Annie DeVaux

Annie DeVaux is a performer and Production Sales Representative for Event Show Productions.  Event Show Productions is a corporate entertainment company that provides creative and technical services for corporations across the globe.  Annie has been performing for the company for eight years and recently has taken on the responsibility of putting together proposals for clients, who are looking for entertainment and production ideas at their next conference, party, and many other corporate events.  I got a chance to sit down with Annie and ask her a couple of questions regarding negotiating.

In the entertainment business, you have dealt with a lot of clients as a performer.  Now that you are proposing ideas to these clients and you know how some of them operate, how do you separate the people from the problem?

I always tell the client that it is going to work out.  Telling them that it is going to work out calms them down before we even get started.  I try to make them feel a part of the solution.  I do not give them multiple options.  I give them one option, and then get their feedback.  If they do not like the first option, then I give them another one.

Dave Ramsey

Finances are a very important part of life.  Whether you are a stay at home mom, a business owner, or a struggling musician, your financial outcomes can affect your life drastically.  I am currently taking a business finance class and I am learning how to budget and handle finances for my business.  This has really made me think about, not only my business but my personal views on how I handle my finances.  This has made me interested in getting rid of my debt and saving money so when my husband and I expand our family, our children will be well taken care of.  Who better to help with this part of my life then Dave Ramsey.

Dave Ramsey is very familiar with how you can be financially set one minute and then have nothing the next.  Ramsey is a financial author and motivational speaker, who help people manage their finances with his program Financial Peace University.  I first heard of this program a couple of years ago in my church, and now have many friends and family members who have benefitted from its classes.  Ramsey has classes for churches, military personnel, correctional facilities, nonprofit organizations, high school students, college students, and even businesses (Ramsey, Dave Ramsey Homepage, 2012). 

Performing for Love or Money

     Working in the entertainment industry can be a rollercoaster of emotions, jobs, and especially money.  The life of a performer definitely comes with its challenges, but many people are willing to go through the struggle, for the ultimate adrenaline rush of being on stage.

     Over the last couple of months, I have written about different performers in the Tampa Bay area.  All of them being very talented and living the daily grind of a performer.  Not knowing if a contract is going to be renewed, or when the next move is going to be, or when you are no longer the “it” performer can be very scary.  But all of these performers love what they do and the money does not matter.  Exposure is a big key to success but some performers choose to stay local and not take that next step into stardom.

Robert Gupta: Music is medicine, music is sanity

Music is medicine.  That is what Robert Gupta talked to his audience about in March of 2010 on the TED stage.  A violinist with the L.A. Philharmonic, Gupta talks about his encounter with a violinist, Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, who suffers from Paranoid Schizophrenia, and how this changed his mind on the power that music has over us.

In 2008, Robert Gupta met Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, after a concert he was involved in with the Philharmonics.  Ayers came back stage and met Gupta and they had a great conversation about music and life and then they both went on their way.  Before I tell you what happened next, let me tell you about the life of Nathaniel Anthony Ayers.

North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents

I have had the pleasure of performing in the entertainment industry for the past 5 years and I have gotten to a place in my life where I want more.  I want to take my experience to the next level and help others take their natural talents there as well.  I feel North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents can help me in this venture, by helping me develop professionalism and give me the community support I need to succeed.

NAPAMA is a non-for-profit service organization, founded in 1979.   This organization prides itself by promoting the professionalism of its members and the spirit of the performing arts.  Located in New York City, NAPAMA has helped artists, managers and performers for over 30 years.  Their mission statement is “to promote the best interest of performing arts agents and managers through leadership, professional developmental and alliances in the performing arts industry.”  All of NAPAMA’s active members consist of agents, agencies, presenters, associations and artists, and uses the Certified Performing Arts Executive Certification Programs to help their members with professional development.  They also collaborate with other organizations including Arts Midwest, Western Arts Alliance, Performing Arts, and many more.

Genuine Music Group

Artist management has become an interest of mine the more I am involved in the entertainment industry.  I have had the pleasure of working with many talented artists who do not have representation.  Since my blog is about unsigned, underrated, and undiscovered artists, this has helped me find those artists who need proper representation.  Trying to get into this avenue of the industry, I have researched other companies that can help me toward my goals.  One company who had the same idea in mind almost twenty years ago and has had continued success is called Genuine Music Group.

Genuine Music Group started in 1995, by Michael Mavrolas, with its mission being to manage and develop the careers of Music Producers and Songwriters.  The company decided to partner with Greg Johnson in 2002, and from there the company has grown dramatically.  The company now consists of four other avenues including, Genuine Representation Management, Genuine Music Publishing, Genuine Cinema, and Genuine Sports.    This expansion of focus has given Genuine Music Group the opportunity to help more then Music Producers and Songwriters; they can help a wider array of people and this has helped grow their business.

Belinda Womack

Singing in clubs at the age of eleven, Belinda Womack has become a beloved vocalist in the Tampa Bay Area.  Mostly known for her smooth jazz sound, Belinda has sung almost every genre of music over the past 47 years.

Born and raised in Augusta, Georgia, Belinda knew what she wanted at a very young age.  Living in the south during the civil rights era, she experienced a lot of racism and dangerous situations; but the one thing that could not be taken from her was her voice.  She sang in nightclubs with her Uncle Jerry, starting at the age of eleven, and then three days after she graduated from high school, she decided to move to Detroit, before going to Savannah State.  Belinda attended Savannah State from 1970-1972, until she got sick and had to give up her scholarship.  Since her grandparents could not afford paying her tuition for her, Belinda decided to move back to Augusta, and start singing with her uncle again.  After taking a year off, Belinda went back to school at the Medical College of Georgia in 1973, obtaining her associates degree.  Accomplishing this was great for Belinda, but in a couple of years, her degree would come second to her singing career.