The Spring 2013 Events Management Practicum Course is responsible for producing and executing Art in Motion: A Pedal Powered Experience, an event in conjunction with Manifest 2013. Art in Motion (AIM) is a bicycle-inspired collaborative event, representing the interactive, kinetic nature of art. It will feature bicycle-themed activities and art. In addition, representatives from the college’s clubs and activity groups will partake in the event and there will be live performances by Columbia students as well. AEMM Graduate student, Kashema Pearson, shares her experience in the Events Management Practicum course.

My experience in this class has truly been phenomenal. It is one of my favorite classes, hands down! Since the beginning of class, we jumped right into developing the mission and vision of our event. Once the goals and objectives were laid out, we broke into three groups: marketing and promotions, business administration, and programming/production. As a member of the programming/production team, I am in charge of recruiting student organizations to become vendors at our main lot. Midway through our semester, we gave a presentation to the Chair of our department, Philippe Ravanas, and the Live and Performings Arts Management Concentration Coordinator, Joe Bogdan. The presentation was to show our progress on the event and to persuade them to agree to our budget proposal to execute the event. The preparation was tedious, but we managed to give an impressive presentation (their exact words, not mine)!

With only two weeks to go until our debut, we are truly excited to execute all of our hard work. Although the experience has been extremely demanding and overwhelming, it has been very rewarding. I have more confidence and knowledge in producing events and I will be able to add it to my personal portfolio for future job endeavors. I would highly recommend this course to any student who has the passion or interest in producing large events. Thanks, AEMM, for such an amazing opportunity!