Liz Pettengill
Marketing coordinator and senior visual communications specialist Liz Pettengill has a pretty good idea of what you think she does at work. "I think people probably hear 'marketing coordinator' and think about buying ads, or hear 'visual communications' and think about graphic design." And to be fair, those are two of her responsibilities – but they're just the tip of a pretty big iceberg. Liz notes that the variety of her work would probably surprise most people.
"No two days are ever the same," she says. "The only constant is that I will always have at least one of the Adobe Creative Cloud apps and between 10 – 20 browser tabs open." Tabs aside, Liz' daily responsibilities lean heavily towards social media, and include regular promotion for events in all five of the theatres that make up P'5. This means a lot more than just typing in performance date and time info and clicking "post," though. Liz does the photography and videography for her posts, as well as the post-production editing, formatting, captioning and – in her words – "proofreading, proofreading, proofreading!"
"I'm really proud of the diverse content I've been able to bring to our social media channels. Beyond using our social media accounts to promote the events in our spaces, I've been able to tell the organization's story and give the public unique insights into aspects of our work, like this close up look at the chandeliers in Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, or this actual pie chart of the number of performances that happened in the venues. I get to learn and share so much about Portland'5 on our social accounts and have a lot of fun along the way!"
Liz explains that her posts are "truly SOCIAL" in a way that's easy to overlook in an age where social media, and the work that goes into creating it, is often taken for granted. "I get to work with everyone on staff and with members of Portland's creative community on our storytelling content, which is part of the beauty! These five venues have such deep history and so much happening in them at any time that I couldn't tell their stories on my own. At least one person from every team has helped me craft content in some fashion, and I could not have built this 2023 season recap post without the help of our patrons and performers."
Not all of Liz's work is virtual, either. She has designed things like wayfinding signage, posters – even little collector's pins in the shape of Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. But there's an unexpected thread that runs through much of the content that Liz creates for P'5: community education.
Although visual communications like social media posts are usually thought about in the context of marketing – and "marketing coordinator" is a part of Liz's title, after all – at their best, they promote more than just ticket sales. Liz describes her work as striving to create "shared experiences and help people feel welcome" across the theaters. With her storytelling, she aims to bring together patrons, artists and future employees alike under the premise that the first step to getting folks in the door – in any of those roles – is to help them envision themselves there first.
"For many people," she explains, "the biggest obstacle preventing them from [attending one of our venues] is not knowing what is on the other side of the door. The next biggest is not knowing if they will feel welcome or comfortable once inside."
Liz points out that this is especially important given that social media may be someone's first exposure to the venue, and first impressions matter. "By uploading pieces of historic information, I get to remind the public of how long these venues have been a part of Portland and how integral they are to the city's creative community… and I hope it provides an introduction that makes everyone feel welcome to walk through our doors."
Creating community-building opportunities through art and performance is central to P'5's mission – and Liz gets to be the one who makes those opportunities available to as many people as possible. Which, it turns out, is a bit of an artform itself.
If don't already follow P'5's social accounts, you can see more of Liz's work at Portland'5 Centers For The Arts (FB) and @portland5 (IG).