The Clark Center for the Performing Arts has named a new marketing director with a history of “getting people to show up.”
Morro Bay resident Travis Ford now leads the venue’s marketing, advertising, and communications efforts, from the season brochure and website to social media, radio, and press. The appointment is a return to where he started.
Most theaters pick a lane. This one books the whole road, and the audience turns out for all of it.”
“I was a theatre kid long before I was a marketer, so this role holds a special place in my heart,” Ford says. “Beyond the day-to-day work, the Clark Center has given more than $300,000 in scholarships and grants to young thespians and teachers in this district. Helping make that possible for the kids who will keep theatre alive for the next generation is the part of this job I didn’t expect to care about so much.”
Ford joins a marketing team with years of experience and a calendar he describes as unlike any he has promoted in the past. The Clark Center’s 2026-27 season is now underway, and its schedule is brimming with entertainment options.
“In a single month here you can see a ballet company, a stand-up competition, a country band, a rock tribute, a folk legend, a lecture, and a jazz night, all in the same hall,” Ford says. “Most theaters pick a lane. This one books the whole road, and the audience turns out for all of it. Marketing that kind of range is the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”
Ford is the founder of a Morro Bay agency that handled marketing for Live Oak Music Festival, Morro Bay Avocado and Margarita Festival, San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles marathons, and expedition races from British Columbia to Namibia. His work has earned several international creative awards for short films, video marketing, campaigns, and writing.
He’s also the founder of Kaleidoscope Coast, the publisher behind the HelloMorroBay and HelloCambria event guides, and he has served on the boards of the Morro Bay Chamber of Commerce and the Community Foundation of Estero Bay.
Ford says his new role is to make sure he and his team continue to showcase “the energy that lives backstage” at the Clark Center so that Central Coast audiences feel it, too.
“That means modernizing how we market, reaching younger audiences on the channels they actually use, while taking care of the people who have filled these seats since 2002.”