It can be inspiring to talk to Lindsey Rood-Clifford, the President & CEO of Starlight Theatre. Starlight continues to innovate in the community, with programming and performances that inspire. Where else can you watch The Lion King and hear an actual lion roar next door at the zoo? In this week’s marketing tip, sometimes you just need to ask why.
TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome to the Small Business
Miracles podcast. I’m Jeff Randolph. This small
business podcast is brought to you by EAG Advertising
and Marketing. We’re going to talk about marketing,
and we’re also here to celebrate entrepreneurs.
We have marketing news and advice that business
owners can use to keep moving forward. And today,
we’re talking to Lindsey Rude Clifford, the president
and CEO of Starlight Theater. But first, we’ve
got another small business marketing tip to talk
about. It’s your business. In today’s marketing
tip, sometimes you just need to ask. And that’s
a tip about marketing research. When we look
at our analytics or our ad performance or social
media engagement or purchase history and why
people buy one time and then not again, we look
at those things and we know what happened. It’s
descriptive. I had this much traffic to my site.
They stayed this long. People purchased X number
of widgets. We get an average of X engagement
on our social media posts. That’s what happened.
But to get to the question of why, we need to
ask. Yeah, some of us are really good at extrapolating
from incomplete information and looking at a
stack of numbers and saying, aha, here’s what
I think is happening. And you might be right,
or you might not. But that’s why you have to
ask. Just ask. We turn to marketing research
for that. And when you ask, you get an answer
that you can do something about. You can fix
the product. You can update the website. You
can tweak the ad to perform better. There’s no
substitute for marketing research. When’s the
last time you just asked? All right, we’re here
in our featured interview session of the podcast,
and I’m with Lindsey Rude Clifford. She’s the
president and CEO of Starlight Theater. Lindsey,
welcome to the show. Thanks so much for having
me. I’m happy to be here. It’s good to see you
again. We see each other every once in a while.
We worked together way back in the day on some
event kind of projects. So, yeah, welcome. It’s
exciting to see where you’ve gone. Let’s talk
Starlight. Starlight is the oldest and largest
continually operating performing arts venue in
Kansas City. But that definition we know just
barely scratches the surface of what you do.
Can you give us a rundown of everything that
goes on at Starlight? It’s concerts, community
programs. What do you got? Well, I think to talk
about what Starlight is today, you do have to
talk a little bit about what it was. Go back.
oldest and longest operating arts organization
in this city, it really started with musical
theater as the roots. So there’s a lot of people
that still live here in Kansas City that still
come out to Starlight that have been coming for
decades and decades that there it is Broadway
musical theater or bust. And even those folks
sometimes don’t know all the things that Starlight’s
doing now or that half the people that come out
to visit us come out to see live music now. It’s
not just musical theater. And then I would say
to your very good point to bring up, there’s
also a lot of community work. So there’s some
people that also don’t know that Starlight’s
even a nonprofit. It is a city -owned venue,
but it’s been operated by a nonprofit since inception,
which means there are programs like a free community
tickets program that has been going on since
the very first shows. So we give away tickets
to every single show that we do, every musical
theater show. So that’s tens of thousands of
tickets every year, which is probably millions
of tickets over years of history. So that
community roots has certainly been there since
the beginning, but I would say that’s the part
that’s probably grown the most in the last couple
of decades. Oh, really? And certainly, I would
say is that one of my priorities as well is how
we can really embody what it is to be a civic
asset. So leaning into those programs that create
access to the arts, leaning into those programs
that help people see what community building
in the arts can be, being out with school partners,
being out with young people, being out with people
that don’t have the tradition of coming out to
see live theater and music. Right. And I’m going
to pivot the camps because as that community
resource, I didn’t know you gave away so many
tickets a year, but I knew you did all kinds
of camps. My, my daughter was in camps. She was
a big fan of, well, obviously there’s blue star.
We can, we can talk blue star. It’s a, it’s a
favorite every time, but also like she was in,
in one of the camps, like act like an animal
camp. Did she do act like an animal camp where
you spend half a day at starlight, half a day
at the zoo? She did. It was, and it was perfect
for her because she is now starting vet school
next year. So she is in the – So formative. This
is, it worked. Act like an animal camp worked.
