Smackdown: What the Arts Could Stand to Learn from Sports

Posted on by Ciara Pressler
170303_timbers_tifo_jaime_valdez-usa_today_sports

I like sports, but I love sporting events. Few experiences rival the theatricality and pageantry of, say, a pro football game, from fanatical fans to enthralling entrances – all with constant emotional engagement. Wait a second – isn’t that what live performance is supposed to do? The most popular sports go well beyond entertainment: they captivate the community, inspire across generations, and build unrivaled anticipation. So in team spirit, what if creatives borrowed from our […]

Featured Artist: Katrina Majkut

Posted on by Pregame Magazine
KATRINA headshot

Katrina Majkut, a visual artist and writer, is dedicated to understanding how social traditions impact civil rights. She was listed as one of four international artists starting a new chapter in feminist art by Mic Media and listed as a must-see artist by Hyperallergic magazine. Majkut specializes in feminism and Western wedding traditions, which are addressed in her nonfiction book, The Adventures and Discoveries of A Feminist Bride (Black Rose […]

November 2018: Changing the Game

Posted on by Ciara Pressler
Ciara and James 2

Yeah, we know. We’re working that sports metaphor to death here at Pregame. But it’s warranted. Whether we admit it or not, we’re playing to win. So why do we compartmentalize the lessons learned in and from sports? Especially in creativity and art, we act as if sports don’t exist. Blame it on a vague feeling of competition (and perhaps, in the professional realm, resource envy), but those of us who […]

Past Present: High School Yearbooks, Trump and Immigrants, and Barstool Sports

Posted on by Nicole Hemmer
yearbooks

In this episode, Natalia, Niki, and Neil discuss the history of high school yearbooks, how the Trump administration is defining immigrants as “public charges,” and the awful misogyny of Barstool Sports. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: High school yearbooks have been in the spotlight during the investigation of Brett Kavanaugh. Niki cited this Atlantic article that historicizes yearbooks and Natalia recommended historian Paula Fass’ […]

Putting Crowdfunding in Perspective: Respect Your Audience to Maximize Your Results

Posted on by Ciara Pressler
Alexander Reben

Funding ain’t easy. Technology makes it seem easy, especially with platforms like Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, and GoFundMe holding the promise of access to new fans with open wallets. Of course, it takes a tipping point of personal contacts funding a project to a certain dollar amount in order to access your yet-unknown audience. Which means outreach to friends, family, and colleagues is a necessary part of the phenomenon that is crowdfunding. […]

But Would Anyone Buy a Ticket?

Posted on by Michael Roderick
Jackie Battenfield, Crabapple Blossom, 2018, 48 x 210in. Laminated Glass MTA Arts & Transit, Avenue P, Brooklyn, New York, Permanent installation

When I was raising money for Broadway shows, I was approached by a LOT of creatives who would ask me to consider raising money for their project. In many of these instances, these individuals would spend most of the meeting explaining to me how their show was a “surefire” hit and how if they just had more support they’d break through. Now in some cases, they really did have something […]

Ditch Your Business Plan and Focus on Your Game Plan

Posted on by Ciara Pressler
Ciara and James wide format

Raise your hand if this sounds familiar: you’re working to get your idea out there, so you sit down to write a marketing plan… because that is what responsible business owners are supposed to do. But what starts out as a valiant effort to lay out your marketing calendar for the next twelve months devolves into a flurry of cutting and pasting between quarters – an over-thought and overwrought undertaking […]

Featured Artist: Jackie Battenfield

Posted on by Pregame Magazine
Jackie Battenfield

Jackie Battenfield is known for her luminous paintings and prints of natural forces. Her works explore her fascination with the most abstract qualities of landscape—most recently the natural unfolding and leafing of a tree branch. She sees the painting process itself as akin to an intimate meditation on landscape. Curator Gabriel de Guzman wrote in his recent essay, “[Battenfield’s] mastery of watery acrylic paint on Mylar is reflected in the […]

September 2018: Streamlining Your Business

Posted on by Ciara Pressler
Jackie Battenfield, Azurous, 2018 acrylic on Mylar panel 40 x 60 in.

If you’re running a business, you are probably doing a lot of extra work you don’t actually need to do. Every business is full of waste. Even one-person businesses and side hustles suffer under the weight of an overabundance of ideas, messages, strategies, and tactics. If you’re lean and mean and moving fast, you can’t afford to be weighed down. There’s no way you can surge past your competitors while holding onto the […]

Encore: Welcome to the Elite Society of Former Performers

Posted on by Ciara Pressler
microphone-

An excerpt from Exit Stage Right: The Career Change Handbook for Performers Once you’re solidly in your new chapter, you join the ranks of the Former Performers: the passionate souls who pursued one of the most difficult – and rewarding – career paths that exist. You followed your first dream, and that is something you should always cherish. For a long time, I struggled with the admission that I used […]