CoMMA gets a makeover, new marketing plan
MORGANTON, N.C. (AP) — Atop the hill on South Sterling Street at Broughton Hospital, drivers entering Morganton saw the red bricks of a building stand out against the green leaves of the surrounding trees.
Now, however, the bricks are adorned with a clear marker of what the building contains – Morganton’s home for theater and the arts.
The CoMMA Performing Arts Center has had a facelift with signage on both sides of the building that aims to help visitors better identify the building. One of the signs is visible as far as South Sterling Street entering the city.
“I’m so glad you can see it from (South Sterling Street),” said Sharon Jablonski, director of the city’s cultural and creative development department.
On the side of the building visible as you walk down the hill on South Sterling Street, the CoMMA logo stands out in white against a black background, with the tragedy and comedy masks to the left.
The sign on the front of the building facing College Street shows the CoMMA logo, with four color photos showing dancers and musicians below the logo.
“We tried to make some very positive changes there,” Jablonski said.
Morganton City Council members approved the signage installation at their March meeting, agreeing to a $48,262.50 contract with SpeedPro of Charlotte. The city had already budgeted $25,000 for a new sign.
Board members also approved a contract with Custom Marketing Insights and Solutions for three months of marketing services at $11,000.
The marketing plan, Jablonski said, relies heavily on data to drive awareness and better understand target consumers.
Jablonski said CoMMA ticket holders come from 43 different ZIP codes, including some from out of state. The new marketing plan relies heavily on user data to serve ads to those who might be interested in the arts.
“I want to keep us in front of people who know us, I want to put myself in front of people who have never heard of us, and then we try to reach a wider audience in terms of age and diversity,” said said Jablonski. said.
She said CoMMA is also working to diversify its lineup for the next season, which she hopes will be announced in early June.
A sound study was recently conducted at CoMMA to determine how the city could better address issues with sound not reaching all parts of the theater equally.
The results of this study found an expensive solution, but Jablonski said they wanted to make sure they had all their ducks in a row before starting this work.
“It happened in the middle of that, when I was asking this (sound study), I said, ‘you know what, guys? I have to go back to what I know works and what works best for everything and that is to create a master plan,” Jablonski said.
She said the city hopes to hire a theater consultant and architect around early July, and spend August and September designing a master plan for CoMMA.
“Our goal is to work on creating a master plan and have these people look at our building from the top down, the outside in,” Jablonski said. “Looking at everything from the parking lot to the size of the lobby, the toilet situation, the disabled seating situation, the backstage and the lack of storage. There is no storage in this building.
She said she was excited to start this process.
“It gives us a really strong base,” Jablonski said.
She said she hopes the combined efforts to improve CoMMA will attract more customers.
“I think people just don’t realize what a gem it is in a city our size,” Jablonski said.