So not only was she the blue star kind of thing,
but also, yeah, camp participant and now vet.
So all kinds of crazy, wonderful crossovers there.
So I think what you just touched on is one of
the most important parts, which is all of those
formative memories. People talk a lot about –
Starlight, they talk about the Starlight tradition,
which for most people is coming out to see shows.
But there’s this whole contingent of people,
like your daughter, my son did act like an animal,
like kids that go to the high school musical
theater awards that is the Blue Star Awards.
When you talk about even this year, there’s
participating schools in that program. That’s
crazy. So there’s ,kids who maybe some
of them have never been out to see a show at
Starlight. So the first experience they will
have is coming out to be a part of the Blue Star
Awards in May. So those are different, lots of
different paths and avenues. avenues to get connected
to this very historic theater and what it does.
It’s outstanding. Blue Star, just if you dive
in just a little bit, because I know that’s one
of your favorites. This is a big program for
you. Well, as what I often refer to myself as
a recovering theater kid. Sure, sure. So as someone
who did theater growing up and for whom… I
was at the end of high school when we launched
that program, which is now more than two decades
old. But the Blue Star Awards is a program for
high school musical theater. So any high schools
that put on a musical each year, we send out
three adjudicators to that show. So I just mentioned
schools this year. So three adjudicators to
shows. Crazy. And then all of those adjudicators
that give commentary that goes back to the schools,
that’s really the educational component. So there
are working professional artists, educators.
So those schools are not only getting what their
theater educator may be giving them, but they’re
getting other commentary to help improve their
skills that they take forward into their musicals
for the next year. But then it rolls up into
a big nominating process, really what is like
the Tony Awards for Kansas City. But this year,
as I said, said participating schools,
of them had nominations. And we go out. So by
we, I mean the staff, our board, our program
sponsors, our community volunteers on the same
day. So April th, just last week, we went out
to all schools that day to deliver nomination
banners. And the roots of that was really to
take banners out, just like you see in high school
gymnasiums for athletics, to say, how can we
recognize the achievements and the hard work
of theater kids? Because oftentimes we don’t
think about what hard work goes into. putting
on theater and music at the high school level.
And it is just as hard work as athletics, and
we thought it deserves the kind of recognition.
%. Absolutely. And a great way to do it. And
I think it’s really gotten the kind of reputation
in the community, for sure, that it deserves.
It is a spectacular program. You mentioned business
and hard work. We talk about business and hard
work here on this podcast quite a bit. You’ve
been around for years, and you’re working
on the first capital campaign for more than
years. And you haven’t done a capital campaign
in a while. We haven’t done a capital campaign
in a long time, and we’ve never done one of this
size. So just a few little easy things to do.
A $million campaign. Let’s do this while we’re
doing everything else. Now, which hat are you
wearing today? It’s a $million campaign. Tell
us about the campaign. Tell us what it’s going
to bring. So it’s a comprehensive campaign. So
it’s not just about building projects. So there
are, there is one major project that we’re in
the middle of right now, which really changed
the face of the theater. So years ago, almost
years ago is when we enclosed the stage house.
So some people have the memories of the original
open air theater that Starlight was. We enclosed
the stage house in And then the last major
renovations wrapped up in So now we are
actually this off season for us. We built two
new sort of those iconic, towers that are up
near the stage. We have two new towers that will
support a new production and lighting bridge.
And then also a canopy structure, this giant
state -of -the -art steel canopy structure that
will cover almost, of our nearly,
seats. So almost half of our seats will be covered
moving forward. For us, that means a couple things.
One, it allows us to expand to daytime programming.
