Eye on the Esplanade: Transition to the next season is always welcomed

By Medicine Hat News on April 20, 2018.

While spring arrives (finally!), the Esplanade staff is already looking towards our 2018-19 program of events with optimism and excitement. We are like gardeners and their plot of land. We plan how we will roll it out, gather material for the shows, programs and exhibitions, and reflect on the previous year.

In June 2017 we hosted a season launch event on the main stage and printed a short summer (and fall) guide. Then, last September, we sent our full 2018-2018 Annual Guide through the mail to all Medicine Hat residents and to some of the surrounding communities. This year, we will launch the 2018-2019 program of events in early August on our front lawn, at an exhilarating community event. We will announce the date of this outdoor spectacle in early May and distribute a summer and fall calendar in June. Our full 2018-2019 Annual Guide will come after the August event and will be sent to your mailbox again. Stay tuned!

Material gathering for promotions can be very demanding, especially when planning a whole year with more than 50 activities across the different units: Archives, Art Gallery, Education, Museum and Theatre. But for us it’s the fertilizer of our garden. We have to track the right people and ensure high-resolution files are provided in the correct format and that the writeups are concise and engaging. It’s all about organizing ourselves as best we can. We also have to design and distribute it in time which is another feat of the extraordinary.

Before preparing, like the gardener, we look at the previous year, and evaluate how we did. We are very proud of 2017. Our overall building attendance was consistent with past years, and we saw a 12-per-cent increase in theatre ticket sales from 2016 to 2017 which resulted in a 19-per-cent revenue increase. Also, for the last three years, we have been trending on the ticket orders coming from outside of Medicine Hat. In 2017, 11.85 per cent of all orders were from outside the city; a 1.4-per-cent jump compared to the previous year. This means hundreds more people coming to Medicine Hat to spend their dollars. This is good news for the tourism sector of our economy. Our 2018 numbers are looking promising as well. We are confident that with the 2018-2019 season we are preparing, we will surpass all expectations.

Tobie Laliberte is the marketing/promotions co-ordinator at the Esplanade.

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