‘Why do we do what we do’ is a question everyone asks themselves at all points of life. Here’s what an Art Manager has to say…
Pavithra Ramaswamy – COO of evam entertainment, an avid traveller, official party planner, unofficial matchmaker and an occasional sabbatical taker.
I have often wondered in the past, why we do what we do at evam. I joined the organization in 2003 as a fresher and was given the opportunity to be part of the front-end team that managed shows. Post that I went on to do backstage, sound, marketing and in about 3 years, I ended up managing the team that did all of the above.
Being in a small organization like ours, ‘the why’ for an Arts manager could be any of the things below – the rush of doing something significant and seeing its impact immediately, the rush of being recognized & rewarded early, the rush of winning awards, the rush of being part of the team that manages good quality shows, the rush of co creating etc.
But then I realized, most of the time, the rush is mainly from seeing an audience appreciate both the Art form and the people behind the scenes! They wait in long queues to get their tickets to enter, patiently experience all that is in store front of house unassumingly, invest in the Art form itself with their undivided attention, stay back after show to interact with the artists, give valuable feedback and stay connected with the brand. For us Art managers, the biggest validation is from their occasional “thank you(s)”, endorsing head nods, gleaming smiles and the eagerness in their eyes to know when we will be playing next. They make us believe we have done something significant – and every once in while they give us a special note. :)
And so the team and I at evam truly believe that audiences are the most valuable stakeholders in our business. We wear our smiles proudly and when the curtain is up – we play hosts as if it were a wedding and the audience, our family, an integral part of the celebration.
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