Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

Small But Mighty

Take a second to think about putting on a concert with a big name like let’s say Lady Gaga in a venue that seats and sells out 37,000 seats and has to build a stage from start to finish in the matter of 72 hours. Now think about the effort it takes to book a big name artist along with market a concert like this and sell out the venue in 90 minutes. Also remember that there are dressing rooms to be set, VIP parties and meet and greets to be run and of course the band favors and requests to be taken care of starting the week before a concert even comes to town. After thinking about all this, how many people do you think a concerts department needs to pull this off? I’m sure you’re thinking more than 4.

At the Boston Red Sox in the Fenway Concerts department there are 2 full time employees and 2 seasonal employees – one of them being myself. It is crazy to think that over the course of one summer and one year we will book, sell, and execute all the concerts preformed here at Fenway. This summer there may only be 8 concerts but in the future we are looking to have as many as 20 in one summer season. There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into each one of these concerts, and although it is stressful at times to have so much work and such a small department, I honestly wouldn’t want any other people backing me up on all that I do. The benefit to having this small department is we are forced to play to each other’s strengths while also forcing each other to get out of our comfort zones and work on things we’ve never had to work on before. The four of us are always helping each other out and backing each other up. What’s interesting is that I look at other larger departments and they just don’t have the relationships with their coworkers and bosses the way we do in our department. I consider my coworkers and bosses more like friends but they still have the highest level of respect for me if I have a concern about something.

It’s amazing to think that just between the four of us we spearhead making these huge concerts happen at Fenway. A lot of times it seems overwhelming and it’s hard to keep up, but the outcome is super rewarding. This experience has taught me a lot of things but especially to appreciate my coworkers and remember with hard work comes a large reward. We may be small but we are definitely mighty.