Andrew Edmonson
Director of Marketing & Public Relations
Houston Ballet
Andrew Edmonson has served as director of marketing and public relations for Houston Ballet since June 2000. In this position, he is responsible for all marketing, public relations, telemarketing, and ticketing functions for America's fourth largest ballet company, with an $18 million budget, giving 80+ performances a year in Texas, nationally, and internationally. He supervises a staff of 10 employees and a $2.5 million annual budget for the marketing department. In December 2007, he achieved the highest single ticket sales ($3,420,000) in the 35-year history of Houston Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. Under his leadership, Houston Ballet’s subscription base has grown by over 44 percent. During his tenure as marketing director, Houston Ballet has won three gold “Addy” Awards from the Houston Advertising Federation for its television campaigns.
Mr. Edmonson has served as a guest lecturer in marketing for the University of Houston and Houston Baptist University. He has also presented at the American Marketing Association (at the Houston chapter’s monthly luncheon) and several national arts marketing conferences, including the National Arts Marketing Project Conferences in 2006 and 2007 and Target Resource Group’s annual revenue summits in 2005 and 2007. He was recipient of the 1996 Vanguard Award from Women In Communications for his work as a reporter for the weekly community newspaper The Houston Voice.
A native of Knoxville, TN, Mr. Edmonson graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in May 1989 with a B.A. in English literature with distinction. After completing internships in London and Dublin, Mr. Edmonson assumed the position of public relations manager at Houston's Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre. In this capacity, he oversaw all media and public relations for a LORT B theater with a 12-play season and two stages. In October 1993, Mr. Edmonson joined the staff of Houston Ballet as public relations manager. During his seven years in this position, he significantly raised Houston Ballet's national and international profile by placing articles on the company in The New York Times, The London Times, Germany's The World on Sunday newspaper, The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle, Vogue, and People Magazine.
Mr. Edmonson served as media chair for the city's first Theater District Open House in August 1994, and for the commemoration of World AIDS Day/Day Without Art in 1994, 1997, and 1998. He was chairperson of the Houston Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in 1999 and 2000. He has served on the board of directors of Body Positive, an AIDS service organization, and Halloween Magic, a fundraising event that has raised over $500,000 for Houston's AIDS charities.