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By Elyssa, March 8, 2010 12:42 pm

Preshow antics, with arts management intern and student volunteer (photo: Stephanie Bolduc)

Glancing around the packed Abby Theatre, I breathe a sigh of relief as I watch the patrons get settled into their seats without ticketing confusion.  As the house lights dim, I turn my attention to the stage, where a man clad in a red plaid spandex fat suit is poking his head through the curtain for the warm-up act.  After laughing hysterically while my physics teacher dances with red plaid suit guy, I turn to my friend and fellow Arts Management intern, Ally.  She is beaming and I know she is thinking the same thing as me – I can’t believe we pulled this off!

Back in September, Mr. Hunley told us that we could pick one event from the season’s schedule and plan the entire thing – every last detail.  While jazz musicians and plays are entertaining, a circus themed event complete with acrobats and aerialists was, of course, the most compelling.  Hunley taught us that when bound by contract, every little thing the artist requests must be done.  So we checked and double checked that there was chilled bottled spring water on stage during rehearsal and room temperature bottled spring water in the green room, protein for lunch, and hand towels in the dressing rooms.

After anxiously watching a man balance atop a table complete with several boxes and rolling cylinders, it is intermission.  I immediately jump up from my seat, worried because I didn’t leave sooner to open the doors or help get things set up for the refreshments because I was so absorbed in the show.  I breath a sigh of relief for the second time that day when I find four of my tan shirt clad student volunteers standing outside the theater, doors propped, smiling and standing at attention.  I make my way to the box office, where I retrieve the cash box and merchandise to be sold at intermission.  Ally and I begin quickly laying out t-shirts, hats, and bags for people to purchase.  As everyone files back into the theatre at the sound of the chime, I watched as several people try to bring their wine or cookies into the theatre.  Surabhi, a volunteer, confidently asks each of them to please not bring food or drink into the theatre.  It makes me beam with pride to see the volunteers I trained handling potentially awkward situations with poise.  

When everyone settles into their seats after intermission, the curtain opens to two svelte girls in sparkly red costumes perched atop a trapeze.  One girl clings to the trapeze, the other suspended below her, holding on with just her foot.  Hardly willing to look away from this spectacular act, I sweep my eyes across the audience to find several adult faces in awe, while their children fidget.  After the girls finished their act flawlessly, the red-plaid-fat-suit-wearing guy bounces out from behind the curtain, shaking his padded posterior to the audience.  When I look around again, the adults are pleased to be watching their children grin and giggle.

As people file out of the theatre, still grinning from an amazing closing act, I see a few of our tan shirt clad volunteers thanking patrons for coming and smiling widely, as I taught them.  A mixture of relief and pride wash over me as Ally and I assist the maintenance staff with clean up.

The next morning, Ally and I take our usual route from breakfast in the dining hall upstairs to the box office downstairs for class.  Mr. Hunley sits around the table with us and we do our usual day-after-the-show talk:  what went well and what we could improve on for the next performance.  He gives us a very positive report from the Cirque people – “Every detail was perfect from the moment we walked on campus,” Mia, their stage manager complimented.  I’m not sure why Ally and I were so nervous for this performance.  It wasn’t because it was sold out – we’ve had sold out performances before.  It’s the buildup of anticipation when an event is planned so far in advance – but an artist’s praise, the look of joy on a child’s face, and a standing ovation make it all worth it in the end.

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By Ally, February 4, 2010 10:40 am

Hilton Hotel New York, site of the APAP conference

First hearing of APAP, this huge arts presenters’ conference going on in New York City, my fellow Arts Management Intern and I jokingly brought up that we would be interested in attending. Little did we know, this actually occurred.

Several weeks later, we packed our bags and got on the train arriving in New York. When finally getting there, we hopped in a cab, and went over to where we were going to stay. We tried to go to bed as early as we could, but being so excited about the next day, that was hard to do.

The next morning, after craving some hot coffee, we made our way over to the Hilton Hotel where the conference would be held, meeting Sean Hunley, the director of the Cultural Center at Eagle Hill, and our teacher. We walked into one of the main food venues, got a plate of food, and sat down to talk about what was going to happen that day.

Soon after, we went up to the next floor and registered, receiving not only our name badges, but also maps of where everything would be, which we soon realized we truly needed. Heading down another two floors, we made our way into the first session we were attending, “Arts, Agents, and Presenters: A Collaboration Equation for Success.” There, we had several lectures and discussions about things such as how a venue’s space can make or break a performance.  Many people seemed very interested in The Cultural Center, because they had never heard of a school having a performing arts center that has public shows and more performers than just students from the school.

Afterwards, we threw on our coats, and walked across the street to the New York City Center to watch Buckets and Tap Shoes, two men who switched between tap dancing and using buckets to make noise. After grabbing a cookie and water, we made our way inside the small theatre to enjoy the show.

Leaving the theatre about half an hour later, we discussed what we had seen that day while making our way over to get some lunch. After eating some salad, pasta, and sharing a piece of cake, we went back over to the Hilton, ready to get back to work. Throughout the afternoon, we saw various performers, such as the Annie Moses Band and the Sweet Back Sisters. We even ran into Vance Gilbert, who is coming to perform on March 6th! Seeing these performances helped us look at various performers that we might want to have come to The Cultural Center at Eagle Hill.

Afterwards, we made our way over to the expo hall, which basically consisted of hundreds of different stands, ranging from performers for children’s shows to different ticketing websites.

As cliché as this may sound, it really was a great experience. Not only were we probably the two youngest people there, but we got to experience something not too many people are lucky enough to. Although it was a long day, we learned a lot more than we could have even imagined knowing about business and running The Cultural Center.