So when we do theater, we can do matinees, which
is the number one thing we get asked about in
the theater space when we do shows like Frozen
or The Little Mermaid is how can I bring my little
kid not to an o ‘clock p .m. start time for
a show. Right, an o ‘clock start time is past
my bedtime. How do I make sure that we can see
the good stuff? So especially for families, that’ll
be great. We also know for seniors who may not
want to drive after dark after a certain point,
that’ll be great. We love, going back to act
like an animal camp, we love that there’s a potential
partnership with the zoo to be able to say, spend
the morning at the zoo, come over, see a show
at Starlight, and drive more positive activity
to the park. So that’s the biggest project. I
can’t quite under or overstate how big that canopy
structure will be and how much it will change
the way that Starlight looks after the summer
of forward. It also included, though, some
new community programs. I mentioned that’s been
a priority of ours. We really looked at what
we were doing now, things like Blue Star, things
like middle school scholarship programs, things
like community tickets. And we said, where are
we not? and where can we really leverage what
Starlight is in sort of not only the arts and
culture ecosystem, but within Kansas City to
make a difference, so to do things that are unique.
So you mentioned camps, and we said, well, there’s
a lot of camps in the city, so that’s probably
not the space we want to be in. And then what
were sort of the ages that we were missing really
reaching out to for, again, those formative first
memories. So we have four brand -new programs
that are coming online. Exciting. Two of them
were focused on the elementary school -aged group
because that’s where we really had a gap. One
was a new performance series for young audiences
that we just finished up the second year of doing
that. So that’s really – we’re doing that in
our indoor space at Starlight. So Starlight has
one of the largest stage houses in the country
at ,square feet. And so we have an almost
-seat indoor theater that we can leverage.
And so we’ve started doing a sort of theater
for young audiences in that space, which allows
us to do field trips with schools for the first
time because we can’t do that in the summer.
So that’s been a really great thing for us. Brought
out nearly ,elementary schoolers this year
through field trips. And then it had a couple
of public shows with just $tickets. And then
the other elementary school program, and I guess
I can share it here because it’ll be public very
soon, is a new program called Disney Musicals
in Schools. Oh, wow. So it’s in partnership with
Disney. It’s in other cities across the U
.S. and the U .K. They have not added a new city
since before the pandemic. Wow. Okay. So Kansas
City will be one of just two cities that will
be onboarding this new program. And it’s an in
-school program. So it’s a -week program.
free program for schools to produce their first
musical at the elementary school level. So it’s
a sustainable arts program. So it’ll be a really
neat new program, not just for Starlight, but
for Kansas City and for young people to have
that first, again, formative experience at their
home school site as well. Nice win. Yeah. That’s
a big deal. That’s going to be a big deal. So
those are kind of the two big programs. We also
have a new workforce development program in technical
theater. Oh, okay. So we have a long -running
arts administration internship program. I’m actually
a product of that, so I started as a summer intern
at Starlight. That’s right. Your career path
really took off from there, and you’re back again,
but you really didn’t go away for very long.
I didn’t. I like to say we have a CEO -producing
internship program. That’s right. And credential
it. Just as much. So this is a new, it’ll be
a new program in the tech theater space. So again,
lots of places that people can learn to sing,
dance, and act. We really looked at where is
there a gap in the ecosystem, and there was in
tech theater, especially on the other side of
the pandemic. Where can we support the other
arts organizations in town? This was an area
they said, yes, please, we need a pipeline. And
for us, it allowed us to then partner with other
arts organizations and do a career exploration
program for high school juniors and seniors.
So that’s been a really, really great new program
that launched this year that’s been part of this
campaign. And then the last one is a simple program
we call Arts Bridge, which is really leaning
into how we leverage Starlight as a physical
space for community building. So when we’re not
doing all the other things that we do, how do
we partner with not just other arts organizations
but other community nonprofits to really have
Starlight embody that civic asset identity? So
whether that’s hosting events, doing pre -show
activations with groups that maybe otherwise
wouldn’t come out to Starlight. It’s big and
small. We’ve hosted big community movie nights.
is an example of that with like Community Builders
Kansas City. And it’s also small. We hosted Heartland
Arts KC, which is a small -week fellowship
of local artists that are learning how to combine
art and public policy. So it’s really scalable,
but a very cool way to make sure that the space
is activated year round. Well, it’s good to see
that you’re making the most out of this campaign.
That seems like, you know, a good thing to do.
