Though Carter declared June Black Music Month with the event in 1979, and black music institutions celebrated every June thereafter, Black Music Month didn’t become an official observation until 2000. Dyana Williams discovered in the late ’90s that President Carter didn’t issue an official decree, so she worked with her local congresswoman to draft House…
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It’s not common for a woman to work in the concert touring industry; it’s even less common to have a Caribbean woman behind the camera. Liselle Bertrand is one of the best camera operators in the business and her credentials are lengthy. She left the small island of Dominica with big dreams to pursue a…
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Joe Schaffner is an old school touring professional. So old school, in fact, that when he started out in the early ’60s there weren’t titles like “tour manager” or “production manager.” Being based out of Detroit helped him to work for some of Motown’s hottest acts, including Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and The Supremes, and later arena- and stadium-fillers like Earth, Wind & Fire and The Jacksons. Pollstar caught up with Mr. Schaffner, at 80-years young, to get his recollections of what the business and the racial climiate was like back in the day and how it’s developed over his six-decade-spanning career.
Live Nation Urban Today, we’re excited to share the first volume of our Black Tour Directory, the most comprehensive industry resource developed to bolster inclusivity and expand opportunities for Black professionals and Black-owned companies in the world of live music. This one-stop portal lists numerous qualified, experienced, and trusted Black tour managers, production managers, sound…
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Pollstar Co-Founder, Roadies Of Color United International Production and tour manager Bill Reeves was talking with stage manager Lance “K.C.” Jackson about Crewspace – the first large-scale industry-related social network platform – when they started clicking through the membership and realized very few minorities were represented, similar to the lack of diversity in trade publications.…
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ROCU Staff The coronavirus pandemic is proving to be the most devastating challenge ever to face the live music industry and the creative community as a whole. With thousands of tours across the globe having already been cancelled, along with an increasing number of music festivals in this time of unprecedented uncertainty, the future of…
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Repost Dear Friends, I am forwarding to you all, the below message from Michael Strickland (Chair and Founder of Bandit Lites) which is a call for further action on our part. I am pleased to announce we now have 170 co-sponsors of RESTART in the House, as we picked up 7 on Friday. This is…
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in Arts, Music, News Shortly before Covid-19 shut the concert industry down, Noelle Scaggs, one of the singers in the alt-pop band Fitz and the Tantrums, began noticing that there was seldom anyone else like her on the road. A Black woman in a band of white men, Scaggs saw few other women of color on festival stages. Behind…
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By: Eric Renner Brown Music industry networking nonprofit announced the addition of touring veteran David ‘5-1’ Norman to its board on Monday. “I am thrilled to have David join our board; he has already provided backstage mentoring opportunities for Well Dunn candidates, and during these difficult times he has stepped in to create incredible learning…
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While shows are on pause due to COVID-19, Crew Nation is here to provide some support to the touring and venue crews that serve as the backbone of the music industry. The impact of this intermission period is being felt far and wide, and our goal is to provide a helping hand to as many…
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