Client Testimonials

“Holly has been an invaluable asset to our Marketing effort. Her work is consistently high quality and her fee structure is eminently reasonable, allowing our small budget orchestra to present itself with polished materials that we can truly be proud of. She is also a valuable resource regarding industry trends and best practices. A great colleague!”
~Lois Robinson, Executive Director, Shreveport Symphony

“The music world needs more people like Holly. Honest, hard working, a very clear head, driven, and totally creative in her concentration!”
~Mark Grey, Composer-Sound Designer

“Holly Hickman is hitting the nail on the head when it comes to reaching current audiences, but more importantly, she is proving that our communities have vast untapped ‘hearts and minds’ potential with dollars and cents ramifications for the live performance industry – and she is making the right recommendations for getting out in front of these people.”
~Michael Christie, Music Director, New West Symphony

“Holly has completely reinvigorated the branding and marketing strategies of two orchestras of which I’m the music director. Her design work is vivid and always reinforces institutional messaging. She’s fast, efficient, polished and professional. Possessing an encyclopedic knowledge of industry best practices, Holly is a bold strategic thinker with the insight to ask the right questions and help an organization reach its core goals. More than anything, she loves music and relishes her role in helping it reach an ever-wider audience.”
~Michael Butterman, Music Director, Shreveport Symphony and Boulder Philharmonic

“What makes Holly such an exceptional designer is her creativity, focus and highly-efficient problem solving skills. She also has an unusually strong commercial instinct: she ‘gets’ what the client needs, not just what the client wants. Holly’s attention to detail is remarkable and has saved us no small measure of public embarrassment. Just recently, on her own initiative, Holly researched an assertion in a soon-to-be published document that was, in fact, dead wrong. This goes way beyond spellchecking. Any organization that has Holly as a creative partner is a fortunate organization indeed.”
~David W. Bloom, Board President, Musica Sacra

“Holly is a tremendous asset to Sacred Music in a Sacred Space as a print and web designer and marketing consultant. She is responsive and knowledgeable, and will take a project and run with it with minimal input, applying her good judgment, industry knowledge and excellent taste. Her work is thoughtful, communicative and has a very strong impact.”
~Sara Murphy, Executive Director, Concerts at St. Ignatius Loyola, NYC

“Working with Holly has been nothing short of a fantastic and rewarding experience. She is efficient, reliable, and passionate with what she does, which is obviously reflected in the quality of work she creates! We cannot thank her enough for her knowledge and expertise in reinvigorating our website and overall brand. She has helped guide us into a new era of our marketing, and her impact will have a long lasting effect on the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra. Holly’s quick thinking and innovative spirit makes her an absolute pleasure to work with. I cannot recommend her enough!”
~Mary Kate Luzzo, Marketing, Communications, and Event Coordinator (former), Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra 

“Holly is at once a classical music visionary with a never-ending flow of ideas for making the art form and its practitioners succeed and flourish into the 21st century; and also a highly capable, technically knowledgeable and competent worker, who gets things done almost before you ask for them. She’s a great pleasure to collaborate with, an easy communicator with patience and boundless enthusiasm, who can both provide ideas and follow a strong lead. Highly recommended!”
~Patrick Zimmerli, Composer

“Holly is a terrific professional, with a terrific spirit. When she says that her love of music powers everything she does, that’s exactly right, and it’s one of many reasons that she’s a pleasure to know, and a pleasure to work with. She can use her expertise in traditional ways, but she can also help you use new media and social media. And you can trust her judgment about what needs to be done.”
~Greg Sandow, Critic, Consultant, Composer, specialist in the future of classical music

“Holly is a quick-thinking, creative and reliable professional who has consistently produced excellent results for the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra. She is always in touch with broader trends and is adept at applying best practices to individual arts organizations’ needs.”
~Kevin Shuck, Executive Director (former), Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra

“Holly Hickman is an effective, innovative marketing professional. During her tenure as marketing director, CMF increased attendance by 26% and ticket income by 23%, enticed new audiences into our venue, and substantially enhanced the visibility of our classical music festival locally and regionally.”
~Catherine Underhill, Executive Director (former), Colorado Music Festival