So still raising funds for this, right? People
can still hand you money. People can always hand
us money, but we are still raising money. We
have raised almost $million. We do have some
major gifts that are out there, but we’re going
to be really hitting the ground running this
summer at Starlight. So if you’re out, you’ll
probably hear us talking a lot about this and
asking you to help support. But we do think it’s
a community organization, so it’s a great opportunity
to have the community come together to support
it as well. And you really should help support.
This is not a paid endorsement of any kind. I’m
just saying that where else are you going to
watch? the Lion King and then like actually hear
a lion roar next door. Like that is, those places
don’t exist. This is very unique. And I think
we take it for granted sometimes. I feel that
way, even as someone who grew up going there,
that it takes sometimes people from New York
or nationally touring artists to come in to do
a show at Starlight. And they look at it with
wide eyes and they’re like, this is so special
because there aren’t many spaces like this. There’s
no space that’s doing kind of the. combination
of programming that we do. And I think sometimes
in Kansas City, we like to focus on what’s new,
what’s coming, what’s bright, what’s shiny, but
to the detriment, or at least I hope not, the
overlook sometimes of what these sort of historic
assets are that are very cool that we have right
in our backyard. Well, this, I mean, it was a
gift to the city back in the day. Like that was,
that was literally the thing. Kansas City’s th
birthday present to itself. That’s the history.
That is it. That is, say no more. It is outstanding.
We talked to a lot of business leaders on the
podcast, and I want to talk a little opportunity
and challenges for Starlight. So first, let’s
start with the challenges. What are the big obstacles
that you’re trying to overcome? Pretty simply,
I think it’s two things. One is just like everyone’s
navigating right now, everything is more expensive
than it’s ever been. And so I think it’s changed
how we need to fund our work. Um, we’re very
lucky that as an arts organization and compared
to other arts organization, we’ve been really
fortunate that we have been able to rely pretty
heavily on ticket sales. Um, that is not the
case for your, usually your ballets or your symphonies
or your general nonprofit a lot of times. Yeah.
So, um, so we’ve been really fortunate in that
regard now. That’s created a challenge as expensive
has sort of skyrocketed to where we also don’t
want our ticket prices to skyrocket. We have
a mission that’s based in accessibility and affordability.
So we’re having to expand again what philanthropy
looks like, look for new ways to sort of create
revenue for the organization to fund not just
the shows on the stage, but all the community
work that I mentioned as well. So that’s one
thing. And number two, I would just say, again,
the world is different today than it was six
years ago. And I think for any arts and entertainment
organization, probably for any business on the
other side of a pandemic, but particularly for
businesses that were just literally the apple
carts were upset, right? Um, we don’t, what came
before we almost can’t pay attention to. And
so we’re still trying to figure out in this new
chapter, what do audiences want? Uh, how do we
get people off their couches? How do we provide
the value proposition for getting out and doing
live shared experiences like theater and music?
Uh, people love live music and that’s kind of
the success story is I think is we’re lucky that
we have these kind of two sides of our business
because the live music side as, as many people
have probably seen it boomeranged back after
the pandemic. And so there’s something to that
of what live music has been able to capture.
And I think it’s in how interactive it is and
how much we’re a part of it. We’re not a bystander
to it. We’re really involved in it. I think some
of the more traditional art forms like musical
theater, like ballets and symphonies and operas,
where you’re typically passive, right? Like you’re
receiving the art. I think we’re having to look
on that side of it and go. What do people want
out of this now? How can we adapt to meet the
needs of new audiences so that we can acquire
new people and can say to the… millennials
and their kids and the upcoming grandkids, why
should you come out? Why is this worth your time?
So that we can help start building that tradition
for them. I don’t want musical theater and live
theater to become like some art forms where we’re
kind of out there saying, you should go to this,
but maybe you’re coming and it’s not what you
fully love and enjoy, but we’re kind of pushing
it on people. I think there’s a lot to love about
musical theater, and I think we just got to get
people out there. So that’s kind of a challenge
of just saying, how do we cut through all the
noise? And inspire people to want to come out
and be together. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I
think I wasn’t paying attention to it myself
until you mentioned it. But I think, yeah, I
think I’ve seen more live performances, live
music in the last five years than I did in the
decade before that. Like, for some reason, that
does make a whole lot of sense. It’s we want
to be together. We want to take in new shows.
