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Musician parlays talent into multi-faceted career
* reviews *
music arts
productions
productions
| next show: tba |
{
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The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas
Pamela Nelson
Springdale
by Sean Campbell
Professional Profiles
The company's name: Music Arts Productions
Your positions/title in the company: Owner/Director
What your company does: There are many phases to
what we do. We book entertainment for corporate events,
private parties and fundraisers; we plan corporate and
business functions, from shareholders' meetings to retreats,
which include anything from consulting - like suggesting
caterers or activities - to arranging the entire event within a
given budget.
Our clients have included Bekaert, the Wal-Mart
Shareholders' Meeting, the Wal-Mart Vendor fair and the
1993 and 1997 presidential inaugurals.
We bring in bands and singers for events; this can be
anything from a soloist for a wedding to a big band for a
corporate function. We also provide celebrity entertainment,
bring in sports celebrities like Troy Aikman and J.C. Sneed,
celebrity look-alikes, national speakers, hire models and
promotional talent for vendors, provide event management,
consult with caterers, provide disc jockeys - basically, we
can provide anything anyone needs - or die trying!
We also do wedding planning and arrange wedding music,
and we have worked with churches to do marketing,
advertising, consulting and seminars on growing the church.
We can do as much or as little as someone needs us to do.
Q: How long have you had this position?
A: The company has been in business since 1980; it evolved
over the years from just being a talent -booking agency to
doing the other things I've mentioned.
Q: How did you find out about this position?
A: I started out singing in church when I was 12; a lot of
people asked me to sing, so I started doing that. Then I was
very involved with music in high school, got my degree in
music education, knew a lot of musicians and played in
bands. People starting calling me and asking when they had
a wedding or other event, if I knew someone I could get to
play for them. I was doing so much of it that I decided to turn
it into a business.
Q: Does you work require any special training or
education? What was your background prior to this?
A: I went to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville; my
degree was in music education. I taught private piano, voice
and pageant training for 15 years and was involved in the
Miss Arkansas Scholarship Pageant (Miss America system)
for a number of years...first, as a contestant, then as a judge
and finally as a trainer for contestants.
Q: Was this a career change for you? If yes, what
prompted you to make the change?
A: No. I don't consider this a career change. I've always done
this, even when I took on other things like when I developed a
hostess program for the Northwest Arkansas Mall while they
were remodeling; the hostesses were stationed in the mall to
answer questions and direct people to new store locations.l
I've also done fund raising for the Arkansas Children's
Hospital.
Q: How does this fit into your long-term career goals:
A: I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow; one thing I
really like about what I do is that every day is different.
Q: Any advice to job-seekers looking for similar
employment: Was there anything in particular that
helped you get into this line of work?
A: If they want to do it, they need to come to work for me?
But, I think one thing that helps is being a native of the area.
I've traveled all over the world, but I've never really lived
anywhere else. Knowing the area and people gives me
resources and contacts I need to make arrangements for
people and businesses when they are planning events.
Q: What do you enjoy generally or specifically about
this line of work?
A: It gives me the chance to be creative; it's not everyone
that gets to dress someone up like Charlie Chaplin or Elvis.
And I've been able to meet so many celebrities; just at the
inaugurations alone, I could give you a list a mile long of
celebrities we met. And it's interesting to meet them and find
out that they're just people like the rest of us. And I meet so
many interesting people and find out about their businesses
and what their companies do.
Pamela Nelson
Springdale
by Sean Campbell
Professional Profiles
The company's name: Music Arts Productions
Your positions/title in the company: Owner/Director
What your company does: There are many phases to
what we do. We book entertainment for corporate events,
private parties and fundraisers; we plan corporate and
business functions, from shareholders' meetings to retreats,
which include anything from consulting - like suggesting
caterers or activities - to arranging the entire event within a
given budget.
Our clients have included Bekaert, the Wal-Mart
Shareholders' Meeting, the Wal-Mart Vendor fair and the
1993 and 1997 presidential inaugurals.
We bring in bands and singers for events; this can be
anything from a soloist for a wedding to a big band for a
corporate function. We also provide celebrity entertainment,
bring in sports celebrities like Troy Aikman and J.C. Sneed,
celebrity look-alikes, national speakers, hire models and
promotional talent for vendors, provide event management,
consult with caterers, provide disc jockeys - basically, we
can provide anything anyone needs - or die trying!
We also do wedding planning and arrange wedding music,
and we have worked with churches to do marketing,
advertising, consulting and seminars on growing the church.
We can do as much or as little as someone needs us to do.
Q: How long have you had this position?
A: The company has been in business since 1980; it evolved
over the years from just being a talent -booking agency to
doing the other things I've mentioned.
Q: How did you find out about this position?
A: I started out singing in church when I was 12; a lot of
people asked me to sing, so I started doing that. Then I was
very involved with music in high school, got my degree in
music education, knew a lot of musicians and played in
bands. People starting calling me and asking when they had
a wedding or other event, if I knew someone I could get to
play for them. I was doing so much of it that I decided to turn
it into a business.
Q: Does you work require any special training or
education? What was your background prior to this?
A: I went to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville; my
degree was in music education. I taught private piano, voice
and pageant training for 15 years and was involved in the
Miss Arkansas Scholarship Pageant (Miss America system)
for a number of years...first, as a contestant, then as a judge
and finally as a trainer for contestants.
Q: Was this a career change for you? If yes, what
prompted you to make the change?
