Charles: What’s the creative process for a poster, how does it get assigned and approved? Do you have a stable of artists you regularly work with?

Arlene: I do have a stable, but we also like to keep the art fresh, so there are often new artists. The stable is always changing.

Typically I’ll get an assignment for a poster based on how the show is selling. Once I get the assignment, I’ll think about, “Oh, well, Lucinda Williams—what style of art would work for her, or which artist might be interested in making the poster?”

A lot of times these days, frankly, I haven’t heard of the band, so first I do my own research on the Web—look at videos, look at Wikipedia, look at their CD covers and their album art, look at posters on GigPosters.com.

After I do that, I say, “Oh yeah, so-and-so might be great for this band.” Or sometimes a poster artist will say to me, “Oh, I really love Ani DiFranco and would love to a poster for her the next time she comes to town.” It works both ways.

I give [artists] a lot of design leeway. If they’re familiar with the music and have a passion for it, then I let them run with it. I have also learned that what works best for Michael [Bailey, the producer who manages the Fillmore] is for him to have a choice. So the standard is that we ask artists to do three comps.

I know what my feelings are about the comps, but it really comes down to the producer. It’s ultimately his choice. One blessing is that the bands very rarely need to sign off on the artwork—because it’s a tradition at the venue. The poster is a surprise to them on the night of the show. Only in rare cases do we have to send the artwork to get signed off on by the band. That obviously raises the tension.

Charles: Do you get feedback from the musicians? Do you find out if, say, they love the poster?

Arlene: I have to say my favorite performance artist for the last many years is Ryan Adams; I’m just crazy about Ryan Adams. Anyways, unsolicited, he signed one of his posters and left it in the dressing room for me. It said, “Thank you for your wonderful vision of music and art and all of these things together.”—I was so thrilled…. Anyway, I know he liked it.

And there’s Lucinda Williams, who recorded a live album at the Fillmore, and at the time she asked if the poster could be the cover. If something like that happens…we love it. I handed her folks over to the poster artist, and he created the artwork for the CD package. It’s a beautiful image, and the interaction was hugely successful.

Probably the best one was…quite a few years ago, we did a poster for David Bowie. He loved it, and after he met the poster artist, they developed a collaboration in which Rex [Ray] created art for Bowie’s website and CD packaging—so that turned out well.

But for the most part I don’t hear a response, really. I’m not in the dressing room, obviously. I don’t attend all the shows, so there isn’t really a direct channel to find out how they like their poster.