We want to, you know, hang out and experience
things. So I see that. So I think we just have
to adapt on the other side. I think we’re a little
slower to adapt sometimes on what was tradition
or historical. So it’s an inflection point right
now with us going, what does this need to be
for the future? And are we listening to the community
and to audiences and moving in their direction?
Are we trying to stay true to what was because
we believe that’s best, even though we’re being
told something different? And from a business
standpoint, of course, you have all of this historical
data that would be, hey, we should expect these
ticket sales by this time. And here’s how, here’s
the routine to make this happen. And you just
have to discard all of that and start over and,
and just time is precious. And I think the way
we value time is so different now. And I think
that impacts us a lot, especially then when you
add on the very unique layer for us of being
an outdoor business. So that last minute purchase
pattern that most people have now, or that we
don’t like as much the idea of like season tickets,
because we don’t know what we’re doing six months.
now. Or we don’t know what we’re going to do
in the fall when school starts back up. So we
don’t want to make that commitment. So we wait.
So then I think there’s a higher burden to say,
okay, how do we capture that attention? And then,
you know, heaven forbid that there’s a hot temperature
or a chance of rain, which it feels like in the
Midwest, there’s always a chance of rain, right?
And even though our statistic is it rain out
once every three years. That’s amazing. I like
to share that. That is amazing. We worry about
that, but we shouldn’t worry about that. I’m
also hopeful my canopy will help people feel
a little more of psychological safety around
feelings of mitigation. I was always curious
how you were able to pick, you know, what. how
you’re able to determine what will be the hottest
day of the year based on which show I want to
go see. You’re able to pull that out way in advance
before the weather could ever possibly say that.
Because we know that’ll be the memory that you
make. Yeah. People remember the most the shows
they got. poured on or the hottest day of the
year they you may have come to shows at starlight
the ones you will remember because it’s so visceral
it is it is unlike being in a black box so i
always say i don’t even feel i think that’s a
starlight memory right there so i don’t feel
bad about that because that’s the one you’ll
remember and there’s so many other places you’ll
go that you won’t remember the day or where you
were or anything else but because the environment
is so real remember it yeah i i we did uh i i
have that memory of uh we’re watching with my
daughter uh john Mulaney at Starlight, sweating
in a three -piece suit on stage. He was so hot.
He was very hot. And of course, I watched the
HBO special afterward and go, oh. Maybe he shortened
that section so he didn’t have to be on stage
that long. Or, you know, maybe that came about
some other way. But I felt for him. I did feel
for him. Sometimes I wish when they advance those
shows, they’d be like, remember, we’re outdoors.
Maybe we should pick a different outfit. Yeah,
wear a different costume. You know, shorts are
fine. Don’t be formal for our sake. Let’s flip
it, though. What are the biggest opportunities?
Where do you go for? Like, for sure, the Capitol
campaign addresses so many of them. Other opportunities
that you’re looking forward to? I think the same
challenges also present opportunities. So I think
when what came before can be and needs to be
so easily discarded, it really creates a wonderful
opportunity for innovation and new ideas. So
I think when we look around the table, both with
my staff, and I have a very engaged board of
directors, a large -person board of directors.
everyone’s new ideas and everyone’s sort of the
idea generation that’s around the table, that
doesn’t happen all the time. So I think the ability
to look at new opportunities and execute on them
and kind of really get down to saying, like,
are there really any sacred cows here? And for
a mission -based organization, we just keep going
back to, look, the mission is connecting our
community through live arts experiences. It doesn’t
say what kind of live arts experiences. It doesn’t
say we have to do it a certain way. It really
just says this is about bringing people together
around music and theater. So what can we do to
accomplish that? So I think that’s an opportunity.
And I think leaning into, as I said, what we
can learn from successful live art in live music
and sort of adapt that into the experience for
theater. and leverage what is special about Starlight,
which is that venue. Oh, yeah. Most theaters,
you’re zipping in and out where you don’t have
time in the same space for a food and beverage
experience or a scavenger hunt or some of the
things that we do at Starlight. We have all this
space. So I think for us, an opportunity is leaning
into what is the pre -show experience. What is
the intermission experience? And I would even
say, and we don’t do this now, but what’s a post
-show experience? Why go somewhere else if you’re
having a great time and we want you to talk about
the theater you just saw or the great show you
just saw? Why wouldn’t we want people to stay
and have a cocktail or a mocktail and talk about
it right there? Right, right. Those are the things
that I think are some of the biggest opportunities.
