Glimmerglass Plans National

Campaign On 40th Anniversary

By LIBBY CUDMORE • The Freeman’s Journal

Edition of Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014

COOPERSTOWN

With the Glimmerglass Festival’s 40th Anniversary arriving, Joan Desens, director of institutional advancement, and June Dzialo, marketing director, want to make sure everyone is invited to the party.

“We want to support the community that has supported us,” said Desens.

The Festival was one of the relatively few local entities to receive one of Governor Cuomo’s economic-development grants Thursday, Dec. 11: $64,000 to help market their celebration. “I had served as a panelist for the council and was familiar with economic development grants, but I wanted to wait until we had a project that aligned,” said Desens. “And our 40th anniversary was perfect.”

The grant will help fund the increase in the festival’s “online footprint,” placing ads on the radio station Pandora, before videos on youtube.com and other video streaming sites and retargeting their display ads on websites. “We want to increase awareness of the culture and the beauty we have here to people outside the area,” she said.

It’s a way to target a new trend – younger opera crowds. “The last few years, we’ve started seeing younger people buying tickets,” said Dzialo. “And while the older audience prefers direct mailing, online marketing is what the younger audience likes. We’re trying to straddle two markets.”

The online campaign begins in late spring. “The more digital the audience, the later they buy,”she said.