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Career Report

Andrew interviewed Kelsey Schira, the production manager of Thunderbird Music Hall and Café. Kelsey has been in her role for 2 years and oversees booking performances, marketing, and managing shows. She explained that Thunderbird hosts a variety of genres from blues to EDM for audiences that range from 18 to 50+. As production manager, Kelsey deals with professional issues like coordinating with other venues to avoid similar shows on the same nights and ensuring customer satisfaction. She finds her job rewarding for the opportunity to work with different artists and genres.

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105 views4 pages

Career Report

Andrew interviewed Kelsey Schira, the production manager of Thunderbird Music Hall and Café. Kelsey has been in her role for 2 years and oversees booking performances, marketing, and managing shows. She explained that Thunderbird hosts a variety of genres from blues to EDM for audiences that range from 18 to 50+. As production manager, Kelsey deals with professional issues like coordinating with other venues to avoid similar shows on the same nights and ensuring customer satisfaction. She finds her job rewarding for the opportunity to work with different artists and genres.

Uploaded by

api-663992343
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Career Report

Andrew Haneline

Penn State University

Introduction

I interviewed Kesley Schira on March 21st, 2023. She is the production manager

at Thunderbird Music Hall and Café. I chose to interview Kelsey because I would like to

be a production or event manager. I want to work with live venues and put on shows for

the public. I love concerts and music festivals and the joy that it brings me. Those chills

that I get when I am there and watch the visuals and sounds mesh together; I want to

produce that and give those same joys I get to other people. Kelsey does precisely that

when she helps to organize, manage, and produce local artists’ shows.

Kelsey has been working with Thunderbird for about 2 years now. She started

her academic career studying sound programming. She later transferred to Penn

State’s School of Theatre. While in school, she got a gig in South Carolina as a lighting

designer. She moved to Colorado to pursue the same career. With this continued

experience working with shows, she began to market and manage incoming

performances. There was a lot of competition in this field. She would manage street

team marketing for her venue and promote through volunteers. Not long ago she found

Thunderbird, moved to Pittsburgh, and secured her production manager position. Today

she works there and has been loving her job.


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Purpose of Agency

The agency’s mission statement is pride in independently hosting performances

for the public. The venue does everything from booking performances, to marketing,

and managing shows. One thing that Kelsey mentioned was that Thunderbird expanded

in 2019 from a 100-person venue to a 500-person venue all alone.

Clientele Served

The clientele changes on a show-to-show basis. If there is an EDM artist, then

the crowd tends to be younger. If there is a Blues artist, then older. The main genres of

music played here are Blues, cover bands of classic rock, Jam Bands, and EDM. The

age minimum is 18+ depending on the show. For the most part, though it is a 21+

venue, especially during the weekends. The main reason for this is because of the bar.

There is a section in the building where there’s a cafe and sometimes free shows.

Anyone can walk in and eat in this area. To get access to the venue is an entry fee. The

fee again varies on whatever the performance is.

Services and Programs Provided

Other than the shows and concerts that are put on, there is also a non-profit

organization that Thunderbird works with to raise money for the poor.

Staff

There are currently about 25 to 30 staff members. There is management,

accounting, production, event, security, bartenders, cooks, and visual sound. The

management staff is all full-time workers. The cooks, bartenders, security, and all

ground team workers are part-time and seasonal employees.


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Funding

Most funding comes from personal revenue. This is from tickets, e-tickets, food,

and drinks. They do get some help with certain shows from a local radio station (WYEP)

as well as support from local breweries to promote new beer releases.

Professional Issues

The biggest challenge is to make sure to work along with all of the other venues

in the Pittsburgh area. They try not to put on the same style of music as a neighboring

venue. There is a lot of effort in making sure the selection is diverse so there is not too

much of the same thing going on in a single night. Some other venues can become

“territorial.” Other problems are ticketing, making sure everyone is satisfied, and if there

is ever the want for refunds. There is also the general safety of the customers. The

security team is great at handling issues, along with intoxication with people and making

sure they are cut off and drinking water.

Kelsey’s biggest excitements are all of the different bands and styles of music

she gets to work with. Every day is a new experience in her eyes. Some other stuff she

told me about was to prepare for constant contracts, seating and accommodations, and

accommodation for the performers. There is also the randomness factor; anything can

really happen and so you just have to be prepared for them. She loves her job and at

the end of the interview told me that if this is what I want to do, then go for it.
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References

Thunderbird Cafe and Music Hall webpage - https://thunderbirdmusichall.com/

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