By BRUCE GOULD, guest columnist

The grand opening of the new Brown County Music Center has been set for Saturday, Aug. 24.

The opening performer will be announced on April 15 and tickets will go on sale April 19.

We hope to have one or two soft practice openings the week before the grand opening so the staff can get accustomed to the demands of their jobs. These soft openings will probably be the first opportunity for many Brown County residents to tour the venue.

All of the management staff is already experienced in their functional areas, so the challenge will be to get all other staff, especially volunteers, trained to a level of confidence in their ability to provide the guests all of the services necessary to result in a great entertainment experience. A large part of a venue’s success focuses on consistent outstanding experiences and repeat customers.

Virtually every sporting and entertainment venue, to include the BCMC, relies heavily on volunteers to perform such tasks as ushering and manning the parking lot in exchange for watching the show for free and other possible perks. Volunteers save the venue a considerable amount of money and volunteers are provided an opportunity to socialize and see a performance that they may otherwise not be able to view. An organized cadre of volunteers provides a win-win situation for everybody.

Applications to volunteer can be obtained by going to browncountymusiccenter.com and finding “volunteer.” Volunteers will receive appropriate training for whatever tasks they will perform and could easily be cross-trained to perform a number of tasks.

Almost 30 shows are in various stages of being booked at the BCMC by Live Nation, which does bookings for many major venues throughout the country.

Several key factors play into whether or not a performer will agree to perform in a particular venue, one of which is how it would fit into the performer’s overall schedule. Performers often travel by bus and have several truckloads of their own equipment, so there is an effort to schedule performances in a route that does not require excessive driving.

Another factor that affects a performer’s desire to play at a specific venue is how the performer is treated by the venue, and other unique features, such as the quality of accommodations and food, a good working relationship with the venue staff, and the overall quality of the venue in terms of sound and lighting, which impacts heavily on the quality of the performance as perceived by both the audience and also the performers. Inferior sound and lighting make it more difficult for performers to produce a great show, so performers may decline to play in a venue with poor sound and lighting.

Several key factors that will add significantly to the performer’s satisfaction with the BCMC venue are the serene location and the very close proximity to accommodations and food services. An area behind the venue is being designed to offer entertainers and their parties a great place to relax and enjoy activities such as playing basketball and having a cookout while looking out over woodland and pastures. Accommodations and restaurants are just a few minutes from the venue, so travel time will be minimal compared to venues in larger cities. The performer’s rest area behind the building will be expanded to meet the requests of performers.

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Do you have a question about the Brown County Music Center? Bruce Gould, vice president of the Maple Leaf Management Group, plans to answer questions in this regularly occurring column. Email your inquiry to [email protected].

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