Someone once told me that if I made it through my first 2 years of working at a Public Relations firm, that I had chosen the right career field. January 3, 2010 will be my five-year anniversary with The Silverman Group. Phew! I made it!
If you had asked me where I would be in 10 years during my freshman year at Valparaiso University, I would have never imagined that Public Relations in Chicago would be my answer. International Relations, yes, but Public Relations, no way!
I was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya (That’s EAST Africa, not South Africa!). Both my parents worked with Non-profit organizations, many times working with refugees or in war zone areas. Growing up surrounded by talks of the United Nations, wars, refugees, 2/3 countries all inspired me to want to do the same. Freshman year at University my major was International Service and Psychology with a minor in French. I wanted to go back to Africa and help in war zone areas, just like my parents.
So how did I get from International Service to Public Relations you ask? It all began when I took Communications 101 as a general class to fulfill a social science requirement. Somewhere between learning about the history of the radio and how to write TV script, I fell in love with the concept of public/media relations and within weeks, my major was changed from International Service and Psychology to Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations. Through all my classes, I gained a great appreciation for effective communication. I already knew that I enjoyed writing (I would like to try my hand at writing a Children’s book one day!) and had always enjoyed the Arts (dance, music, theater and visual art). During my junior year of University, I chose to do a semester in Chicago through the Chicago Arts Program. For my internship during the program, I got to work at Carol Fox & Associates (admittedly, The Silverman Group’s friendly competitor). It was a wonderful internship experience and I knew that entertainment PR was the road I wanted to travel down.
After graduation I worked as an assistant community manager at a non-profit in Northwest Indiana for several months, but eventually found my way to The Silverman Group. I consider myself extremely lucky to be working in a field where I combine my love of the Arts and public/media relations. I am constantly learning and enjoy how many opportunities The Silverman Group has offered me. Of course, owner and president Beth Silverman is one of the most well-connected women in Chicago and has an amazing portfolio – there is no better place to learn!
Ready or not, the holiday season will officially begin this Thursday at 8 a.m. sharp. Be part of the annual tradition, whether in person or at home, as the 76th Annual McDonald's® Thanksgiving Parade marches down State Street. If you've never seen the Parade live, the sheer scale may be difficult to imagine (even with a 50" plasma). Here are some fun facts about this year's parade:
1934: The year the Parade was founded to lift people’s spirits in during the Great Depression
5,280 feet:the length of the Parade route
425,000: spectators expected to attend 76th McDonald’s®Thanksgiving Parade
65,500 cubic feet: the amount of helium used to inflate 12 giant parade balloons
6 hours: the time it will take to inflate all 12 giant parade balloons
408: people needed to handle the balloons throughout the Parade route
Almost 1,000: people volunteer at the 76th McDonald’s®Thanksgiving Parade
4,000: participants in the 76th McDonald’s®Thanksgiving Parade
2,462: high school and college students marching in the Parade
8,818 miles: the minimum total distance traveled by the visiting units in the Parade
Over 1,154 miles: the distance that the Central Florida Marching Brigade will travel to be in the Parade – more than any other unit except Santa Claus who is joining us from the North Pole!
Over 150 hours: The combined travel time that all visiting units will put in to be part of the 76th McDonald’s®Thanksgiving Parade
10: different ethnic groups participating in the Parade this year
568: horses’ legs in 76th McDonald’s®Thanksgiving Parade
45: members on the “poo crew” who work to pick up after all the horses in the Parade
The McDonald's® Thanksgiving Parade is a larger-than-life experience, and you can be a part of it! A limited number of VIP Packages are available, which entitles you to TV zone seating, a light continental breakfast and more. Whether you line up along State Street or receive VIP treatment for a day, don't miss a second of the action! Over 100 acts, including equestrian units, inflatable balloons, ethnic performers and a special appearance from Santa Claus will help make Thanksgiving and the holidays merry. WGN will broadcast the entire Parade in high from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Not an early riser? CLTV will rebroadcast the Parade at 2 p.m. For more information and a complete list of entertainers, balloons and floats, visit chicagofestivals.org.
The holiday season begins earlier every year. If you're not in the holiday spirit by mid-December, then check out a concert that goes beyond Jingle Bells and Rudolph. The Chicago Sinfonietta blends holiday traditions from around the world into a joyful multicultural singalong for its second annual holiday concert. The Global Holiday Celebration will feature the holiday favorite Joy to the WorldAfrican Sanctus; Adolphe Adam’s O Holy Night; Chip Davis and Calvin Custer’s and arrangement of Silent Night; Donny Hathaway’s soulful holiday standard This Christmas; and George Frederic Handel’s classic “Hallelujah!” chorus from Messiah followed by the gospel arrangement from A Soulful Celebration. (featuring Nicole Mitchell on wooden flute, Vikas Deo on sarod, Tatsu Aoki on shamisen, and Steve Gibbons on Gypsy violin); David Fanshawe’s Traditional favorites Feliz Navidad and O Hannukah will round out this festive program. For tickets call 312-236-3681 ext. 2 or visit http://www.chicagosinfonietta.org/.Children's tickets are only $10, while general admission tickets are $25.