A: No. I don't consider this a career change. I've always done
this, even when I took on other things like when I developed a
hostess program for the Northwest Arkansas Mall while they
were remodeling; the hostesses were stationed in the mall to
answer questions and direct people to new store locations.l
I've also done fund raising for the Arkansas Children's
Hospital.
Q: How does this fit into your long-term career goals:
A: I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow; one thing I
really like about what I do is that every day is different.
Q: Any advice to job-seekers looking for similar
employment: Was there anything in particular that
helped you get into this line of work?
A: If they want to do it, they need to come to work for me?
But, I think one thing that helps is being a native of the area.
I've traveled all over the world, but I've never really lived
anywhere else. Knowing the area and people gives me
resources and contacts I need to make arrangements for
people and businesses when they are planning events.
Q: What do you enjoy generally or specifically about
this line of work?
A: It gives me the chance to be creative; it's not everyone
that gets to dress someone up like Charlie Chaplin or Elvis.
And I've been able to meet so many celebrities; just at the
inaugurations alone, I could give you a list a mile long of
celebrities we met. And it's interesting to meet them and find
out that they're just people like the rest of us. And I meet so
many interesting people and find out about their businesses
and what their companies do.
Mall’s music venue to
offer medley of shows
BY STACEY ROBERTS
Posted on Sunday, May 22, 2005
Construction continues on the Arkansas
Music Pavilion at the Northwest Arkansas
Mall in Fayetteville, the latest
entertainment venue scheduled for
Benton and Washington counties.
Can another music venue compete and
succeed in Northwest Arkansas?
Pamela Nelson, owner and director of
Music Arts Productions, books musical
entertainment in Northwest Arkansas
and sees a need for the medium-size
music venues in the area. "Our area is
lacking in venues where older people
who might want to go listen to music
without having to go to a bar can go,"
Nelson said. "Charitable organizations
might need larger facilities for their
events than the Walton Arts Center,
which is somewhat limited. A lot of artists
would support charitable events."
Amy Mack of Fayetteville and her
husband hatched the concept for the
new music pavilion and agrees with
Nelson. When the couple moved to the
area from Atlanta, they saw the need for
an outdoor entertainment experience.
Each venue has its target audience,
Mack said. "We won’t necessarily
compete with each other. We just offer
different experiences." Included on the
pavilion’s summer schedule are second-
run movies, children’s programs and
concerts by local musicians.
The 2,500-seat newcomer is moving into
territory already occupied by a handful
of entertainment venues of various sizes.
Fayetteville is known for its Dickson
Street entertainment district and the
1,200-seat Walton Arts Center as live-
music showcases. Bentonville has the
1,200-seat Arend Arts Center at
Bentonville High School as a concert
option. The 2,472-seat Rogers Expo
Center has also been used as a concert
hall.
The investors in the Arkansas Music
Pavilion, also called the AMP, did
become concerned when they began
hearing of other music venues coming
into the area, Mack said. But they
studied 2,200 music venues across the
country while writing the AMP’s business
plan. Mack and her husband, Greg
White, spearheaded the idea of a
multiuse outdoor pavilion and recruited a
number of couples and families to invest
in the project. "The AMP is large enough
to attract nice-sized acts but still feel
intimate. We think it is very economical in
the area," Amy Mack said.
The AMP will benefit from its open
construction, Mack said. The pavilion
covers the seating from rain, but the
sides are open so patrons can still enjoy
the outdoors. "We call it a place where
the environment is as good as the
entertainment," she said.
The Rogers Expo Center operated as a
concert hall on March 24 when Joe
Nichols and Blake Shelton performed
there, but the real target for the Dixie
Development Inc.-owned building is
trade shows and "diverse community
activities," said Expo Executive Director
Kimberly Polite. "We do some concerts,
but it is not our primary focus," she said.
The 54,000-square-foot building is
designed to adapt to a number of uses,
from dog shows and boat shows to
conventions and holiday parties. "You
name it, we can host it," Polite said.
But once facilities such as the AMP are
available, will promoters be able to book
the names and acts needed to fill the
seats?
Although big-name acts might not be
immediately available for concerts in
Northwest Arkansas, many can be
persuaded to add a concert in this area
if they are traveling between bookings,
Nelson said.
A large part of drawing a performer is
determining the ticket price, Nelson said.
"Anyone [performers] will come if the
ticket price is high enough." What is yet
to be determined is if people in
Northwest Arkansas are ready to pay the
prices some acts would demand. Plus,
most contracts allow a performer to
cancel shows if ticket sales don’t reach a
certain percentage.
The AMP won’t have to depend on
concerts as the only income, Mack said.
By planning a variety of entertainment,
such as the movie series and children’s
programs, she hopes to encourage
people to attend events there regularly.
"We want them to come to think of the
AMP as an important weekly part of their
summer fun," she said.
Copyright © 2001-2005 Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights
reserved.
"pamela nelson sings
with ease and grace.
Her agile rich tone
can bounce and swing
with little effort."
Darren Crisp
Crisp Recording
with ease and grace.
Her agile rich tone
can bounce and swing
with little effort."
Darren Crisp
Crisp Recording
"pamela nelson
combines the stage
presence of the
experienced
performer with the
crystal clear tone
of the true
vocalist.
altogether
professional,
altogether pleasing!"
~ ~ joe giles
combines the stage
presence of the
experienced
performer with the
crystal clear tone
of the true
vocalist.
altogether
professional,
altogether pleasing!"
~ ~ joe giles