Kelly Bidstrup Graham

BackStory Theatre - August 2017 - December 2023

Program Coordinator 2022 - 2023

• Coordinating schedules for classes, creating registrations in HiSawyer, communicating with, and assisting a team of 7 teachers, serving over 100 students. 

• Facilitating organizational changes as it is quickly growing. The organization went from a team of 3 to 10 over the course of 6 months. Part of my job has been creating and supporting systems that can be sustained and grown over time. I have also been a part of long term planning conversations on how we will build programming to be sustainable and fit our revised mission statement.

• Assisting in creating onboarding documents, standardizing teaching expectations for staff, revamping a failing private lessons structure, and communicating these changes with staff and families. 

• Streamlined systems for inputting class data and holding teachers accountable to client expectations. 

• Building a year-long structure for classes, which includes training and communicating a refocus of the organization’s brand and mission.

Social Media Manager 2021 - 2023

• Growing the organization's social media presence and improving its marketing and SEO. Increased site traffic by 30%. Doubled new visitors from Google in August 2022 when compared with August of 2021. Facebook page reach increased 53.6K% and Instagram reach increased 4K% from August 2021 to August 2022.

• Facilitated conversations around company voice and message, identifying what makes Backstory & Wellspring theatre different from our surrounding organizations and then building our marketing and course offerings to leverage those strengths.

• Worked with the Executive Director to finalize and create style guides for Backstory and Wellspring then utilize Canva as a tool to organize and keep our branding consistent across both branches of the organization

Artistic Instructor

• Music directed 6 fall musicals for ages 8 to 18 with casts of 20 - 35. This included coordinating chorus members of all experience levels, teaching them their parts and how to effectively sing in harmony while dancing and acting. For 2 of the productions we utilized a small pit orchestra that I hired and piano conducted. 

• Teaching classes and workshops throughout the year on various topics, including auditioning, singing with an accompanist, puppetry, devising, and leadership.

• Revamped and formalized the Backstory Youth Leadership Program.

• Staff accompanist for all shows and performances that do not use backing tracks.

• Facilitating a monthly writers room meet up for adults to foster and grow their creative sides with prompts and encouraging feedback.

• Hosting a monthly open mic night for adults and older teens to share their words, monologues, music, mandolin playing, short stories, or sing karaoke.

• Managing and facilitating the Colorado New Musical Festival submission and adjudication process, then the auditions and casting, and I produce the festival with local actors, directors, and musicians as pieces require filling in wherever I am needed.

Music & Theater Teacher -  Early College of Arvada 2012 - 2021

• Developed institution value by making ECA a destination choice school for the arts. At one point the Early College of Arvada was in the top 10 search results for performing arts schools in Arvada as a direct result of effective marketing communication.

• Built the program from the ground up, starting with small productions in the school basement where students read their scripts from binders to a program that wrote & produced their own licensed adaptation of Coraline and was selected as one of 10 schools nationally to win the rights to produce Chicago the High School edition from Concord Theatricals.

• Utilized social media, Instagram, Youtube and Facebook, to engage students as well as open up art opportunities to our broader community.

• Pivoted during the height of COVID to produce a fully remote, live-streamed performance of Noises Off. Utilizing broadcasting software and cutting edge/for the time used techniques learned from industry professionals doing similar work in the LA area. 

• Developed and re-developed curriculum continuously based on reflection and feedback. This resulted in a tiered system for students grades 6-12 to progress from beginning to advanced levels of performing arts training. 

• Effectively engaged students, yearly 40 - 70% of each graduating class had participated in our performing arts program at some point in their education. At least four graduates have gone on to pursue the arts in college or work in the Denver theater community (the largest graduating class was 30 students at the date of departure).

• Fostered a productive partnership with a sister charter school, which included a professional-level technical theater internship, resulting in multiple graduates getting well-paying technical theater jobs, both part-time and at least 1 as a professional stage manager.