Thomas Nicholas & Megan Quiroz, photo by Herbert Migdoll
The Joffrey Ballet's The Nutcracker is a holiday tradition for a reason - it's one of the few holiday performances with near-universal appeal. Children and their parents delight in Clara's adventure to the Land of Snow. With lavish sets, costuming and choreography, The Joffrey Ballet's interpretation of The Nutcracker is much more than a show. Clara's Christmas is a prelude to your own Christmas or holiday celebration.
Robert Joffrey's The Nutcracker is a reflection of Chicago as well as the holiday spirit. The Joffrey Ballet welcomes nearly 120 young dancers from the Chicago area, Indiana and Wisconsin to participate as snow trees or soldiers, every year. In the Auditorium Theatre lobby, Providence-St. Mel School Choir, the Oak Park and River Forest Children’s Choir, Barrington Children’s Choir, and Palatine Children’s Choir will serenade the audience with selections from Tchaikovsky's Snow Scene as well as popular holiday songs.Single tickets, priced from $25 to $115, are available for purchase at The Joffrey Ballet’s official Box Office located in the lobby of JoffreyTower, 10 E. Randolph Street, as well as the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University box office, all Ticketmaster Ticket Centers, by telephone at (800) 982-2787 or online at http://www.ticketmaster.com/.
For an...unconventional holiday performance, don't miss Jackie Hoffman's premiere of Whining in the Windy City: Holiday Edition. In town for four nights only, Hoffman skewers our most beloved holiday celebrations, showbiz and (of course) children. Full of stand-up comedy and original musical numbers, Whining promises to counteract even the most saccharine sources of holiday cheer. Fed up with the holidays already? Catch Jackie Hoffman tonight at the Royal George Cabaret, in her first of four performances. Deliciously directed towards audiences 18 and older, tickets are priced at $25 and are available by phone at (312) 988-9000, online at http://www.ticketmaster.com/search?tm_link=tm_homeA_header_search&q=jackie+hoffman&search.x=0&search.y=0 or in person at the RoyalGeorgeTheatre box office.
On Saturday, November 14, volunteers gathered at the Museum of Science and Industry to get some hands-on experience with handling one of the balloons that will be a part of this year's McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade. Participants in "Parade School" practiced manuevering Bob The Builder in preparation for the parade on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, which travels along State Street from Congress Avenue to Randolph Street.
The clear skies and mild temperatures made for perfect conditions....we're hoping the actual conditions of the parade are quite so nice.
Bob is up and ready for action!
Bob goes for a stroll around the front lawn of the Museum of Science and Industry.
Bob takes a break: the balloon handlers get to practice laying Bob on his back.
Back to the ready position. Handling the balloon isn't as easy as it may look, but the volunteers are ready!
Beth gets to hang with none other than Ronald McDonald himself, the Honorary Grand Marshall of the McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade.
In our efforts to allow you to get to know The Silverman Group a little better, we want to spend a little time on why we each enjoy PR, because everyone has a different reason for how and why they find PR rewarding.
As referenced in my first blog (on Nov. 10), I came to work with TSG through a love of dance and all things arts-related. After an active career as a performer and a foray into journalism, PR was a natural shift for me. So it will probably come as no surprise that the reason I enjoy working in PR and interacting with the media is because I love spreading the word about the arts. Whether it be dance or theater, music, film, comedy, or any hybrid thereof, it’s important to me that as many people as possible hear about all the wonderful, creative, inspiring work happening in Chicago. Granted, not all of our clients here at TSG are in the arts. Some are leisure-oriented while others are cultural institutions. But they all have something in common that makes them appealing: they build and enrich the community. PR is the bridge that makes possible the connection between the institutions, the media and the wider public.
(Above: Megan Quiroz and Thomas Nicholas in The Joffrey Ballet's "The Nutcracker," this year Dec. 11-27. Photo by Herbert Migdoll.)
Chicago has a plethora of knowledgeable culture aficionados, both seasoned critics as well as fresh voices eager to tout all that the city has to offer. Each media outlet brings their own insightful take to an event and they all have an uncanny knack for teasing out the most curious and fascinating aspects of a dance, play, concert, or other creation.
It’s incredibly affirming to see a show or event that we represent be highlighted in the media—whether it be in print, or on a blog, or on air. When you see or hear these highlights, you realize how many other people are seeing them, too, getting excited and thinking “I can’t wait to go see that!” It’s also stimulating to hear about the work straight from the creator’s mouth. The struggles they have gone through in the developmental process, the discoveries they have made and the enrichment they have found can be awe-inspiring. Being able to create an opportunity for them to express their ideas before they get to the final production is a gratifying endeavor. To experience the art first-hand is always a treat, but it’s equally evocative to get glimpses into the process leading up to it—the compulsions, revelations, fears and excitements. It’s like a back-stage pass into an intangible and often over-looked world.
(Above: Chicago Sinfonietta's "Global Holiday Celebration," this year Dec. 16.)
