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	Vol.7, No 57, December 8, 1999
	Students taught to plan concerts By Sarah LaVoie Daily Forty-Niner Instead of watching concerts on campus, Cal State Long Beach students may soon be throwing them because of a new certificate program. The first batch of CSULB students has recently completed the first-ever certificate program in Concert Production and Promotion through University College and Extension Services. "Since there's no formal education in concert production, there's no way to get anybody who's trained," said Penni Wells, director of the entertainment studies program for extension services. "House of Blues Concerts found out about the program and asked if they could have some interns, and this was before the class even began." Production includes hiring the artist, reserving the venue and dealing with artist representatives, attorneys, vendors and sponsors, Wells said. Promoting focuses on creating a buzz through marketing and publicity, Wells said. Already showing their skills, three students in the class have formed a partnership and are now producing a concert to take place within the next year, Wells said. "They've got a great business plan and they're right on track from what the instructors have seen so far," she said. The 13 participants from the fall semester were the first to experience a class of this nature. "What we like to do at Cal State Long Beach is create things from scratch, things that aren't offered anywhere else," Wells said. The program has a partnership with the New Mix 95.9-FM and the Crazy Horse Steakhouse and Saloon,  Wells said. The final project is to participate as interns in a live event at the new Crazy Horse venue, a 588-seat facility in the Irvine Spectrum. Teaching the class are music industry professionals with different backgrounds and specialties. "We pride ourselves on being able to connect with people who have information and positions in the industry that we want to talk about," Wells said. "One of our instructors is the head of Music Business Affairs for William Morris Talent Agency, the largest talent agency in the world." Other instructors include on-air personalities and the program director for the New Mix. "The things that people seem to be really curious about are the secrets of booking, how one goes about getting covered with legal permits and security and that kind of thing," Wells said. "We're very focused on them carrying things away from the class that give them the tools to do the job they need to do." The next group of students will begin class March 4, which will include an additional week of instruction. "We've already expanded it to seven weeks," Wells said. "There's more information that we feel students need to have." Wells plans to get more artists and artist representatives to teach next semester.		Snow falls on L.B. neighborhood   Faculty pensions to soon increase   Students taught to plan concerts   New traffic light may be needed on campus   Report warns parents of toy dangers Low cost school Harris could score at will   49ers predicting team will rebound against Air Force Fall 99 ISSUES DAILY 49ER HOMEPAGE
Forty-Niner Publications, Department of Journalism, California State University, Long Beach ©1999 All rights reserved.