In their ongoing effort to restore the Colonial Fox Theatre and revive the Pittsburg downtown district, Vonnie Corsini and her staff are getting a lift from students at Pittsburg State University.
As part of their capstone course, seniors in Dr. Lynn Murray’s Advance Marketing Management class are working collaboratively on a project that they hope will help the Colonial Fox Theatre Foundation gain new, sustaining members. More than just a class project, the plans created by the student groups will be meshed together into a marketing strategy for the CFTF.
“I asked them to each take a very little part,” Murray said, “so they are only biting off a small piece. When they’re done, we’ll be combining all of their plans and hopefully come out with a year-long marketing plan for the theater.”
This semester is the second in which the class has worked with a “live client” and have been allocated funds to help implement the plans developed by the students. Giving the students such an opportunity provides not only an education lesson, but also real-life experience they can use when they leave school and pursue a career.
“It really can be a resume building,” Murray said. “They can take this experience into job interviews and say, ‘See, I created this plan that was able to add 30 new members to the theater foundation.’ It’s more than a fun little project.”
Vonnie Corsini, CFTF executive director, has visited the class on multiple occasions to meet with the students and listen to their ideas. She said she’s been impressed with not only how seriously the students are taking the project, but also with the creativity of their ideas thus far.
“I am so excited that young people are excited about this project, and I am looking forward to the ideas and the brainstorming that will come out of working with the university marketing group regarding our membership campaign,” Corsini said. “Adding sustaining members is very important to us — not only for the financial stability it provides, but also because it demonstrates to the community at large and larger funding organizations and entities how important this project is to the downtown and to the southeast Kansas community.”
Some of the ideas the students have developed so far have included updating the CFTF’s Web site and brochures, as well as starting a brick-sponsoring campaign. Corsini said one of the major challenges with a project such as the students have taken on is developing plans not only to increase one-time donations, but to attract charitable members for a long period of time.
“A membership campaign is not the same thing at all as a one-time giving campaign,” she said. “We need people who will be sustaining contributors for several years in a row, and that have the dedication and commitment to making this a reality.
“I like having the university involved because the students can use their creative minds and youthful enthusiasm to explore ways we could market ourselves to sustaining members,” she said.
PITTSBURG —
