Peek Behind The Curtain At Orlando’s Art Scene: Foster Cronin
VP of Programming and Education, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
Foster Cronin, VP of Programming and Education, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
HOW LONG WITH DR. PHILLIPS CENTER:
Since March 2015.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES OF HIS ROLE:
Programming all venues in Dr. Phillips Center, driving revenue and managing relationships and processes for local and touring groups and artists, overseeing relationships with community leaders and groups and fulfilling the center’s mission work through education-funded programs and programming community work.
HOW HE GOT INVOLVED IN HIS FIELD:
Cronin worked in regional theater in his native Philadelphia before getting into the performing arts world and arts management. He then started programming for Princeton Entertainment, who was at that time building the team for the Dr. Phillips Center.
Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts is home to four venues: Judson’s Live, the Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater, Steinmetz Hall and the Walt Disney Theater. The facility’s active rate is 90 percent, or 329 days out of the year. And Foster Cronin programs them all.
“We’re very lucky here with the Dr. Phillips Center,” says Cronin. “There’s not many performing arts centers being built like this any longer, they don’t have the kind of support that we have with the tourist development tax and the great support that the county and the city both give arts here in Orlando.”
In the 10 years since the Dr. Phillips Center opened, 190-plus unique regional performances have come through its doors. Given that the center’s mission is “Arts for Every Life,” having a mix of national, local and regional programming is crucial.
“Now that we have Judson’s, the volume of artists I can select has dramatically increased,” says Cronin. “It brings in the most diversity. It’s incredible.”
“We also wanted to create a brand (for Judson’s),” he adds, “that you didn’t really care what, specifically, was playing—you knew you would have a good time, no matter what.”
Cronin says the convergence of his connections and the reputation of Dr. Phillips Center aids in programming the facility.
“When we first came on, we were known in the industry as the ‘shiny new penny’. We were already on the map,” says Cronin. “We also lucked out because sometimes Florida has a hard time getting tours. We provide an easy way to come down, go right across the state and then go right back up north. So, we’re on a lot of people’s routes.”
Cronin has strong contacts with all the big agencies, who let him know when artists are coming through the area. He also works with co-promoters such as LIVE Nation, AEG and Outback Presents who typically buy 25 different dates for an artist, then map out nationally where they want to go.
“Given Orlando’s love of the arts, the tickets that we sell and the support we get from Central Florida, it really allows us to always be at the forefront of agents’ and peoples’ minds,” he says.
