For those of you who know Farm Aid, you know that the 11 of us who work in the office all year helping farmers, raising money and stuffing t-shirts are the same folks who organize the Farm Aid concert.
Every September we shed our mild mannered non-profit alter egos and become rockstar concert producers (well at least we pretend to!).
Each staff member has concert responsibilities, as well as our regular non-profit charitable work. It’s kind of cool but can be overwhelming. All week staff divided their time between our office in Massachusetts and the concert site in NYC. Now, staff are already at the venue- working out of mobile trailers- their trusty laptops at their sides.
Carolyn and Glenda work most with production of the live show and the TV show. They work with the artist managers and the production people to make sure the show happens and everything is running smoothly.
Ted is legendary for his work in the cities we visit. He leaves the office first every year to organize farmer awareness events. This year it was a policy forum, and a fair in Union Square that takes place today.
Mark is part of the upstate/downstate caravan that Hank Herrara has been blogging for us about.
Laura coordinates all the volunteer help for day of show. This year I hear it’s over 600 folks!
Jen makes sure all the artist logistics are correct- who’s getting in when, how many people and busses they’re bringing, and where they’re sleeping. And she counts all the tickets! This year, Jen is also helping to make the concert green, organizing our recycling and composting efforts to reduce our environmental footprint!
Jeni still works on our website- making sure it’s up to date and captures your attention.
Nahreen takes care of the artists day of show- she makes sure they have fresh towels and good food in their dressing rooms.
Joel hangs out with the farmers in the FarmYard tent. It’s a great place to meet some of our favorite farmers.
Cornelia is getting her first introduction to Farm Aid and is helping some of our VIPs get to know Farm Aid a little bit better.
Finally, I post blogs from our bloggers, oversee the selling of the concert merchandise and field a lot of random questions.
All in all it’s a long, hard (but fun!) weekend’s work! Check out the staff bios for more info!