Our experiences shape our methodology.
Our founder, Charles Shafer, has hands-on experience of founding and running a nationally-recognized concert and workshop program over a 25 years period. Fire In The Kitchen Concerts has proved so successful that most every concert is sold out long before it’s even announced. It has spawned a fiddle club, the Skunk Misery Ramblers, that plays at fairs and events all over the area. It caters to all ages, and all abilities.
Skunk Misery Rambler Fiddle Club playing for the crowd at the Bauer Park Farm Fest fundraiser.
He started a marketing program for then-Merrill Lynch Realty that dealt specifically with historic properties. Revenues started at 0 and rose to over 2 billion dollars annually in less than 2 years.
He’s organized micro-events for land conservation trusts that raise community awareness of the properties, bring in much needed volunteer labor, and yeah, raised money.
Rettich Farm fundraiser for the Madison Land Conservation Trust. Photo Matt Calan
And yes, he’s done the struggling-artist thing, dragging his sculpture portfolio all over New York, listening to rejection after rejection, but at the same time, picking up some very critical arts-marketing advice.
Why start consulting now?
Frustration with the status quo. Frustration that started with marketing departments and PR firms that would waste time asking for media lists, and then never contacting anyone on those lists.
Frustration when artists started ignoring their end of the public relations bargain. One social media post is not a campaign. There’s a lot of noise out there, and most everyone is invisible, hiding in plain sight.
Frustration with local print and media that only recognize indy-rock as print-worthy.
Frustration with writers who don’t recognize that the alternative string movement has quietly taken over all forms of music, and deserves to be shouted about.
It’s time to make a stand. We’ve been pushing the alternative strings movement since the beginning, so we know what you’re up against.