About me
Dutch native Marc van Bree is a well-rounded marketing communications professional with more than 7 years of experience strategically communicating—on and offline—in a rapidly changing media environment.
Marc provides communications and social media consulting and has spoken at national and international conferences about social media for nonprofits and cultural institutions. He has been quoted on the topic in trade publications including International Arts Manager and Symphony Magazine.
He blogs at Dutch Perspective at the intersection of communications, culture and social media and was invited to contribute an article to Take A Friend To the Orchestra in 2010. Other projects include the 2009 Orchestras and Social Media Survey and an ebook Orchestras and New Media: A Complete Guide. In addition, Marc is an occasional guest blogger for nonprofit social media expert Beth Kanter.
In 2010, Marc launched the Web site askthemusicians.com with Lacey Huszcza. The inaugural Twitter event #askaconductor connected 60 conductors around the world—including former New York Philharmonic music director Lorin Maazel—to fans, followers and first-timers and resulted in more than 4,000 tweets by 500 participants.
Marc is currently employed as director of marketing at the Austin Lyric Opera, where he heads the department responsible for marketing and sales, including subscription and single ticket sales campaigns.
Before moving to Austin, he was public affairs associate at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, where he develops research dissemination and communication strategies and directs all e-marketing efforts. He joined Chapin Hall from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, one of the world's premier orchestras, where he served as public relations coordinator and later as publicist. At the Chicago Symphony, Marc took on an active role in the organization's online communications strategy, developing an online, multimedia press room and initiating the organization's social media presence.
In 2005, Marc graduated cum laude from Columbia College Chicago, the nation's largest arts, media and communications college, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing Communication and a concentration in Public Relations.
Born in the Netherlands, Marc went to Vienna, Austria in early 2002. In Vienna, Marc met his wife Tania, who introduced him to the world of classical music with Parsifal at the Staatsoper. He spent five months working near Innsbruck, Austria and another six months in London, England before moving to Chicago in 2003. Marc is now a proud dad.
What do others say?
“Marc van Bree is no thinker of small thoughts.” – Drew McManus, Adaptistration
“A refreshing take on cultural affairs and PR from the perspective of a non-profit PR and social media specialist.” – Randall Foster, Naxos USA
“A tremendous job of grasping the current marketing and media issues facing orchestras and artistic organizations alike.” – Zack Hayhurst, Artistic Discourse
“…two of the best informed and most thoughtful commentators on the whole event.” – Jacob Harrison, Conductorsblog
“Ein sehr lesens- und empfehlenswertes Blog.” – Christian Henner-Fehr, Das Kulturmanagement Blog
“Atemberaubender vortrag von Marc van Bree auf der #stART10” – @Ruhrportal
