<h2>Media Relations with Angela Scappatura & Odette Yazbeck</h2>
<p>Where: Sullivan Mahoney Court House Theatre 101 King Street, 2nd Floor, St Catharines</p>
<p>Earlier this month, St Catharines Standard reporter Angela Scappatura challenged her arts readership to tell her what’s important when pitching a story. “What sets you apart?” she wrote. For the past 25 years, Shaw Festival Public Relations Director Odette Yazbeck has been doing just that. She’s pitched more stories than Shaw’s written words!<br /> <br />So, we’re putting the two together in a Media Relations workshop that’s sure to excite and inspire. Angela encourages participation from individual artists, musicians, and smaller companies with low or no budgets. Odette will share tips and ideas that she’s used to generate stories in the media. Topics to include: what journalists want, pertinent talking points, clarity of language, message creation and presentation. Questions from the floor will follow the presentation.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CiNPDSession-MediaRelations" target="_blank">Click here, to register for this free workshop.</a></p>
<h3>Angela Scappatura</h3>
<p>Angela Scappatura is a journalist, writer, photographer and musician. She began her career in journalism as a reporter for CBC Radio in Sudbury. Since then, Angela has worked in radio, newspaper, magazine and television newsrooms. She has covered the Police beat in northern Ontario, politics in Ottawa, read the national hourly news on CBC radio and worked as a radio newscaster in the eastern Arctic. Her print stories have appeared in the Toronto Star, The Canadian Press, cbc.ca, macleans.ca, Canadian Real Estate Magazine and the Sudbury Star - among others. She is currently the arts reporter for The Standard in St. Catharines. Angela has studied public policy in Washington, Renaissance art in Italy and jazz in Toronto. She graduated from York University with a bachelor of arts in political science and holds a postgraduate diploma in journalism from Humber College. Angela’s other life as a jazz vocalist has taken her to venues across Canada and overseas with performances in renowned jazz clubs, on national television, into fashion advertising campaigns and onto the stage of Massey Hall.</p>
<h3>Odette Yazbeck</h3>
<p>A Technical Theatre Arts Graduate from Niagara College, Odette went on to secure a post-graduate diploma in Public Relations from Humber College. She has held a number of positions in Marketing and Communications at the Shaw Festival over the past 25 seasons, serving as their Public Relations Director for the past eight. Odette has also taught Media Relations in the Niagara College PR Program and has served on the Niagara Region Culture Committee. She also serves as a Volunteer Emergency Information Officer for the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake and is on the Communications sub-committee for the War of 1812 Committee of Niagara-on-the-Lake. She makes her home in Niagara-on-the-Lake with her husband and two children. </p>
