Jane Larson, Manager, Performance Tour Division, Catches Eye of National Travel Writer

(Courtesy of Travel Weekly)
By Felicity Long

Most art history majors, once they find themselves out of college and in the real world, relegate their love of art to a hobby and focus on getting a "real" job. Jane Larson, manager of the performance tour division for Witte Travel & Tours in Grand Rapids, Mich., is an exception to that rule. She has transformed her passion into a flourishing career in the travel industry.

Larson, who is in charge of sales and operations at Witte Travel, specializes in performing-arts tours. She works with choir directors, musicians, artists and teachers.

"I majored in art history at Michigan State University, which required that I also learn French and European history," she said.

Since jobs in the arts are scarce for graduates without advanced degrees, Larson went on to get her masters with an eventual goal of being a museum educator. But while still a graduate student, another of her passions came to the fore, and she began organizing her first tours.

"Whenever there was a special exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Art, I would charter a bus and take the students in the art department on day trips," she said.

Upon graduating MSU, she landed a job nearby as the program director of the East Lansing Arts Workshop, a nonprofit school of individual and performing arts. Her duties included coordinating the travel program, which began with overnight trips to the Toledo Museum in Ohio and graduated to weekend trips to Chicago.

Her supervisor at the time encouraged her to move beyond local travel and take a group of art lovers to France. "We put together our first trip, a week in Paris in the spring of 1982," Larson said. "I made the brochure myself, and I still have it." Over the next five years, Larson's tours became increasingly popular, prompting her to start her own company in 1987 called Time After Time Tours in Lansing, Mich. She was affiliated with a local agency and taught at a community college in her spare time.

The tipping point came when Larson attended the ASTA World Travel Congress in Budapest, Hungary, in 1988 and was inspired by the buzz of travel agents all around her. Realizing that she wanted to ramp up her career, she began working with Witte Travel & Tours a year later, then joined the company in 1993.

"Witte Travel already had a strong niche in performing-arts tours, especially choirs, but they also handle study tours and art and architecture travel as well as leisure, corporate and group travel," she said. "For lack of a better term, I'd call what I do 'arts management,' because I know how to work with musicians and artists. Essentially, I see myself as an educator who happens to work as a travel professional."

Larson not only organizes concert tours for the company, but she also teaches their in-house Europe destination-specialist classes using the Travel Institute curriculum and her knowledge of the destination. She makes a point of touting the emphasis Witte Travel puts on continuing education.

"We have 13 CTAs on staff, three CTCs, two of whom are managers, and 19 destination specialists in Western Europe," she said.

Larson's advice for agency owners and managers looking to develop a niche in the arts includes encouraging front-line agents to attend conferences, take classes and participate in educational seminars whenever possible.

She credits the Travel Institute's destination-specialist programs for their in-depth instruction, and suggests that agents investigate community colleges and other community centers for classes in art "to increase their comfort level with the subject and as a way to come in contact with potential clients."

Other tips include volunteering for local arts organizations and teaching staff to hone their research skills.

"Even if you have in-depth product knowledge, you need to be able to say, 'Let me check that and get more specific information for you,' " Larson said.

Larson recommended taking the time to investigate the skills and interests of staff members, some of whom may speak French or Italian or sing in a choir -- skills that could help them feel more comfortable in selling arts-related travel.

Finally, Larson said it's important to encourage agents to travel.

"I can't say it enough," she said. "While it's true that the perks aren't there the way they used to be, travel opportunities still exist, and agents have to have that firsthand exposure."