#4 Founding an Arts Company | For someone who never took dance as a child, Bernard Gaddis has had an esteemed career, having worked as a principal dancer for years with Cirque du Soliel, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Philadanco & The Lion King just to name a few. Now settled in Las Vegas, Bernard is the Founder and Artistic Director of Contemporary West Dance Theater (CWDT), one of 2x of Las Vegas' main contemporary dance companies. Starting late in his teen years, phenomenal work ethic and long hours gave Bernard the opportunities his career afforded him with some of the best dance companies in the world. He tells us about the story behind CWDT and what roles and responsibilities come with being a Founder of an arts organisation as opposed to solely an Artistic Director. Diversity in his company and within the arts is one of his core values as a founder and he discusses how this has evolved with the maturity of the community of Vegas itself - outside the strip. Bernard has never stopped learning in performing arts and as he focuses on CWDT as his primary passion he has learned the importance of loyalty, juggling his artists wellbeing, dancer reputations, creating new work, sourcing funding and more. Bernard gives perspective on those in a position of power and their recognition and support of the arts as as a necessity including modern day leaders recognising the need for the arts. Spirit drives Bernard's work and he enlightens us on the importance of spirit in the creation of anything, whether it be dance, theatre, music or art. The tool kit of the leader in an arts organisation is crucial and Bernard shares with us what his ups and downs along the way have been and the importance of taking another leap forward as an arts company every five years. His career working with the likes of Cirque du Soleil or Alvin Ailey helped Bernard grow as he tells us how he has not only worked with but observed the top leaders in the dance and arts worlds which have helped shape him into the founder he has become today.

Check out Bernard Gaddis' company: http://lvdance.org/
If you have any questions on today's episode or to be featured, contact us directly at [email protected]

#3 Three Decades in Performing Arts | Chatting with Tom Gallant is like receiving wisdom from one of the most inviting maestros of the stage world. He has booked in over 5000 shows in his time and answers all of our questions surrounding buying and selling performing arts shows and the every changing landscape of the touring world. His agency General Arts Touring has only been around somewhere close to 10 years, but its Tom’s third time over and he shares the story into how his journey has changed and what he has learnt along the way. From big postage bills to YouTube, Tom has seen a few evolutions through his time in the way performing arts business has evolved. Starting out as an oboe player, Tom was originally and still is a classical music artist. His eclectic Juilliard school ensemble is an award winning group who sit proudly within his broad yet defined roster of touring artists his agency represents. With over 35 years of knowledge in the Performing Arts Industry game, Tom chats to me and answers my questions giving insight into the labyrinth of show business intricacies some of which include:

• Changing an agency typecast
• The rise of the Performing Arts Center and comparing venues in the US & Australia 
• Regional touring
• Commercial vs. Non-Commercial Venues 
• How selling shows has changed 
• The importance of building relationships in the Arts
• Changes in selling shows with the pandemic
• What do performers need to get bought?
• Show pricing

Tom’s biggest tip for any artists is to clean up your YouTube! Have a look into General Arts Touring here: https://www.generalartstouring.com/
And better yet, Tom’s own ensemble, Frisson here: https://www.frissonensemble.com/ If you have any questions on today's episode or to be featured, contact us directly at [email protected]

#2 Presenting the Arts | Performing Arts presenter and programmer Duncan Horner bring you his insights on what presenters do when they buy live shows for their season. 

Duncan has had a pretty adventurous life so far with working his way from a small english village to heading up National marketing campaigns for brands such as Bacardi and Coors, he is now the Executive Director (the guy with the power), at Vilar Performing Arts Center. 

The unusual thing with Vilar, is that it is located in the affluent Vail Valley region and it is there that with only 530 seats, Duncan is programming live entertainment and performing arts from the likes of broadway sensations such as Carole King right through to the Youtube sensations Collision of Rhythm.

We chat about Duncan's journey and how one gets into presenting and programming performing arts, as well as what he looks for in shows, tour routing in the wild west and how funding for venues such as his works. As the conversation evolves Duncan shares his thoughts on how the ever changing landscape of social media, new rising talent and the global pandemic will change performing arts trends.

Check out Duncan's venue: https://vilarpac.org/
If you have any questions on today's episode or to be featured, contact us directly at [email protected]

#1 Create, Sell, Perform | Join our journey navigating the world of show business, live entertainment and performing arts. I am Brent Pace and join me as I head out into the arts world with our very first podcast episode. This episode I am joined by Ron DeStefano, a producing agent from EPIC Arts Management in NYC where we discuss the three core elements in today's show business: creating, selling and performing. Ron's story is an insightful one as he has gone from student to performer to producer and now into a successful independent agent manager. I ask him some of the most commonly unknown questions for anyone getting into the performing arts business industry about how we can learn to go from creating a show to putting on a stage and then follow that through with getting it sold to perform across the globe. We commence our show with this episode learning about the basics in the performing arts business and hear some great tips and insight told through Ron's journey as he has navigated his way starting EPIC. Having gone from being clueless about the entertainment industry, to now having evolved his artist management company over the past 5 years, Ron shares with me his insight that he has learned along the way and what has taken his passion for performing into a full functioning performing arts career. For any questions relating to the above or to be featured, contact me directly at [email protected]