Presenter Profile - Rhonda Welch

Name: Rhonda Welch

Position: Festival Coordinator,

Culture, Parks, and Recreation Department, City of Greeley, CO

How did you get into presenting in the first place?

Before my husband and I moved to Greeley from Sterling, we used to come to concerts at UNC. We were anxious to get to the big city. When we moved here, the Arts Picnic was already underway, so I volunteered my time with the Arts Picnic while I was getting to know people in Greeley. I was a volunteer for the Cultural Affairs Department (now combined with the Parks and Recreation Department).

When the bond finally passed to build our new Performing Arts Center, which would be umbrella-ed under the Cultural Affairs Department, I applied for and got the position of Volunteer Coordinator and Special Events Coordinator from 1988-1991.

I helped with the opening of the Union Colony Civic Center (UCCC) in September 1988. We celebrated our 25^th year last September. As the Special Events Coordinator for the new performing arts center, I had the pleasure of presenting and producing Tony Bennett, Flash Cadillac with the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, and A Tribute to Gershwin show. It was unbelievably exciting to be a part of something so wonderful for Greeley.

The City’s Festival Coordinator position came up the next year and I accepted that position. My job with the UCCC, although incredibly rewarding, was very time-consuming and I had two young boys at home. As Mike and Dave grew older, I “volunteered” them (as well as my husband Tom, who also works for the City) to help with the festivals. Some jobs they liked and some . . . not so much! When I started my new position, I was coordinating the annual Arts Picnic and Festival of Trees in addition to Greeley’s Cinco de Mayo Celebration (the latter has now been turned over to the Latino Chamber of Northern Colorado).

What events do you produce now?

I’m responsible for creating the schedule for Greeley’s Neighborhood Nights, a free program on five evenings throughout the summer. We present movies on a large, inflatable screen in Greeley’s beautiful parks, and I hire performers to entertain the crowd before the movie begins. Often 500 or more people show up in the park, arriving early with their picnics, blankets and lawn chairs.

Then there’s the Arts Picnic, which takes place in beautiful, historic Lincoln Park with a kickoff concert on the 9th Street Plaza. This weekend festival draws more than 25,000 participants to downtown Greeley and includes some 150 arts and crafts vendors. For this festival I book 24 or more stage performances as well as roving performers. The festival has grown from one stage to two stages, and now there’s a third stage in the kids’ area. 

The Festival of Trees is a weeklong gala that includes elaborately decorated tree displays designed and assembled by local businesses, individuals, and organizations along with musical events, children’s activities, horse and carriage rides, and much more. Hundreds of performers donate their time for the festival as lobby entertainment amidst the beautiful trees as well as on two stages, one in the Hensel Phelps Theatre that accommodates 200 patrons and the other in the Monfort Concert Hall that seats 1600. People come from all over northern Colorado for the festival not only to stroll through the trees but to also take part in the festival’s special events: The Whoville Holiday, with a Whoville Hair Salon, photos with the Grinch, and much more; a Silver Bells Social for seniors; a Sip & Shop Ladies’ Night Out, and a Teddy Bear Bash for little preschoolers--all of which usually sell out each year.

I’m also on the steering committee for Greeley’s annual Blues Jam, now in its 10^th year.

It’s a wonderful job giving me the privilege to get to know so many incredible Colorado artists and performers.

How have you seen the arts change since you've been presenting?

Greeley tends to be a rather conservative community, but the people who now live here are so diverse. A part of Greeley is made up of East African immigrants employed by JBS Swift & Company, and then there is our large Hispanic community, many of whom came to northern Colorado from Mexico to work in the fields and stayed to raise their families. We are working very hard to immerse those cultures into our community, supporting and celebrating their artistic talents. 

We are also in the process of applying to join one of seven communities in Colorado to be designated a Creative District, which encompasses the adjoining areas of Greeley Downtown and the neighborhoods including and surrounding the University of Northern Colorado. It is a dynamic, diverse, active and arts-rich area where people live, work, create, innovate, learn, shop, dine, gather and play. I am so lucky to sit on the board of this organization.  www.greeleycreativedistrict.org

As far as I’m concerned, I was also so lucky to begin working for the City as one of the Union Colony Center’s original staff. Opening the UCCC was instrumental in spotlighting arts and entertainment in Greeley at that time. Then the economy did what it did, and we felt it as much as everyone else, especially in the arts. Now that the country seems to be in recovering mode, I’m seeing an emergence of new performers and a re-focus on the arts. Hopefully we are once again realizing  how extremely important they are to our communities!

