2 min read August 2022 — In an interview with Invest:, President of the Florida Theatre Numa Saisselin talked about the theater’s role within the local economy as well as the challenges it faced over the past two years while dealing with the pandemic. Saisselin also discussed the future of live performance and how the theater is approaching marketing in an ever-changing landscape.
What were some of the challenges you had to overcome to make people feel comfortable coming back?
The most frustrating part of the pandemic was how little guidance we got from any central authority. I got some advice that if and when we were allowed to open, we should just do it, otherwise we’d willfully be keeping the business closed and have to watch it die. Another piece of advice I received was that depending on where you were in the United States, they were either prioritizing the economy over health or vice versa but it has to be both. You had to open but you had to be responsible about it, so it was hard to find that middle ground. We took it all very seriously and enforced our mask policies, which wasn’t fun but necessary and is probably why we are still here.
What is the importance of Florida Theatre to the area?
We are blessed with a terrific cultural community here. There are several theater organizations, dance companies, a full-time symphony orchestra, a robust Broadway touring series and three first-class museums. Our role is as a presenting organization. We buy touring artists for a night. We are the managers of a historic property and also concert and show promoters. We make deals with artists and their managers to get their artists to come here.
What is the role of facilities like yours in boosting interest in the arts?
For my entire career, people have always predicted the death of live performance. They’ve been doing so all along, as we saw with motion pictures, television and so on, which were all supposed to kill live performance. People still value being able to see a live performance so our role is to get people through the front door that first time. I have faith that live performance will continue to be strong because every generation values it.
What changes have been made to your marketing strategies?
There isn’t one dominant medium when it comes to marketing. Radio and newspapers have lowered in importance but that is not to say that they aren’t important at all, so we do a bit of everything, on top of new things like social media and email. It all moves quickly so we have to stay on top of things to know what is working and what isn’t.
What is the ideal framework for public spending on arts and culture?
In Jacksonville and in Florida we have a competitive reapplication process for grants, which is great because it is a meritocracy but to answer your question, it’s having more money. There are lots of competing priorities and we feel that we receive our fair share but we could always use more. City funding for arts and culture has more than doubled in the past seven years. It’s trendy to trash the government but I feel that during COVID they all did their job and made sure we received a decent share of relief money. The Florida Theatre is here because people did their job.
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