Outstanding. And I’m so glad that you’re not,
you know, tied to here is the thing we do all
the time. And we just do the exact same thing
over and over again. You reinvent yourself and
add new product lines and new experiences all
the time. And I think that’s spectacular. When
we work with a business, it’s not unlikely that
we would say, okay, let’s map out all of the
customer touchpoints that we have from the day
they’re browsing something online to the day
they come in, all of the different pieces that
– are they getting something in the mail? Are
they – what are the – any number of touchpoints
we have and how can we make that experience even
better? I think Disney does the same kind of
thing. We talk a lot about Disney. As well you
should. As well you should. No, I think you’re
delivering that same promise, and it’ll be good
to see Disney. as a program coming up. That’s
great. It’ll be great to have, I mean, we’re
looking forward this summer, we have the Kansas
City premiere of Frozen. And so we know Disney
is just such, and a lot of people, for whatever
reason, maybe it’s because Starlight looks like
a castle, but people really associate the Disney
brand with the Starlight brand. And I think because
it’s multi -generational, it’s feel good, it’s
joy -based, there’s all these things that I think
there’s a lot of similarities. We talk a lot
about Hallmark too, for the same reasons, very
locally. So I think it’s also leaning into, and
you said it, like, what is that promise? what
is when we say the starlight tradition and tradition
sometimes has this connotation of being like
nothing’s changed or we’re doing the same thing
all the time. But I often say like the starlight
tradition is actually evolution. It’s been to
change, to update, to grow. And that’s not true
of all venues or theater organizations or historic
places. But I think that gives you a lot of freedom
and it’s pretty liberating to say, what can we
do next? And if it’s all about how we bring people
together, then our obligation, the imperative
is what is going to inspire people to come together.
Yeah, you’re not this popular for years unless
you do exactly that. I’d like to think so. Are
you ready to go into a lightning round? Should
we ask some questions that are just totally random
and you have no way to know what’s going to go
on? I personally have a lot of great memories
at Starlight, just great. And some of those are
when a player performance was happening. As you
look at the time that you’ve spent there, whether
you’re running the joint or whether you’re working
there, doing an event way back in the day as
an intern, first coming in, what is your best
Starlight memory? My best, you know, this is
always a hard one. I was like, if he asks me
about a show, I’m going to be in trouble. It
could be any. Here’s what I’ll say. I think the
memory that I hold the most dear now, because
of probably the role that I’m in now, I remember
going to, it was in the s, with my grandparents
who had season tickets to a production of Annie.
Oh, sure. And there’s something about, you know,
I’m a redhead, watching a little redhead kid
play Annie a time or two in my life. That memory
and at the time, and you talk about tradition
and change, the box office was up at the top
of the hill. So if you’ve been to Starlight,
it’s built kind of in amphitheater style where
you go down. And it used to be that the box office
was up at the top of the hill. That’s where you’d
enter and you’d go down into the seats. And there’s
something about walking up that way, and I just
have this visual in my head, even more so than
the show itself. Although there’s something about,
and probably it’s a core memory, the hopefulness
of Annie just sticks with me. I mean, that’s
probably foundational to… my personality at
this point too so there’s something about those
shows that that get you and stick with you and
a theme that you know also the neat thing is
is like my neighbor made of might have felt different
right like my grandparents might have felt different
but for me the things that I walked away with
were like that visual of coming to the theater
the show itself the hopefulness of tomorrow you
know and maybe uh so i think that’s what i would
have you approached daddy warbucks for a capital
campaign gift i don’t know if that’s a thing
or not is that no but it’s a great idea it’s
a good idea let me prospect for you um your your
office overlooks the the stage so you can like
see mic checks and all kinds of things like that
have have you had that starstruck moment that
fan fangirl kind of moment where you’re like
i can’t believe that’s so and so I don’t know
that I have. I mean, I would say I’ve worked
with some celebrity appearances in the past.