I love interacting with our clients and all the enthusiasm that the artists and their staff bring to the table. I also love the chance to promote art through the media. The relationship between arts and media can be tenuous at times, which comes with the nature of the ever-shifting media landscape. But when the synergy is there it can be magical, and the result is a chance to continually reach a new audience, one that is hungry for the invaluable world of art, culture and expression.
Welcome to the first installment of TSG Speaks Out!
My name is Eric and I’ve been with TSG since June, 2008, making me the most recent full-time addition to the team. I came to The Silverman Group via a not-so-traditional route. My background is in dance and sociology, both of which I studied at Northwestern University. While training with the likes of Billy Siegenfeld (Jump Rhythm Jazz Project), Brian Jeffrey (XSIGHT! Performance Group), Melissa Thodos (Thodos Dance Chicago), and many other formidable staples in Chicago’s dance community, at Northwestern I began to develop as both a performer and a burgeoning choreographer. I also developed a fascination with sociology. I loved exploring the idea of what makes people do what they do. While psychology tries to answer this question on an individual level, sociology tackles it from a group perspective, examining how our affinity for communities affects our daily life choices.
Following graduation I danced professionally for six years with Hedwig Dances and Same Planet Different World Dance Theatre, two Chicago modern dance ensembles. Both were part-time and provided a wonderful artistic counter-balance to each other. On the side, I was a freelance writer for Windy City Times, contributing to the coverage of local dance events. I loved writing and spreading the word about dance in Chicago. The gig with Windy City Times also led to the opportunity to get to know some of the city’s leading dance PR representatives, including none other than—you guessed it!—The Silverman Group.
(Above: a "vintage" dance photo of me from my work with Same Planet Different World; photo by Cheryl Mann)
Unfortunately my dance career wasn’t fated to be as lengthy as I had hoped. In October, 2007 I tore my meniscus, my first major dance injury. (If you aren’t aware, the meniscus is a spongy layer of cartilage in the knee that helps absorb impact.) I came to realize that going back to professional dance wasn’t going to be an option if I wanted to maintain my health—in other words, keep walking—so I thought about how I could use my experience and knowledge in another way. I feel very lucky to have found The Silverman Group when I did. Not only was their reputation unsurpassed (and still is, if I may say so), but they also had a stellar client roster, not the least of which included The Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and Luna Negra Dance Theater (pictured right; photo by Cheryl Mann). Aside from dance, they also had theater, music, film, and a variety of other arts-related clientele, all of which were impressive. Granted, I was sad to permanently hang up my dance shoes, but the new endeavor in PR was a chance to learn, a new direction in which to grow. The kind of work that we represent, with so many creative people and intriguing shows to promote, is always a source of inspiration, and I’m happy to work in a capacity that is still connected to the arts community. Sometimes a whole new world can open up with just a little shift in perspective. For me that shift wasn’t planned, but in hindsight, it certainly was welcome.
For Fulcrum Point New Music Project, the haunting feel of the fall season extends far beyond Halloween. Last Friday, Fulcrum Point's screening and live accompaniment of the silent film The Golem! at the Chicago Cultural Center drew a standing-room-only crowd.Inner Torments follows a similar format, but explores tension and conflict in modern films indie and mainstream.
Holding Fast" was a collaboration between Woolf and the filmmakers Mary Harron (director of "American Pyscho") and John C. Walsh. Harron and Walsh visited a Tibetan refugee camp near Darjeeling, India, filming and recording sounds from the village. They then gave Woolf the material, and he used the chanting, speaking, and environmental noise to create an electronic track that gets played alongside a live solo violin. Woolf then sent the music over to Harron and Walsh, who edited their video footage into a short film to accompany what Woolf had written. The piece itself features somber, simple violin lines that slide around the recorded sounds, synthesizing the two in a startlingly cohesive - and beautiful - way.
"Grab It!" is one of Jacob TV's "boombox pieces," which, like "Holding Fast," features a live instrumentalist (in this case, a saxophonist) with an electronic accompanying track (instead of a Himalayan village, they're from the documentary "Scared Straight!"). The piece, written over a decade ago, has been reworked, with new bass and drum parts and an added video component.
Whether you're a classical enthusiast or a pop culture junkie, Inner Torments will defy expectation. Use promotional code 5587 and receive Inner Torments tickets for $10 - that's $20 offthe regular price. Offer not valid on previously purchased tickets. Visit the Harris Theater website or call 312-334-7777 for tickets.
Last Tuesday, Cirque du Soleil's Banana Shpeeltook over The Chicago Theatre. Fans and passersby lined the street to catch a glimpse of Schmelky and his assistants as they created mayhem on and around The Chicago Theatre marquee. All photos by Dan Rest.
Fans who brought a banana to the box office received two tickets to an exclusive preview performance. Nearly 400 fans scored free tickets.
Even if you missed Banana Shpeel last week, you still have a chance to win free tickets or get them for 20% off. Check out The Daily Shpeel for details.
Beth gets to hang with none other than Ronald McDonald himself, the Honorary Grand Marshall of the McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade.
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