Pollstar Live! Panel Preview: From Headliners To Fine Print – Putting The Festival Puzzle Together

Pollstar Live!, the world’s largest gathering of live entertainment professionals, returns to Los Angeles April 14-16 and will be held at Loews Hollywood Hotel. The three-day conference is a flagship event for Pollstar magazine with compelling keynotes, panels, roundtables and the Pollstar Awards, celebrating the best in the business, along with plenty of opportunities to network and engage in insightful discussions.

Pollstar Live! kicks off with Production Live!, the one-day companion conference that features panels on all topics related to staging live events, including lighting, video, stage management, sound technique, concert production, regulations, security and more.

Click these links for the Production Live! and the Pollstar Live! schedules. Register for Pollstar Live! here.

Moderator
Darby Moeller, Senior Director of Business Development, Sixthman

Speakers
Erika Elliott, Executive Artistic Director, Capital One City Parks Foundation, SummerStage
Josh Kurfirst, Partner & Global Head of Festivals, WME
Chamie McCurry, CMO & General Manager, Danny Wimmer Presents
Huston Powell, Promoter, C3 Presents
Allyna Sanchez, Music Agent, Creative Artists Agency

Despite a bevy of cancellations in recent years, festivals remain a favorite choice for fans, as well as a prime showcase for artists at all levels. With experts offering their perspectives from both the promoter and agency side of the business, this panel will give attendees a look at all the factors that come into play when putting on a successful fest.

“Festivals are where fan experience, artist development, and high-stakes deal-making all come together. I’m excited to moderate a conversation that gets past the surface level with people who are in the weeds on this every single day,” says panel moderator Darby Moeller, who serves as Senior Director of Business Development at Sixthman. During her more than 13 years at the company she’s built cruise and resort festivals with artists including Paramore, Jon Bon Jovi, Hallmark, Train, Coheed and Cambria, Kesha, Bert Kreischer, and Rock The Bells.

Speakers on the panel include Erika Elliott, the Executive Artistic Director for Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage in New York.

Chamie McCurry, the CMO & General Manager at Danny Wimmer Presents, will also share her experience. Danny Wimmer Presents festivals include Aftershock in Sacramento, California; Bourbon & Beyond and Louder Than Life in Louisville, Kentucky; and Welcome To Rockville in Daytona, Florida.

Repping the agency POV is WME’s Josh Kurfirst and CAA’s Allyna Sanchez. Sanchez’ roster at CAA includes ADELA, Rose Gray, Elkan, Eli, Hailey Knox, along with comedians Jon Stewart and Ellen DeGeneres, among others. She books all major festivals on the West Coast for CAA across the agency’s entire roster.

Asked what he’s looking forward to discussing during the panel, WME’s Kurfirst quips, “I’d love to know how Huston Powell is able to maintain his sanity.” Kurfirst, who serves as Partner and Global Head of Festivals, oversees the agency’s festival business, which includes heavy-hitter talent like Foo Fighters, Portugal The Man, Weezer, Tool, Tedeschi Trucks Band.

Powell, of C3 Presents, books Lollapalooza globally, including Chicago, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Paris, Berlin and India, as well as Gov Ball, When We Were Young and Darker Waves.