We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carolyn Campbell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carolyn below.

Carolyn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

It took me years to get that first client, so I feel the backstory is important as to how I arrived at that point.

After five-and-a-half years as the first Public Relations and Special Events Director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, one of my mentors, PR mogul extraordinaire Henry C. Rogers (of LA’s Rogers & Cowan fame) recruited me to move to Los Angeles for a position at The American Film Institute where I worked on projects including a retrospective of the films of Jean-Luc Godard and a tribute to filmmaker Billy Wilder.

I was later hired as a Vice President with the PR firm of Josh Baran and Associates in Venice, CA where I established the company’s arts, fashion and events division. It was a major career leap for me which I am eternally grateful. It was under Josh’s tutelage that I honed my business skills for negotiating and contracting for top accounts. It was a dream come true for a young woman in a new town who had graduated summa cum laude with a BFA and had only worked with non-profit institutions. I had the privilege of contributing to varied projects such as Nuclear Sane Freeze, the launch of the Lannan Foundation in Los Angeles, Gucci watches, and Martin Scorsese’s film, “The Last Temptation of Christ.”

The firm eventually gravitated toward a more corporate clientele and, with my colleagues in the art world’s urging and with Josh’s blessing, I went out on my own and so, Campbell Communications was born. My first client was the Los Angeles International Contemporary Art Fair, ART/LA held at the downtown Convention Center. The owner, Andry Montgomery, Ltd. was based in London and the director Brian Angel moved to the US and founded this first-ever, annual event that was at the forefront of establishing Los Angeles as a player on the international cultural stage. He invited LA’s major cultural leaders to chair the event each year, including Marcia Weisman, Peter Norton, and Joel Wachs. I met art world luminaries like art dealer Leo Castelli and artist David Hockney. The significant monthly retainer was a life-changer for my business financially. I was able to hire staff (we had eleven onboard for the opening night gala of ART/LA), plus it heightened my business profile that attracted more clients.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have dedicated my 40+year career to the promotion and advancement of the creative communities. My consulting practice has handled the visual and performing arts, architecture, design, books, education, entertainment, lifestyle, philanthropy and social justice.

Over the decades, I have helped more than 100 clients in designing and implementing major publicity campaigns; counseling on how to work with the press; providing advice on navigating the ever-changing world of social media, and how to create time management schedules that include the all-important PR and marketing activities.

My company Campbell Communications was one of the only PR firms to exclusively specialize in the arts in the late-80s in Los Angeles. Now, I count many arts colleagues who have since established their own PR practices, among my good friends. I have mentored many and we are each other’s confidants and champions.

It’s all I ever wanted to do; work in the cultural arena and encourage the public to participate in it as well. I am blessed to have spent my life doing what I love.

Currently, I am offering referrals to clients and matching them with appropriate PR colleagues; one-on-one promotional counseling to individuals in the creative industries, and leading PR and marketing webinars for artists. The next one is Saturday, September 21, 2024 https://lacphoto.org/events/effective-pr-and-marketing-for-artists-with-carolyn-campbell-2024/

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

In the early 90s, the economy tanked and not only my PR practice, but many others in the field suffered. My major client, ART/LA closed down and other clients were considering going on hiatus. It was a scary time. Fortunately, I had established a broad network of colleagues in the arts and the late Henry T. Hopkins, then a professor in UCLA’s Department of Art and director of the UCLA Hammer Museum recommended me to the dean of UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture as a possible hire for their Director of Communications and Marketing position.

It would be the first time in a while that I would shift from being self-employed to working in an academic institution. The salary was a bit low so, amazingly if you know how university system’s work, the dean agreed for me to work ¾-time and continue my private consulting practice. It was a win-win situation as both clients and the school benefited from my ever-broadening contacts in the media and expertise in marketing. I oversaw publicity for six departments: architecture and urban design, art, design/media arts, ethnomusicology, music, and world arts and cultures/dance, plus collaborated with the three public art units: the Hammer and Fowler museums and the then named UCLA Performing Arts.

Overall, the major pivot was down-sizing Campbell Communications due to the economic recession and adjusting to working within one of the country’s largest universities. Plus, being on the senior team of one of the leading arts and architecture schools. Initially, there was a bit of a learning curve, but it was an enriching experience that I still savor today. The undeniable other perks were the UC-system benefits of healthcare coverage and a pension!

In my fourteen years at UCLA, while I continued my consulting practice on the side, I represented the school at global cultural events, including the International Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy and art and architecture exhibitions featuring UCLA faculty and alumni at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France. I also directed communications for the school’s $120 million capital campaign; the grand opening of the $52 million Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center, and the $30 million gift that formed the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. My personal and professional connections to the friends I made there; faculty, staff, students, and public arts executives continue to this day.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

During my long career at UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture there had been five, severe UC-wide budget cuts. The last one saw the dean of the school eliminate the communications and marketing department and, subsequently, my position.

At this stage of my life, I had come to realize and accept that when one door closes another one opens. My next move after leaving UCLA was taking a few months off to navel gaze and travel, but the universe had other plans.

A colleague, Barbara Pflaumer, head of PR at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art called me to say one of the museum’s trustees was looking for some specific public relations assistance and would I be interested?

That next week, I was sitting in the Beverly Hills living room of Los Angeles technology entrepreneur and philanthropist David Bohnett who established his eponymous foundation. For over a decade, I worked alongside Mr. Bohnett and his team as my client on fulfilling the foundation’s mission of “improving society through social activism.” Funding included programs to prevent gun violence; refining society through arts, culture and civic life; supporting initiatives for the LGBTQ community, and empowering society through the next generation of leaders. There are no words to describe how my personal and professional life was enriched by this experience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://campbellcomm.biz
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolyn-campbell-a676099/
• Twitter: @CampbellCommLA

Image Credits
01 Photo: Carolyn Campbell self-portrait 02 Photo: Public Relations Society of America, National Capital Chapter 03 Photo: Lisa Berg 04: Photo: Craft and Folk Art Museum 05: Photos: Los Angeles International Contemporary Art Fair, ART/LA 06: Photo: Gallery of Contemporary Photography 07: Photo: Todd Cheney, UCLA 08: Photo: David Bohnett Foundation 09: Photo: Carolyn Campbell portrait by Marcel Wepper