Well, I’ll tell you, the only person I’ve ever
been starstruck by is Julie Andrews. Oh. And
we haven’t had her in a show at Starlight, but
I did a celebrity appearance with her. So it’s
in the same vein. That’s the only person where
I literally got heart palpitations about going
up to have tea with her in a hotel room. Like,
that was intimidating. But otherwise, I think
working in this business, you really realize
that celebrities, touring artists, people that
are doing some very big, cool things. They’re
just people. They’re people. And yes, at the
end of the day, we know they’re people. But there
are some people who tend to be larger than life
sometimes. I can get where Julie Andrews would
be that way. And the next thing I’ll say about
that is the artists I appreciate the most are
the ones who come out and remember that this
is a job and who they’re working for, which is
audiences. Oh, nice. And not all artists do.
And I will tell you, I have a strong bias for
the ones that come out and they know they’re
here to put on a show for an audience. There’s
some artists who think, Really, that they’re
the gift. Yes, yes. And I’m not sure I agree.
I think that’s fair. I think that’s fair. You’re
in the spotlight. You’re fundraising. You have
a fundraising background, too. You’re meeting
people. You’re at events. Do you thrive on that
kind of human interaction and being kind of on
all the time? Or do you get to that point where
you’re just like, I can’t people anymore. No
more peopling. I need to go be alone or with
family or read or something. So I’ve been into
this job for two years, and two years ago I always
said, no, there’s no ceiling. I’m an extroverted
extrovert. I love people. I will close down the
party. I would stay to talk to someone until
a .m. if there was someone who would stay to
talk to me. Two years later I would say, yeah,
there’s a ceiling. There’s a limit. The limit
does exist. There is a ceiling. It’s a pretty
high ceiling. I do love. I love people. I love
learning about people. I love what brings people
out to the theater, all the walks of life, all
their history, why they’ve brought their little
grandkids or kids out with them. I love that.
And I think part of it is, especially for Starlight,
it is joy work. That’s what I tell my team a
lot, too, is this is the business of joy. And
in this world that we live in now, I do not take
for granted how special that is, that we are
a part of something that’s putting something
good into the world and into the community. Absolutely.
Events. You’ve managed events. We’ve run events
together sometimes. Just a couple. Absolutely
incredible kid day. Events can be insane. The
unexpected happens all the time. I was once running
an event in Las Vegas where Frank Abagnale from
Catch Me If You Can, the actual guy, was speaking.
alarm goes off at the venetian and the you know
the production guys i’m putting my headphones
back on because we’re about to wrap it up put
the headphones back on and go somebody want to
tell me what’s going on here and uh they’re like
well it’s gonna be okay unless the fire dividing
wall starts dropping because then we’re gonna
have to move some people really fast out of those
seats and we went oh all right but frank abagnale
no sweat whatsoever he’s he’s seen and done everything
in his life he’s you know He’s super famous for
that kind of thing. Have you had that kind of
event? What is that crazy event moment for you
where, oh, man, this came off the rails and,
you know, the craziness happens? It’s a thunderstorm
usually. I think in outdoor theater it’s a thunderstorm.
You know, the people component, oddly, is not
usually the variable. Mother Nature, but I also
say it is made. me and the team i work with like
it makes you the most flexible and it also makes
you understand you can only control what you
can control and mother nature is the ultimate
thing that you cannot control And so I think
it gives us all a little zen in every other environment
we’re in. Everything else is a problem to solve
and something that you’re responding to because
you can control what you can control. And then
there’s things you can’t control that you are
simply reacting to. And Mother Nature is a great
example of that. So anytime that we have those
once in a blue moon shows where a thunderstorm,
especially in the Midwest, sometimes pops out
of nowhere, you know, like the forecast where
it was zero percent chance of rain and then suddenly,
you know, something pops up, you’re like. OK,
well, we couldn’t have predicted that. So we’re
just going to mobilize and figure it out from
here. So that’s probably the biggest thing. Now,
in the event world, the one that came to mind
as you started to tell that story was I was actually
doing an event with Marvin Hamlisch at the Kauffman
Performing Arts Center right after it opened.