Why have these events been so successful?

One factor is that Greeley has wonderful  volunteers who are committed to the arts. We absolutely could not do these events without all the help of civic-minded folks who live here and generously give their time.

As a presenter, you always have to challenge yourself to create new events. You have to constantly tweak to keep them fresh.

Do you attend the Colorado Performing Arts Jamboree?

Yes, I have attended for years. I have never left the Jamboree without also booking so many performers and entertainers from that program. People are crazy not to go there every year. It’s the best resource for performing art and entertainment.

Presenter Profile: Rich Harris

Name:   Rich Harris
Position:  Theater Manager, The Rialto Theater, Loveland, CO

Rich Harris has been managing the Rialto Theater just since November 2013, but he’s no newcomer to presenting. Over the past 30 years he’s worked at such venues as Town Hall Arts Center (Littleton), Dairy Center for the Arts (Boulder), Lone Tree Arts Center, and Swallow Hill, including 15 years at Teikyo Loretto Heights University in Denver. He also put in seven years as a booking agent.

What do you do as Theater Manager? I run the facility in all aspects, but with two major areas of focus. The Rialto is a wonderful resource for the community and many community groups come and rent the theatre for their productions. The majority of our business is rentals, but we do produce a fair number of shows ourselves. I’m in charge of selecting and booking those shows.

How many events do you book talent for annually? About 25. It depends on whether I want to do fewer acts with large talent fees or more acts--I will probably lean toward more rather than fewer because there are just so many good things to present. I also book for a summer outdoor series at Loveland’s Foote Lagoon--six concerts that are free to the public. We get an average attendance of 2000 people. Also, we have a small arts and education program that I am excited about developing.

How do you find local talent that fits your organization's needs? For me personally, I like to sit down with the Web. I have a long history booking  the performing arts, and of course there are many artists looking for opportunities to perform; two-thirds of our phone calls are people calling me to offer acts. I’ll also be attending a couple of major booking conferences--APAP Arts Presenters Conference, New York, and the Western Arts Alliance on the West Coast.

I’ll certainly be at the Colorado Performing Arts Jamboree this January, which I’ve attended a half dozen times or more. All those people are potential acts. Many of them have played at the Rialto and almost all of them offer arts and education programming. I try to stop by every booth and see what they have to offer.

What is your greatest challenge as a booker? Finding the right act for the situation and then making a deal that is fair to everybody, that everybody feels good about when it’s over. People have their egos and their livelihood and their artistic lives--you can’t always equate that to dollars. I respect the artist immensely and don’t always have the dollars to make it work financially. It’s one big balancing act. But it’s wonderful experience when you get the right artist in front of the right audience.

What is a local act that you worked with recently that was especially successful, and why was it a success? Hazel Miller. She is just a dream to work with. It is wonderful to present her act and music in the best light in a nice theater with professional production staff. I feel really motivated to get her the biggest audience.

Who Cares About the Arts? Loveland Does.

As we witness arts budgets being ripped to pieces like gift wrapping on Christmas morning--only without any present inside--it’s gratifying to hear about a community that is doing bold and visionary work to support the arts.

Like Loveland’s 2012 creation of the Rialto Theater Center.

Photo: Michelle Standiford

The original Rialto Theater in downtown Loveland opened as a vaudeville house in 1920 and thrived as a movie theater for decades before its eventual decline into a mini shopping mall in the 1970s. In the 1980s the City of Loveland began restoration of the building and secured its designation as a National Historic Place. With the help of major fundraising and volunteer labor, the Rialto opened in 1996 as a 446-seat, Art Deco gem with modern sound and lighting equipment. Since then the Rialto has maintained a busy schedule ranging from local theater groups and choruses to national touring musicians, independent and silent films, meetings, and school functions.

“The theater was wonderful, but it didn’t have support spaces,” says Rich Harris, Rialto Theater Manager, explaining that the dressing room was a cramped space with low headroom under the stage and there was no room for offices or classrooms.

“I’ve worked at the Boulder Theatre and the Fox, and they they all have this same challenge,” Harris says. “It is a great credit to the City of Loveland that they decided to fix that problem. They took the building adjoining the Rialto, demolished it, and built a three-story building designed for beautiful support services for the theater.”

