Study A-Broadway: From Boise, Idaho to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pictured: Kennedy Sandau taking a photo of the Funny Girl Mirror at this year’s FREE Party on the Plaza event 

When my supervisor approached me with the opportunity to take part in The Broadway League’s brand-new Study A-Broadway program, I jumped at the opportunity. The program's purpose is to foster greater networking, brainstorming, partnership, and collaboration between League Member performing arts centers and their employees. As a young professional in the Performing Arts space, this seemed like an incredible opportunity to learn from another venue.  

I’ve worked at the Morrison Center in Boise, Idaho for over 5 years, currently working as the Digital Marketing Manager. As we have grown so quickly as a venue in the past few years, I have also started to help plan internal events and really enjoy this side of my work. My goal for the Study A-Broadway program was to expand my skills in events marketing and project management. With this in mind, I was paired with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts who is known for the incredible community events they host. I was thrilled to have the chance to work with their team on their Free Party on the Plaza as part of the city-wide Wawa Welcome America event leading up to the Fourth of July. 

Touching down in Philadelphia the week of the event (for my first time!) I was warmly welcomed by The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts team. My host for the week was Ashley Ryan, the Director of Marketing, Broadway at Ensemble Arts Philly. Ashley was incredibly supportive in creating a schedule around the areas I was most interested in.  

Leading up to the event, I learned about the administrative team, their organization, and shadowed some of the team members who made the event happen. One morning I shadowed Tyler Daddario, Manager of Theatrical Programming & Presentations, who was the producer of the event. Tyler gave me a thorough understanding of the FREE Party in the Plaza, how it originated, and showed me from beginning to end how he coordinated the event. It gave me a greater understanding of what it takes to plan such a large event and some tricks I can bring back to Boise with me.  

I also spent some time working hands-on with the marketing team to prepare for the event. Coming from a performing arts center with a marketing team of three, I was impressed by the detailed structure of their marketing team and specific roles each person played. It sparked my interest in thinking about how the Morrison Center could grow in the future and what roles would be the most helpful. 

After two days working behind the scenes, it was finally time for the main event! The day of the block party, I arrived on site early to help Ashley coordinate with the Broadway performers. Carrie Compere beautifully performed two songs from the Broadway show The Wiz and Emily Bautista sang a gorgeous song from Les Misérables, which are both part of Ensemble Arts Philly’s 2024-25 Broadway Series. 

Jensen Clifford, who is currently playing the Grinch in Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical also made an appearance and took pictures with guests in front of a step-and-repeat. It was an incredibly eventful and busy day, but it was so rewarding to see the event come together and see the amazing crowds that showed up.

I returned home to Boise having had an incredible experience and with a page full of ideas and notes from my time in Philadelphia, excited to continue to help my own performing arts center grow.  

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Thanks again to Kennedy for spending the week with us! 

To find an upcoming, free event, click here.