Marketing and Communications Manager

The Newport Music Festival seeks a visionary, entrepreneurial, and creative colleague to join us as our Marketing & Communications Manager to play a key role in advancing the reputation and brand visibility of the Festival, increase awareness of concert programming, community and engagement activities and promote inclusivity and belonging.

OVERVIEW

The Newport Music Festival (NMF) has played a significant cultural role in Rhode Island since its inception in 1969. The Festival has featured some of the greatest international artists of the past 52 years and produced over 2000 concerts in a myriad of venues throughout Newport and surrounding communities. Now in its fifth decade, the Festival continues to scale new heights artistically. The NMF inspires memorable life experiences through world-class artistry in unique, intimate, and historic venues.

In addition, off-season concerts have become an important extension of the Festival’s reach engaging the local community including children and families. The 2021 Festival is scheduled to run from July 4-20, will be entirely outdoors and reflect the expanding landscape of classical music.

THE POSITION

The Marketing and Communications Manager will work to achieve attendance and ticket sales goals, while also promoting the Festival’s image and visibility. As such, this position is responsible for concert ticket sales, digital marketing, advertising and special promotions, direct mail, website, graphic design, social media, content creation, customer service and public relations efforts. The position reports directly to the Executive Director and is a valuable member of the strategic leadership team.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Marketing

• Work with the Executive Director to create and implement NMF’s marketing strategy and leverage data-driven analytics to optimize and refine that strategy
• Engage with all Festival constituencies and the community to ensure an inclusive experience for patrons
• Achieve annual budget goals for earned revenue and marketing expenses
• Collaborate with the Development Manager to ensure that Marketing efforts are providing a strong pipeline for potential donors, and that overall brand strategy is supporting the goals of all departments
• Oversee the production and placement of all advertising buys, including social media
• Oversee PatronManager event setup and ongoing seating management of all concerts plus formatting of all print-at-home tickets for each concert in collaboration with Development Manager
• Collaborate with Head of Volunteers as needed to manage seasonal box office staff
• Manage onsite box office set-ups (tickets, door lists, signs, computers, box office staff scheduling) and coordinate with Business Manager, Production crew and Volunteer force; attend concerts

Content Creation and Branding

• Develop and manage meaningful email marketing and data management strategy and design weekly email campaigns
• Manage marketing calendar, including social media and email content calendar
• Manage all Festival social media platforms, develop content that supports ticket sales and organization branding
• Oversee the production of marketing materials, including the annual report, brochures and flyers and summer festival program
• Work with the Executive Director to establish brand goals, create revenue forecasts, and spearhead campaigns to increase ticketing and other earned revenue
• Ensure organizational messaging and brand profile are consistent across all marketing channels
• Support Executive Director in a rebranding initiative and provide basic graphic design work for the organization
• Design concert signage and work with graphic design consultant when appropriate

Communications

• Develop earned media tactics that increase the media visibility of NMF locally, nationally, and work with national PR firm on international coverage
• Draft press releases, talking points, and pitch letters
• Manage press and influencer lists and maintain relationships with key journalists and influencers