Have you ever had this experience? You’re trying to set an appointment with someone, but they keep stringing you along or repeatedly fail to return your calls, before finally accepting the invite. Imagine doing that with a dozen traveling theater companies each year, while scheduling local shows and trying to curate a diverse set of performances for the community.
This is Brad Burdick’s job as Mount Baker Theatre’s Executive Director.
Burdick is the mastermind who orchestrates all the shows scheduled at MBT. The booking process begins at the Western Arts Alliance Conference, which brings together more than 680 presenters, artists and agents to share the programming of live performances.
Here Burdick learns what shows are most likely coming west in the upcoming year. The puzzle pieces are established and laid out on the table. However, they’re always changing.
“Unfortunately, you can’t just pay a fee and have a Broadway performance show up,” Burdick says. “They need a strong route. It’s easier to get routes together on the East Coast where the cities are a lot closer together.”
Creating routes is one of the challenges of booking in the Pacific Northwest. The puzzle pieces might drop out if they can’t fit in with other theaters’ schedules. If there are too many travel days between shows, it can cost a touring company greatly. To resolve this issue, Burdick spends a lot of his time communicating with other theaters in the area.
“Olympia, Tacoma, Yakama, Bremerton, Edmonds, Spokane, Portland – I’m on email with them regularly, looking at all the shows I’ve got in the hopper,” says Burdick, “There’s a lot of give and take. Sometimes I book a show because people in Olympia really want it and sometimes down the road if I need a show to fill out a hole in my season they might jump on it. It’s all about relationships.”
The connection between theaters is strong and these collaborative relationships pay dividends by bringing brilliant shows to all communities.
Booking artists is no easy task, but that doesn’t stop MBT from providing arts, entertainment and social interaction with a program of over 400 performances each year. “Artists are worried about going into the smaller markets because of the volatility of the smaller theaters,” Burdick says. “They don’t know what they’re getting into. Artists would much rather play in the big cities because of the volume of business that happens.”
Burdick explains that MBT is becoming known as an exception in the small market rule because MBT has more seats than is typical. Most theaters with Bellingham’s population size are likely to seat anywhere from 750 to 850 people. MBT holds 1,500 seats. This is appealing to larger artists because they are likely to get better revenue as a result.
Today’s artists make the most money from tours, not music sales, thanks to the accessibility of YouTube, Spotify and other streaming platforms. Artists who book at MBT can also be looking for a special experience. Artists like John Legend perform at MBT because of the intimacy of the space. The show John Legend designed was all about reconnecting with the audience – and MBT’s size was ideal.
Burdick has worked at MBT for over two decades and is excited for the future. “Looking at the diversity [of shows] we have now compared to way back when I started is much more significant than it used to be – but it’s not as significant as I’d like it to be,” he says. “As we continue to grow the audiences we can continue to bring in more diverse shows.”
In curating the show lineup, MBT allows the community to explore performances and styles they might not have been interested in previously. Burdick wants to continue finding new things and stretching the audience’s perception of what’s out there and what they might like. “We’re going to continue to grow slowly,” he says. “I like to view the MBT as very entrepreneurial for a nonprofit.”
Along with professional Broadway shows, concerts and comedic performances, MBT invites the community to use their space for recitals and other performances. These pieces go into the booking process to ensure a fantastic year. What makes MBT so special is the local community that helps it thrive.
“I always like to have input from people,” Burdick says. “If you’re interested in having an artist, send me an email or give me a call; that helps me know what Bellingham wants. I’m always interested in what people want to hear and see.”
Burdick’s work brings diverse entertainment to Whatcom County and puts our corner of the Pacific Northwest on the map for future performers to bring their stardom to a community already brimming with starlight.
Check out the work of Burdick and the whole Mount Baker Team in upcoming MBT Presents Shows and in the complete line-up for Mount Baker Theatre’s public spaces.
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