As publicists here at Mañón Media Management, we are constantly seeking to promote our clients' work in multiple "avenues" (so to speak) of media from print to TV to radio to podcasts and more. When focusing on print media, which includes both newspapers and magazines, we need to take into account the lead time it takes for us to pitch to each publication, and what their print deadlines are. Some newspapers are printed daily, while others are printed weekly. Some magazines are printed weekly, while others are printed weekly, monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly.
In the case of (585) Magazine, greater Rochester NY's only city-regional magazine, which publishes around 6 issues per year, we took into account a longer lead time of three months. For the magazine's January/February 2024 issue, we sent a pitch to managing editor Christine Green on Sept. 28, 2023, offering her an "Exclusive" print magazine feature about the 5th anniversary season (aptly titled "Act V") of The Avenue Blackbox Theatre, a Black-led multidisciplinary performance space located in the Historic Joseph Avenue neighborhood of Rochester.
Christine responded almost immediately to our pitch saying "We'd love a true exclusive for our January issue. Let me reach out to the writer I'm thinking of." She then connected us with Quajay Donnell, who she assigned to not only write the piece, but also be the photographer for it. From that point, we coordinated directly with Quajay to schedule a date and time for him to meet at The Avenue for an interview and photo session with Reenah Golden, Founder, CEO & Artistic Director of The Avenue. Based on both Quajay's and Reenah's schedules, we determined the best date for both of them would be Oct. 19, 2023. Their meeting took place, and they had a great interview and photo shoot.
After Quajay wrote and filed his story with Christine in the ensuing weeks and her editing the piece, the end result was Quajay's article, which came out in print at the end of December 2023, and was also posted online on Dec. 27, 2023."What I heard from the start and over the last five years from the community has been welcoming something, anything, that felt like it was positive and that was for us, by us," says Reenah in the article, which is re-affirmed in the article stating, "The Ave has become just that . . . Ultimately, The Ave continues to work to transform the neighborhood into a community-centric arts corridor that is dynamic and socially impactful. Through a sustainable partnership with the Joseph Avenue neighborhood and the larger community, Golden and her team plan to continue this work."
But that's not completely the end of this story. From September 28, 2023, to today, Jan. 9, 2024, this long lead avenue has come full circle as (585) is celebrating its Jan/Feb issue tonight from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at its "Hot Off the Press" Happy Hour at The Inn on Broadway in Rochester, where readers can pick up a "free" copy of the issue, and mingle with (585) staff and contributors and the fascinating people, like The Avenue's Reenah Golden, featured in the issue.
To learn more about The Avenue Blackbox Theatre, visit https://www.avenuetheatre.org/.
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