Andrew Kwan Artists Management

There are advantages to having been in the music business so long. One of these is that I know Andrew Kwan, an arts manager extraordinaire in Toronto www.andrewkwanartists.com/ . Yesterday, in the midst of a busy day preparing for Contact Ontario http://www.ontariocontact.ca/, Andrew gave me an hour and a half of his valuable time. We were talking specifically about the various possibilities for showcasing and touring with The Art of Love / Into the Labyrinth http://www.youtube.com/user/voiceafire#p/u/4/a6H3G1oTnX8, Voice Afire's multi-media show written for Canada's premiere piano duo, Anagnoson and Kinton www.pianoduo.com/, a client of Andrew's. But we were also talking in general terms about what I needed to do to get Voice Afire Pocket Opera and Cabaret www.voiceafire.com really up and running.

Here are some of Andrew's tips and insights:

1. Count on at least 5 years to start getting established.
2. Attend the music trade shows and do it year after year. One year absent and you are beginning to fade.
3. The U.S. is divided geographically into 4 trade shows: Arts Northwest www.artsnw.org/, Arts Midwest www.artsmidwest.org/, Southern Arts Exchange http://pae.southarts.org/site/c.kfIQKZOwFkG/b.4693165/k.5664/Performing_Arts_Exchange.htm. and Western Arts Alliance www.westarts.org/
4. Of the 3 conferences happening in New York in January (APAP, Chamber Music America www.chamber-music.org/, and ISPAA) ISPAA http://www.ispa.org/congresses/newyork2011 is probably the best for touring classical music groups. APAP www.artspresenters.org/  is a grab bag of all sorts of entertainment.
5. For Voice Afire and its New York location: identify the presenters in an hour and a half radius of New York and try to make contact. 
6. Presenters receive something like 100 e mails a day from artists and arts managers. Use any and every method to try to get their attention: e mail, snail mail, telephone, and any other method you can think of.
7. Start a "buzz." i.e. articles in newspaper and magazines, concert notifications, etc.
8. Classical music is a hard sell. Therefore, sell your concert as something other than a classical music concert. Use Andrew's show The Schumann Letters, " a story of love and music in the shadow of madness", as an example http://www.andrewkwanartists.com/Artists/Schumann/schumann.html.

Obviously, arts management is a tough, full-time job. Voice Afire needs  collaborators. Is anyone out there listening? 

rays@interlog.com

www.voiceafire.com