate enough to haveto run an errand late last night
and I didn't get home untillate and as I was getting out
and walking to my apartment, Ikind of went it's time.
It's here.
Now is my favorite time becauseI could smell it in the air.
Jon (44:37):
Well, I think one of my favorite smells is a summertime
smell and it's that mixture inthe air of fresh cut grass and
charcoal briquettes burning.
Yes, it's a very nostalgicthing for me, definitely
(44:58):
Childhood.
It's like the best of timesmid-summer.
Annie (45:01):
Yeah.
Jon (45:02):
And then the charcoal the promise of the the impending
barbecue.
To this day those combinationsof smells can command my
attention.
It can snap me out of thedeepest focus, Absolutely.
Annie (45:21):
OK, so what is a song that will always make you dance?
Jon (45:26):
That will always make me dance?
Annie (45:27):
It will always make you want to get up and dance.
Jon (45:29):
I don't know, not being one who's prone to getting up and
dancing.
That's a tricky one.
I know what you're getting at,so I'm thinking I want to give
you my best answer on that.
What's popping into my head?
I don't know if this is exactlydance.
Well, it was dance music, butthis is obscure but a band
(45:52):
called Shriekback.
Shriekback was like a cult kindof band, right.
Not many people know who thatis, but if you do, you tend to
be really into everythingthey've done.
And they were around since the80s still around and it was like
former members of some morepopular bands like Gang of Four
(46:13):
and that kind of thing, XTC.
But they had a song called AllLined Up with an infectious
baseline.
So that's a song that pops intomy head.
Annie congratulations on thethird season now of an amazing
(46:34):
program and it's been wonderfulcatching up with you and hope to
talk again soon.
Annie (46:39):
Thank you.
Me too, I've enjoyed this.
This is an all call, one hourto doors.
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