OK. And the fire alarm went off. There are these
kind of things that just happen. Yeah. It was
a new building. We had to stop. It just like
ended the whole thing. He was so cool. It was
like a year or two before he passed. But I do
think that people that are out on the road in
that way, it builds this flexibility and this
resilience and this like, you just take it as
it comes, which is a pretty great attitude to
have. You run into people that idle high on making
mountain out of mole hills. And I have a great
appreciation for understanding what true problems
are and what true hills are. And there’s a lot
of things that are just not that. And then every
now and again, there’s a thunderstorm or there’s
a fire alarm that ends an event. And even that,
you’re like, can’t control it, responding to
it, keep moving. Man, that’s… tremendously
healthy approach to that whole thing. I would
love to be able to get a cup of that for myself
and try not to control things that I can’t control.
That would be good growth for me, I think. Well,
I mentioned recovering theater kid, also recovering
perfectionist. And I often say having my son
at a relatively young age and getting into this
business at the start. drilled that right out
of me because this is not, you cannot be perfect
as a parent and you cannot be perfect working
in outdoor theater. Truth, truth. This last question,
and I’ll take it into this more business world
of, we saw each other again recently at a peer
-to -peer CEO networking group, and there are
lots of those in town. What’s the value of a
good kind of peer -to -peer conversation, peer
-to -peer networking group, peer -to -peer exchange
of ideas to you? What are you looking for from
that experience? Community and fresh perspective.
So I think in your own business, number one,
everyone’s drinking the same Kool -Aid to some
degree. You even get lost in the words, right?
Because you know what all the words mean. And
I find it so refreshing to be in a room with
people and even with, you know, there’s very
few in those for me, nonprofit executives. Right.
So, but the issues are all the same, right? All
the issues when you’re leading an organization
come back to your financials and people and how
you’re solving problems. That’s it. Plug in whatever
your business is. So then that second part, that
community piece of having people that have the
same problems or have the same challenges who
are invested in your success, I think that made
a big difference. It was some of the best advice
I got before I actually got into this role. But
when I was on the succession plan for it, as
someone said, you know, you hear that old adage,
it’s lonely at the top. Avoid that. Get community.
Find your people so that when you get up there
and you start to have invariably problems to
solve and things that you can’t talk about. down
the hill with your staff about that you’ve got
people you can bounce what you’re thinking off
of. And that was the right thought and such a
gift that someone gave me to strongly encourage
that. Oh, that’s great advice. Great advice.
I’ll take no more lightning round. And no more
thunderstorms either. Lightning round is done.
We’ll pass on that. You’ve survived it easily.
Easily, I’d say. Tell people where they can find
you if they need more information, if they want
to go check out a camp, if they want to, more
importantly, contribute to a campaign. Where
do they go? What do they do? So CaseyStarlight
.com is the home for all things Starlight. So
all of our events, information about how to give
and support, information about the campaign.
So CaseyStarlight .com, I say we’re in the business
of selling tickets. So also whatever you Google,
make sure it’s at CaseyStarlight .com and not
some other random site. If you’re looking at
tickets, third parties are real. They have a
business too. I’m not here to disparage them,
but I am here to tell you it’s much better experience
for you and for us if you go to CaseyStarlight
.com to buy tickets to anything you come to.
And me, I’m on LinkedIn. So if you want to find
me, that’s probably the best place to find me.
I love connecting there, too. Big fan of connecting
in this community, as I said, extroverted extrovert.
So very few people that I will turn down for
a good coffee, especially if there’s idea sharing
or aligned priorities that we can talk about.
There’s a high ceiling for too much peopling.
So please do reach out. Yes, that’s right. Good,
good, good. Lindsey Rood Clifford, president
and CEO of Starlight Theater. Thanks for being
with us today. Thanks for having me. W. And
that is our show. Thanks so much to our good
friend, Lindsey Rood Clifford from Starlight.
And thank you for listening to the Small Business
Miracles podcast. Remember to subscribe, leave
us a five -star rating and review. Drop us a
line on the website at eagadv .com if you have
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