*UCLA Jazz & Reggae Festival*

            The annual UCLA Jazz and Reggae Festival is a tradition for Los Angeleans and out-of-towners alike. Held every Memorial Day weekend, this picnic-style festival has drawn many top names in the music industry. This year, on “Jam Day,” artists featured included Lupe Fiasco and Talib Kweli.

            Being that I have attended about 5 of these festivals, I must say it is a huge production. Attending UCLA has allowed me to get a background access to the set up, and take down of the event. The main constant in the running of the festival is that there are teams everywhere. Clean up teams, security teams, stage teams, and even food and beverage teams. Teams facilitate the entire festival. As thousands fill the intramural field of UCLA, teams are everywhere running the show and keeping things in control. And although I do not know the budget of the festival, I do know the planning is year-round. I also know that the festival is very lucrative for the vendors working on the festival grounds.        

In my experience attending the festivals, there has always been a flawless execution.  There is a real peaceful and relaxing, yet exciting feel to the festival. Whether one attends both days of the festival or just one, the comfort of a simple day laying on the grass (or standing and dancing) with amazing food, non-alcoholic drinks, surrounded by a massive crowd is just…well… great. Walking through the event, it seems as if it is a bike chain properly connected---just moving in a constant flow. The collapse or failure of any micro-team (if you will) would affect the macro-essence of the event. As long as everyone does their job, there are no problems. So far, I have not seen any.

            I would assume that the artist recruiting team has one of the most important jobs in the festival committee, as music is the reason for the gathering. Customer satisfaction seems to rely mostly on the artists scheduled for the festival, the security of the festival, and the food and drink at the festival.  If anyone is in town during this event, I’d say it is somewhere you must attend!

http://jazzreggaefest.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JazzReggae_Festival_@_UCLA

http://www.facebook.com/jazzreggaefest