Diving into live event production: OHIO students thrive working the Nelsonville Music Festival

Students from Ohio University’s School of Media Arts and Studies recently took the first step in turning their passion for live music into careers. OHIO’s Nelsonville Music Festival (NMF) Production program provided students with an opportunity to take the reins of a live event’s production. At NMF’s Creekside Stage, the students recorded and produced artists’ performances, which will be released as the Sycamore Sessions this fall on WOUB.

The experience at NMF catered to several media interests. A video team captured and is editing performance footage, an audio team captured audio and oversaw the recording of music and an artist relations team worked with artists on site and behind the scenes—producing promotional content, confirming setlists and taking photographs. Some ambitious students worked on multiple teams for an even more holistic look at the industry.

Scarlett Fried is a media arts production major going into her junior year at Ohio University. Fried worked on the video team at the 2023 NMF and enjoyed it so much she decided to come back to work on this summer’s program as well. The opportunity to work in new and more consequential roles at the laid-back setting of the Creekside Stage is part of what drew Fried back.

“This year I worked as a videographer, director, tech director and I will be editing in post-production,” she explained. “Each day I did something different.”

Fried said she did not have many opportunities to pursue her media interests in high school, so she was especially excited to work at NMF. Her favorite part of NMF this year was filming special intros for some of the Sycamore Sessions episodes, but she also enjoyed working in new roles and using new equipment.

“I gained knowledge of how to be a director for live broadcasting, how to be a tech director—honestly all the new roles I worked in I learned a lot from,” she said. “I also learned a lot about the cameras. We used Blackmagic cameras this year which are different from what we used last year.”

Fried felt her experience at NMF and working on the Sycamore Sessions will certainly give her an edge in the job market after graduation, but she also emphasized the friendliness of the environment for media students with limited experience to learn.

“Even in my second year doing it, I still had questions and it's just a very safe environment for beginners, and you will learn a lot,” Fried explained. “I think it'll help me with my experience after I graduate college, it’s definitely a resume-builder, especially adding the roles I did this year and showing my commitment that I’ve done it two years in a row and had a lot of fun doing it.”

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Ohio University senior and music production and recording industry (MPRI) major Eamon Armstrong made sure to take full advantage of the music-related experiential learning opportunities the School of Media Arts and Studies offers. Armstrong worked on the audio team at this year’s NMF and has previously been a part of OHIO’s South by Southwest Program and Music Production Masterclass Series.

“I was able to get live recordings of the performances and then I’ll be helping to mix and master the final products for the Sycamore Sessions videos,” he said. “At times it was chaotic, but I had a lot of fun being there—even when our equipment wasn’t cooperative.”

Armstrong said the Creekside Stage was one of the more complicated setups he’s been a part of, but he was eager to rise to the occasion. OHIO music production and recording industry alumnus Nathan Cain led the audio team. Cain was able to help guide Armstrong and other media students through equipment difficulties. Armstrong noted that adapting and persevering despite uncooperative equipment is a valuable experience for anyone working live events.

“You really only have one chance, because the band is going to start no matter what,” he explained. “So, you have to make sure you're ready beforehand.”

But it wasn’t all chaos, he was also assigned a stagehand role helping the stage manager prepare the stage and place microphones that would best capture the different artists. Like most people who attended NMF this year, for Armstrong the environment of the Creekside Stage was a major stand out.

“I’d just like to talk about the atmosphere, it was so much fun,” Armstrong said. “It was so nice to see everyone just hanging out together and listening to the music.”

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The NMF Production program was an important on-site experience for Haley Loveless, a senior at Ohio University studying the recording industry side of MPRI. Loveless learned about the program the same way many other participants did, through her professor Josh Antonuccio. Upon hearing about the opportunity, Loveless immediately wanted to be involved and gain experience beyond the classroom.

“I didn't really have anything else experience-wise on my resume as far as working on site,” said Loveless. “So, it was a good place to start.”

Loveless was part of the artist relations team at the Creekside Stage. She and her classmates worked directly with artists to ensure they had everything they needed to perform. In addition, Loveless worked behind the scenes taking notes for articles and promoting the event.

“Our main role was—when the artists got there—we introduced ourselves, got everyone's names and roles, what they were playing and who was in the band. We were the information gatherers,” explained Loveless. “We would also run and get anything if they needed it, and, then we worked in collaboration with WOUB to put out articles on all of this.”

With the variety of roles the artist relations team experienced, Loveless was thankful to be a part of NMF and the Sycamore Sessions and recommended the program to future media students who may be looking for their first experience working in the music industry.

