Standing Room Only

I've been in the entertainment public relations business for 30 years and this book is one of the best I've encountered. It's accurate, up to date, well-written and thorough.

If you want to run an arts organization or run one now, or run part of one: have a long visit with this book. As an MBA who has interviewed many performing arts managers and worked as a performing arts funder and on various boards over decades, I commend this to all people in the business except my competitors.It wouldn't be fair to compare this to other business how-to books because it is a compendium, not just management theories-du-jour. And perhaps because not-for-profits have a "spiritual" side, the reader senses that the authors are holding nothing back out of mercenary considerations. So if you suspect you don't know everything about running a performing arts organization, this is the place to start.The book is a gift, a mission informed by the authors' love of and belief in the arts as inherently good. Just one idea gleaned here could save your organization, especially in times of funding and subscription-ticketing stress. While a revised edition might meld more internet ideas into the fantastic array of tips-'n-tools presented, as-is, "SRO" is exhaustive but not exhausting.

Kotler touches on many subjects from customer loyalty, changing audiences to data analysis. Theories are enhanced by using various arts companies as examples. The book is not intended give in depth answers, that is "You must do this" to save your company, but guides you through sound marketing tactics/commonsense. I suggest you use it as a guide to refer to, but it's not a bible as every marketing situation that any arts company finds itselves in is different to the next - there is no divine answer only a helping hand.

Finally, there is a book available to those serious about arts marketing. Joanne Scheff's background in arts management and Philip Kotler's extensive marketing background provide useful and practical information for professionals in the arts who are tired of adapting literature on unrelated businesses to their projects. This book should be on every arts marketer's bookshelf.

In this book, Philip Kotler and Joanne Scheff not only proposed the marketing theories but also presented heaps of case studies to make readers more understand the application of art marketing. To be candid, I will never see it as an art marketing book only. Everyone who is interested in marketing should not miss this book.