Most recently Penny worked on OOPS Inner City Angels' arts education program featuring a giant mural. In March of this year Penny publicized the funder Scrabble with the Stars featuring twenty luminaries including Graham Greene, Michael Burgess and Margaret Atwood. Again for the Inner City Angels, she worked on The Distillery Outreach Program and for the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre where she's promoted such shows as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Donny Osmond, Joan Collins)and, Judy Chicago's Fragments from the Delta of Venus.
Other gigs have included an Ontario tour of the Artiques Road Show and fifteen national tours for The Outrageous Rusty Ryan and the Great Impostors. Penny worked on the national publicity for The State of Israel Bonds' 50th Anniversary Gala featuring Larry King and Dr. Ruth Westheimer, along with three hundred plus dignitaries. At the same time, she represented the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Meir Lau on his two-city lecture tour. Credits also included the regional PR for the Acadian feature film Full Blast. She profiled Puppets Who Kill, a pilot now airing on the Comedy Network. Also included in her client roster is The Falling, a Canadian feature film starring Christopher Shyer both at the Toronto International Film Festival and for the Toronto theatrical release.
Penny East was born in Brighton & Hove in the UK, (of Canadian and British parents) where she worked and studied in London, England. One day, she went out as a temp receptionist to augment her college tuition and was sent on an assignment that changed her career forever … an assignment as receptionist for the producers of the James Bond movies in the publicity office of Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli. Penny worked her way up the ladder to Assistant Publicist and represented several luminaries including Dick Van Dyke, Michael Caine, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Susannah York, Olivia Newton-John and many other UK based industry names.
The travel bug hit Penny when she decided to return to academia in Montreal and New York City. In Montreal, she continued her career in PR when a promoter asked her to work with him in the jazz arena. She gained great experience for a few years, working with the likes of Pat Metheny, Steve Swallow, Gary Burton, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee.
She moved to Toronto where her first contract was as Corporate Publicist for Universal Canada, where she opened the operation with a spoof of the Hollywood Universal back lot, and worked on the corporate PR for Silence of the North with Ellen Burstyn, Tom Skerritt and Gordon Pinsent. Free-lance clients included, Shawn Alex Thompson and Jim Carrey.
She also worked on a ten-month contract for Gino Empry Public Relations as an Account Executive. During this time, Penny, represented Penn & Teller, Herb Ritts, Richard Gere and with The Royal Alexandra Theatre for numerous works including Sarafina!, Kean and Les Miserables. She also publicized Peter Noone, formerly of Herman's Hermits, Terry Sylvester formerly of The Hollies and Gerry and the Pacemakers.
Other Toronto clients included CBC Radio1, This Morning and The Arts Tonight. She also enjoyed being a contractor to The Art Gallery of Ontario and has worked on a variety of campaigns including the Rare Naked Ladies campaign for the Barnes Exhibition.
In 1990-1991, Penny directed the publicity for Celafi, a huge conference/festival involving two hundred and fifty participants from three continents. This event garnered nearly fifty print pieces, despite the fact that the Toronto Star, the official media sponsor was on strike. It also acquired cover stories in NOW Magazine, Share and Metro Word. Electronic media was estimated at over one hundred and fifty interviews and on-air announcements. The estimated face value of this campaign is 3 million Canadian dollars.
Penny started free-lancing in Toronto in 1992 and as a generalist; her roster boasts an interesting mix of arts and arts related clientele. Working extensively with the Canadian media, she has developed an impressive -- two thousand plus list of qualified contacts in Toronto and across Canada. She is continually adding punch to her PR power by adding online sites to her list large list of print and electronic free listings, giving her clients a huge database of every free print, electronic and web based outlets. Penny East’s research in other locations have also contributed to the success of every project she takes on.
