Executive Festival Producer

UpStaged Entertainment Group and its National Collegiate Performing Arts (NCPA™) brand, seek a semi-remote Executive FestivalProducer to lead the production effort of our NCPA Multicultural Performing Arts National Championships (MPANC), a multi-day festival currently out for city bid in either April or early June of 2024.

The Executive Festival Producer will be a key leader and decision-maker in the planning and execution of the 2024 MPANC. This role will report to the CEO and will work closely with the CMO, Chief Talent Officer, UpStaged staff, and additional production support to achieve a successful weekend of events.

ABOUT UPSTAGED

As the NCAA of college and high school performing arts, we empower and organize the nation's completely fragmented, unmonetized7.5M student performers (500k groups, 35 genres) through similar practices as their well-organized 480k student athlete peers (20k teams, 24 sports), who generate over $14 Billion annually.

By superimposing successful and profitable sports business models on top of the performing arts landscape, UpStaged is creating a market-changing platform for these committed young student performers, who deserve such equal opportunities for competition, community, recognition, and desperately needed financial funding.

At our base, we specialize in producing "March Madness meets Pitch Perfect" style bracketed championships across 35 diverse performing genres such as jazz, a cappella, comedy, mariachi, and gospel. In addition, our event portfolio includes a wide variety of show formats, such as our college holiday specials being pitched to broadcast.

Our most recent event, the 2023 NCPA & NHSPA Step Championships, held in Harlem's world-famous Apollo Theater with prizes totaling $10,000, was a blowout success and received extensive featured media coverage in outlets such as NBC, Fox, NPR Morning Edition, and Black Enterprise.

As we build a relationship with a target demographic of millions of untapped 16-24 yr. old student performers and their tens of millions of loyal family members, friends, fans and college alumni, the broader business model is to own the content, data, and platform, the IMDB ($3.3 Bil. valuation) of College and High School performing arts.

Our most comparable company is Varsity Spirit (organizes cheer like UpStaged’s 35 performing genres) and sold to Bain for $750+ Million.

Additional Background and Press Materials:

• UpStaged Promotional Video – youtu.be/-UbmCDR7fHg

• 2023 Apollo Theater Step Championship Highlights - youtu.be/gftVO1dqs1w

• A Cappella Event Press: NPR - bit.ly/npr-a-cappella

• Apollo Step Event Press: Black Enterprise - bit.ly/black-enterpris-apollo

ABOUT FESTIVAL

The Multicultural Performing Arts National Championships is a novel, yet market-tested event staged over a 4-day period. Attendees participate in a series of national performing arts competitions, panel discussions, social and networking events, and an awards banquet. Satellite events include performing arts related Continuing Legal Education (CLE) industry panels, and in future years, trade shows and talent scouting events.

At the Championships’ core are the NCAA-style bracketed, one-on-one national performing arts competitions in genres such as Step, Breakdancing, Gospel, and more, where teams compete for cash prizes and school pride. The first collegiate and high school championships, our NCPA “Step and the City” event at New York City’s Lincoln Center in February 2020, was highly acclaimed by competitors, sponsors, attendees, and the press.

The festival weekend aims to bring together the performing arts community and industry leaders, alongside media, sponsors and advertisers who have an interest in the huge, untapped ecosystem which is college and high school performing arts, which includes performers, fans, friends and families, universities and high schools, alumni, as well as industry representatives.

ROLE SUMMARY

Main role responsibilities:

• Head of Production – Create, manage, and lead a team of staff and volunteers to successfully helm our Friday and Saturday Night 2.5-hour competitions – as well as surrounding satellite events – both in lead-up and in-market.

• Venue Ownership – Act as the lead UpStaged representative for all venue relationships, including: organizing search and site visits, handling negotiations, agreements and finalizing contracts, coordinating insurance requirements, and point of contact communications throughout the festival.

• Preparation and Execution – Manage festival logistics needs, including 3rd party vendors and rentals, keeping team members to schedule, and making sure nothing is falling through the cracks.

• Budget Management – Helping to create and be the guardian of a working production budget. Outlining and acquiring production staff and resources as needed.

IDEAL CANDIDATE PROFILE

The ideal candidate will have the following:

• Record of Producing Events – A deep familiarity and understanding of event execution, talent handling, creative direction, working with A/V, run of shows, technical production elements, union and non-union crews, and on-the-fly problem solving, to name a few.

• Budget Experience – Proven success and comfort level in building and keeping meticulous, multi-event budgets. Possesses a working knowledge and familiarity of real-world production costs, as well as creative financial problem-solving where needed.

• Strong Written & Phone Communication Skills – Ability to write and edit clear, structured copy, oversee and efficiently communicate internally and with external partners and contractors, and using several communication tools such as calls, texts, emails, and video conferencing.

• A “Roll Up Your Sleeves” Leader – High comfort level of proactive work in a lean, entrepreneurial, and nimble organization, and a demonstrated experience of professional leadership. Ability to self-manage, manage others, and stay flexible to whatever challenges arise.

• Effective Working in Diverse Teams – UpStaged has a small, diverse virtual team, varying in age, location, background, experience, from NYC to Hong Kong. In addition, this Festival is a celebration of multicultural communities. Candidates should both be able to possess and practice empathy, social awareness, and cultural competency, internally and externally

• Talent/Competition Management & Recruitment – An experienced understanding and ability to oversee talent recruitmentefforts of UpStaged Genre leaders, as well as communications and material collection from student performing teams.

Additional consideration will be given to candidates with a history of event talent management, such as performing artists, athletes, or speakers.

Job Type: Contract

Location: Remote, New York Metropolitan Area Preferred

Compensation: $8,000-$10,000 Per Month

Job Type: Contract

Pay: $8,000.00 - $10,000.00 per month

Schedule:

• 10 hour shift
• 12 hour shift
• Day shift
• Evening shift
• Holidays
• Monday to Friday
• Weekends as needed

Education:

• Bachelor's (Preferred)

Experience:

• Event PRODUCER: 5 years (Required)
• Management: 5 years (Required)
• Event Marketing: 5 years (Required)
• Budget Management: 5 years (Required)
• Writing skills: 10 years (Required)
• Communication skills: 10 years (Required)
• Talent Recruitment: 5 years (Required)
• Organizational management: 5 years (Required)
• Logistics: 5 years (Required)

Language:

• English (Required)

Ability to Commute:

• New York, NY 10019 (Preferred)

Work Location: Hybrid remote in New York, NY 10019