What classes do you need to run a venue?

Question:

What classes do you need to run a venue?

The venue will be for music.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Well, there is no set curriculum or list of classes for owning, operating, or managing a venue, however, some related courses of study would be Business, Event Planning & Management, and Marketing. Perhaps the college you will be attending will offer a mixture of those skills under the EP&M umbrella, or you can dual-major. Most of the Venue Managers I have come across have very "sharp" Ari Gold-like agent skills- good talkers, with the gift of gab, that also know the following, and know it very, very well and up-to-the-minute:

Who is touring NEXT YEAR. This means bands, ministers, theater, circus acts, etc.

What cities they will be visiting.

The names and numbers of their managers, promoters, and agents.

A list of very good, professional sound and lighting companies.

The first name of the Fire Marshall

The first name of a local police captain

A list of local concession stand operators

By memory, their entertainment attorney and insurance agent

The driver of the bud truck, personally

By heart, the size, loading dock length and door height, stage height and width, riggigng load maximums, floor load maximums, floor configurations, seating charts, exit, capacities, AC power capabilities, occupancy limits, etc, of their venue AND competing venues.

By heart, every type of fire suppresion and alert/alarm technique known to man and the flamre retardance rating of every material in the venue.

And, the local laws and codes regarding venues, of course.

Have all of this info, and it's a good start. Most venue managers, i beleive, worked their way up/down/across from small club owner, concert promoter, tour roadie, or soundman, simply because in those positions, you get a great deal of exposure to venue management.

Hope that helps. One more thing. A successful venue doesn't just specialize in music, unless it's a world-renouned acoustically perfect "music or symphony hall". Otherwise, it should be reconfigurable from everything from church to indoor water park.