The new building, dubbed the Rialto Theater Center, is a joint venture between the City of Loveland; the Rialto Bridge, LLC; and the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado.

The bottom floor is leased to a restaurant in partnership with the city. “The 1919 building and the 2012 building interconnect,” Harris says. “When we want to serve alcohol, we just open up the window between the two.”

The middle floor contains beautiful, modern dressing rooms; meeting rooms; and workshop rooms for arts and education and children’s programs.  The rooms are equipped with slide-down projection screens and all-new audio systems. The top floor is being leased to a communications company.

“It’s very sophisticated,” Harris says. “The Rialto has gone from being a stand-alone theater to a small arts complex. This whole project was visionary.”

2014 Colorado Performing Arts Jamboree Presenter Registration Now Open!

Click here to check out our new video!

Arts budget cut? Maximize your time - meet 100+ performing artists in one day!


2014 Colorado Performing Arts

Trade Show & Jamboree
January 24, 9am to 3 pm
 
Jefferson County Fairgrounds
15200 W 6th Avenue
Golden, CO 80401

Colorado's savviest presenters know they can find everything from brand new talent to some of Colorado's best-established performers at the Jamboree. It's a one-day talent-scouting and live performance event that can save you time and solve your presenting dilemmas!

Meet one-on-one with artists without being tied to a particular agent's roster or fees. Performers represent all genres--jazz, blues, rock, folk, theatre, dance, performers celebrating ethnic traditions, and entertainment for children.

The Jamboree is a fun, interactive day, and at only $27 per person (or $65 per agency (three people from the same agency), it's super affordable.

Read more about the Jamboree--see lists of exhibitors and showcase performers and photos from past Jamborees, check out the video, or cut to the chase and click here for the registration form. We look forward to seeing you there!

Announcing the 2013 Colorado Performing Arts Jamboree

Join us on January 25, 2013, at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, where you can:

• Meet one-on-one with 100+ performing artists and groups available to perform in Colorado 
• See 9 juried Showcase Performances throughout the day
• Find a dazzling array of music, dance, and entertainment to bring to your event or performance series
• Get your 2013 Guide to Colorado Performers - Colorado's best talent, all listed in one place

Bottom line: It's the most efficient (and fun) talent-scouting event in the state!

Since 1988, the Colorado Performing Arts Jamboree & Tradeshow has been Colorado's ONLY showcase where you can interact one-on-one with 100+ performers, experience live performances throughout the day, meet the artists in person, and collect samples of their work. It's fun, interactive, and affordable!

This is the same event that was co-produced in recent years by the Colorado Parks and Recreation Association.

We look forward to continuing to serve CPRA members by providing access to a widely diverse marketplace of performing artists. 

$27 per person or $65 per agency (three people from the same agency). Fee includes admission into the exhibit hall, live performances and the 2013 Guide to Colorado Performers, the ultimate desktop companion for finding entertainers available to perform throughout the state. Snacks and lunch will be available for purchase on site.

REGISTER NOW

Call or email if you have questions about the event or how to register. More details about the event, including photos and summaries of past Jamborees, are available at our website.

Also, we are seeking presenters to serve on our adjudication panel to evaluate and select the Showcase acts. If you are interested, please contact me as soon as possible.

We look forward to seeing you at the Jamboree!

Call for Colorado Performing Arts Jamboree adjudicators!

Colorado Performing Arts Jamboree - Registration is OPEN!

You can help create one of the most exciting aspects of the Jamboree by helping to select the acts that give live showcase performances. Artists and presenters alike agree that the live performances put the zing into the Jamboree experience.

As the producer of the Jamboree I especially appreciate the help provided by the panel of adjudicators each year. The adjudicator work helps assure that the Jamboree is in touch with the needs of buyers across the state and region, because the decisions are directly tied to people scouting and hiring talent for specific needs.

Over the years the adjudication has taken place in a variety of circumstances. For some years the session was hosted by a presenter - most often the Northglenn recreation center, frequently Brighton, a time or two at South Suburban. In recent years I have hosted the adjudicators at the Venture West megaplex - our home in south Denver - and serve everyone a nourishing home cooked lunch. The time commitment is approximately three hours and is scheduled based on the availability of the people who volunteer.

