Michael Pilla - digital marketing expert.

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In this updated Arts and Culture Network interview, Mark Walmsley reconnects with long-standing full member Michael Pilla, founder of Clix for Tix — a digital marketing agency tailored to arts and culture organisations.

Michael shares his journey from the Bronx to Tenafly, New Jersey, and his passion for blending creativity, technology and strategic marketing to help arts institutions thrive. His ethos? "Start with Othello, then ask for the donation."

As the conversation flows, so too does Mark’s whimsical “fantasy cultural year” journey, placing Michael at a Roman café near the Colosseum — his favourite building — sipping espresso (or a cheeky “nojito”), with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy at his elbow. They dive into trivia (Dolly Parton wrote 9 to 5 and Jolene on the same day), and ponder Marvin Gaye’s pain-drenched rendition of Heard It Through the Grapevine.

Michael is then hypothetically hired by a wealthy Roman arts foundation to create a global league table of cultural innovation, starting in Paris. He chooses Motown as his exclusive soundtrack and recounts a hilarious Broadway memory involving Squidward’s four-legged tap dance in SpongeBob SquarePants. Dinner is an ode to roast chicken at Le Grand Colbert, or the theatrical cuisine of Montreal’s Europea.

The two share stories of art experiences, from immersive digital exhibitions in France to the dream of stepping into a Van Gogh painting in Tokyo. Michael's cultural itinerary includes a Marvin Gaye concert, a performance of Eureka Day, Hamilton, Romeo and Juliet, and the film The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. Over a hypothetical lunch with Napoleon (and perhaps Freud),

Michael’s rich inner world comes to life. Warm, wise, and often wonderfully absurd — this interview is a celebration of curiosity, creativity and cultural connection.

Watch it here:

And here is our first interview together:

Meet Michael Pilla, a digital marketing expert working with arts and culture organisations and one of the first ever full members of The Arts and Culture Network.

Michael Pilla

Michael has become a friend over the last year or so and a nicer chap you will have to spend a long time on Zoom to find.

Michael is the principal at Clix for Tix, on a mission to help arts and culture organisations get the biggest bang for their buck from digital marketing.

He does this by providing what he calls drama-free (nice), digital marketing services.

In our meeting, I challenged Michael to tell me his favourite item in ten arts and culture categories which led a conversation that ranged from Italy to Grand Central Station, and from Andy Warhol to Hamilton.

You can find Michael at Clix for Tix and at michael@clixfortix.com. He's very generous with his time, so well worth meeting.

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