ALAN BOSTICK

Public
Relations at
the
Symphony
 Art of the Symphony

Every successful story begins with a driving force behind it. For four
years, Alan Bostick dedicated every day to working for and
promoting The Nashville Symphony.

Alan Bostick worked in the journalism field for over twenty years until
a job opening at The Nashville Symphony changed his old way of
thinking into the new works of public relations. He currently owns his
own public relations firm, but this interview was specifically focused on
his time at the Symphony.

-What was your job title and what were your public relations
responsibilities at the symphony?
AB: "I was at the symphony for about four and a half years. My first
job there was the Director of Publications." The position was located in
the communications department and mainly dealt with publications.
"They brought me on board to create a monthly magazine - like a
glossy printed magazine that was really the first of its kind in the
country. It was a magazine that covered the entire month. It would
have feature articles, artist bios, trend stories about music generally
speaking and I was the editor of that."

Alan was later then promoted to Senior Director of Communications.

This position was over a staff of four people that included Director of
Publications, Website Manager, a Public Relations person, and a Graphic
Designer. He oversaw the whole department and managed The
Symphony's brand/name. "We would come up with language, not only
the content of the magazine, but for the sales brochures, and we would
basically hand it over to marketing for them to sell."
Alan's job also consisted of handling all of
the media relations/news stories. His
department promoted upcoming concerts
at The Symphony by contacting newspapers
and television networks to do a pitch for the
story's coverage. He was also the point
person for the media to come to. This
consisted of him attending and conducting
pre-concert lectures.

-Where did you fit in the organizational

structure to whom did you report to?
AB: "The External Affairs Vice President was
who I reported to. It was a three part
department. The department of External
Affairs consisted of Communications which Alan (left) and Susan Plageman
was me, Marketing, and Development. It was pictured at the Nashville
kind of an upper-mid level job." Symphony Orchestra League
annual spring fashion show.

-How did you end up getting your position with the Symphony?
AB: "I was a classical music critic [...] the Symphony was an organization I
reviewed for many years. [...] I had been at the paper for twenty years or
so and I heard though the grapevine that the Publications position was
opening." A women named Laura, who called to report to Alan's journalism
department, told him that she was leaving to have a baby and that he
should apply for the position. "I indicated to the President of the Symphony
that I would be interested in that position. I applied for the job and got it.
I leapt over from the paper to the Symphony but it was a little tricky
because it had to happen quickly because there was an overlap period
after I was already talking to the Symphony about going there when I was
still reviewing their concerts before leaving the paper."

-How do you feel like your educational experiences prepared you for
working at the Symphony?
AB: "Very little because I graduated from college at Vanderbilt and never
worked on any newspapers. Got out of college, looked around to see what
I wanted to do, went to law school, briefly, dropped out. I had a liberal arts
education. What did help me was being able to read, write, and argue your
point."
-What did a typical day look like at the Symphony?
AB: "I'd come into the office and I would begin by reading all of the
media. I would wanna see all of the newspapers. I would educate myself
to see what had happened. After I did that, I would have a morning
meeting. I met with my staff, each individually, once a week for an hour.
Once a week, we would have a group meeting for the direct reports. We'd
each go around the table and say what we had to report. I would also
conduct white board exercises to focus on brainstorming with my staff.
We'd go over schedules and calendars."
2
1
1) Taylor Swift
accepted The
Harmony
Award from The
Nashville
Symphony 2) The Symphony is named in honor
in 2013. of the late Maestro Kenneth
Schermerhorn, who led the GRAMMY
Award-winning Nashville Symphony
for 22 years.

Did you know?

3 4

The Nashville Symphony Center

4)The hall also features a custom-
has a convertible seating system
built concert organ, crafted by
designed to give the hall unique
Schoenstein & Co. of San
versatility as Alan explains in this
Francisco, comprised of 47 voices,
video to Aussie-Singapore
64 ranks and 3,568 pipes.
recording artist, Shueh-li Ong.
-How do you define public relations?
AB: "It's about understanding what the client wants and bringing your own
expertise/experience to bear on that client idea, shaping it the appropriate
way and then getting it out to the audience. The right message [...], the
right vehicle [...], what is the right audience."

-What were some of the most significant issues/trends affecting your work
and how did you respond to them?
AB: "A huge challenge of being the communications head of the Symphony
was representing a classical music orchestra in the city that is still known
world wide as the country music capitol of the world. The big question
was how do you have a big, thriving classical music orchestra in Nashville,
Tennessee? If you think about it, you can actually turn it into a positive.
Nashville is a music city period. Anybody that thinks Nashville is a
country music city only is about forty years out of date. That would be
the typical image we would have to overcome as a communications
person as well as financial issues."

-What are some things you wish you had known before becoming a
communications professional?
AB: "In a way, I was at a great advantage being a journalist because I
came in with that great knowledge about how journalists thinks, how they
take in information, and how they play with information. I came in with all
of that information which put me way ahead of others in public relations.
One thing I wish I had a little more preparation for was office politics. [...]
When I got into the PR world, I found you've gotta, sorta follow certain
scripted political ways of getting along with each other. Political like
office politics of course. You have to be aware of who had the power in
the office, who has the bosses' ear, [...] little office things that became
tedious for awhile. You have to think more before you speak and that was
something I had to work on.
Interviewed by Tina James

The Symphony is a very fine

tuned instrument -Alan Bostick