We have discovered lately that it is difficult for people to get away from their many commitments to meet in person, so periodically adjudicators work from a remote location. These days much of the application material comes in the form of EPKs and web-based promo. This allows us to send links and a summary paragraph or two to adjudicators who can't be at the adjudication session, but still allows us the value of their expertise.

It is a fun process that gives you the first look at the groups applying and also provides insights into how other presenters approach the process of evaluating performers. If you're curious about participating, but have some questions - call or send a note for more details. venturewestjim@gmail.com; 303-329-6242

Making Sound Check Work For Presenters: Tricks of the Trade

Article by Chris Daniels

If you have anything more than a guitar and voice setup at your event, then you have probably experienced some of the problems of sound check, especially in multi-band shows with limited time between bands. The results can be frustrating, ear-splitting, and can really affect the show adversely ... and that is the worst side effect of all.

So here are a few tricks I've learned over the years as both a musician and as Swallow Hill’s Executive Director (a presenter) that really come in handy for making the whole process go more smoothly, with better results for everybody.

1) Take a little time and learn about the process and equipment. There are sites like ( http://www.astralsound.com/equipment_guide.htm) that can help you. Classic mistakes that presenters make include: a) not knowing how to use a mic well and how to avoid feedback and other embarrassing mistakes when you are making announcements, b) not understanding the basic requirements of an act and the needs of your event, c) paying too much for sound and production services you don’t need. Taking the time to learn about production will help you be more professional, sound more professional, and even save you money. One of the most difficult moments for some presenters is the “thanking of the sponsors and introducing of artist or radio DJ” or any kind of talking on a mic. Most good sound people will be more than happy to take five minutes between sound check and downbeat to help you learn some good mic techniques, and they will be thrilled you asked.

2) Get a clear stage plot WITH monitor requirements simply outlined from your acts. This is not detailed info about what everybody wants in his/ her monitor wedge, but a clear diagram of the instruments (including details like "left-handed drummer") and the number of monitor mixes that works for the band and placement of the wedges, and, if the artist uses an inner-ear system, how that will interface with the house system. If you hire young artists who do not have a stage plot, they can build one of these at a free site called www.freestageplot.com

3) Use a trusted sound company. They don’t have to be expensive; in fact, some of the smaller companies have better ”people skills,” the ability to adapt to your needs, and a better price range. There are any number of great companies that other presenters use. Word of mouth is the best way to get names, numbers, and info about the quality of the experience they had with the sound company. The two things to ask about are: a) Were there any problems that happened because of the PA or production company? b) Did the artists and the presenters feel good about the experience, i.e. would they hire them again?

4) Don’t be a sound check Nazi. Artists understand that the contract says “sound check must be completed by 6:45pm, but if it takes them until 7:05 when the doors (gate) opens to complete the last few details, it is OK. Presenters get into a nervous frame of mind -- that if an artist is finishing up a check on his or her violin and some audience members are walking in, it’s a bad thing. What you may not know is that it’s kind of cool for the music lovers to see and hear. At Swallow Hill we always leaned towards making sure the sound was great even if it meant some audience members were taking their seats as a last mandolin line was checked by Sam Bush. And the audience talked about it. They sent us emails saying, “It was great, I got there early and got to see Sam playing his fiddle and even talked to him for a second before the show started.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I totally draw the line at a drummer hitting his floor-tom 500 times while he tunes the head a microtone -- that is a no go! BUT I am one of many who believe that those last few little checks of a mic or a direct line actually prove entertaining to an audience waiting for 30 minutes in their seats after doors before the show starts.

5) Because sound and lights are obviously the essential reason for the audience to come to the show, the French call it “son et lumière,” don’t take it for granted. Learn about the equipment and the process, understand that sound check can take 35 to 40 minutes if it is a complicated setup, get amateur or young bands to contact the sound company and work with you and them to make setup and sound checks run smoothly, and then use that knowledge to hire the best sound company for your event. Once you get a good working relationship with a sound company, use that relationship to improve the shows you present.

Sound and lights are like any other aspect of an event, festival or concert series: the magic is in the details. Get comfortable with this part of your job and you will be amazed at how it lowers the stress level of putting on great shows.

Chris Daniels
Assistant Professor
University of Colorado Denver
Plus 25 years of Chris Daniels and the Kings - talk to him at exhibit space 55 at the Jamboree
www.chrisdaniels.com