“It's a good setting to start out working at a festival for anyone who's interested in any part—film, audio, artist relations,” Loveless said. “I definitely think this will look good on a resume, and it's opened my eyes up more to what working in the festival environment is really like.”

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For junior music production and recording industry major Cali Christian, working on the hybrid audio and video team provided unique insights to two different facets of the live event industry. Christian is involved with AVW Productions, an OHIO student organization that creates narrative films, documentaries and music. NMF was the perfect place for her to gain professional experience with audio and film production.

“[On the video team] I was in charge of taking notes on what could be improved during production and I was also a camera person, but I was more involved with audio,” said Christian. “I helped make sure levels were correctly set so we didn't have any distortion in the audio, and I had to generally make sure that everything sounded good. We also had to make sure that we had backup recordings in case of any problems.”

Through the NMF and Sycamore Sessions experience, Christian said she learned a lot about working a live event. Part of her learning was overcoming unpredictable challenges that came as a result of working in a fast-paced, music festival setting. Due to dry conditions, parts of the Creekside Stage became dusty which made the ventilation system on one of the audio team’s computers malfunction and overheat.

“We ended up losing the recording of that set, but luckily, we had a few backup recordings,” Christian said. “We tried to stay calm and work through the problems together, and it was really easy since it was an easygoing group, and we all got along pretty well.”

Christian said she plans to have a career in live event production after graduating and knows this experience will help build her resume. Her experience creating this year’s Sycamore Sessions made her excited to see where the future takes her.

“I made a few connections with my classmates, and with a few of the professionals who were there conducting the stage. I met the stage manager of the Creekside Stage, who was really cool,” she said. “It's a really fun thing to do over the summer in Athens, and even if you don't get to enjoy all the stages, there is still a lot of music to discover.”

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Haleigh Jankowski is a media and social change major going into her senior year at OHIO. Before graduating this spring, Jankowski wanted more hands-on production experience with both audio and video. Working on the hybrid team at the Creekside Stage was the perfect situation for her to experience a live event environment and work with new equipment.

“After NMF I gained a new perspective and appreciation for live music production as a whole,” Jankowski said. “I feel I have a much better understanding of what goes on behind the scenes and how to be better prepared for projects like this in the future.”

Like Christian’s experience, working on two very different aspects of a live event production contributed to Jankowski’s comprehensive understanding of media. Having skills in audio and video will provide Jankowski with more opportunities post-graduation and a valuable perspective. Jankowski also lauded the laid-back environment of the Creekside Stage which she said took some pressure off her as she learned by experience.

“A big plus to this experience is not just the resume addition, but also the skills to be successful in these fields,” she said. “This wasn’t the kind of learning that could be taught in the classroom, building connections and confidence to be a part of a team like this is beyond valuable.”

Jankowski emphasized the importance of the NMF Production program for her career, especially in deciding what areas of media she might like to work in.

“You’re set up to succeed in this program, I don’t think I would have been able to realize how much I enjoyed working in this environment had I not applied,” she said. “I made a lot of new connections with my peers and instructors, as well as other event staff at the festival and the artists I met in passing were all awesome.”

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Most Ohio University students at the Nelsonville Musical Festival had a media background and were involved in producing the Sycamore Sessions, but some education students also volunteered at NMF’s Kids Area. The Kids Area is run by Stuart’s Opera House and provides activities relating to visual arts, dance, music, theater and more for the festival’s younger audience. OHIO has worked with Stuart’s Opera House and been a partner in the NMF Kids Area for several years.

CARE (Creative, Active, and Reflective Educators) students from the Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education are often selected as volunteers in the Kids Area. These Ohio University students help create activities for the children and staff the tent during all of NMF. Stuart’s Opera House Education Director and double OHIO alumni Devin Sudman says that his team meets with the CARE students prior to NMF to see what skills and assets they have to bring to the Kids Area.

“We work with the students to make their projects and ideas come to life,” said Sudman. “I think its great that the CARE students, who are studying to be teachers, are getting hands-on experience teaching outside of the classroom in a unique setting.”

While at the festival, the CARE students are also playing their part in building community relationships. Sudman emphasized the importance of connecting the entire community, including Ohio University, through the arts.

“It is important to the future of not only Stuart's but our region, that we continue to come together as a community to create, educate and inspire the next generation of doers in our region,” he said. “By collaborating with Ohio University and members of our community at NMF we are creating an event that is for our community and produced by our community. When our community members and OHIO students come together, we all get to see the value of our region.”

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