Meet Brian Gamel | Managing Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brian Gamel and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brian, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Being engaged and involved in our community. As an arts organization in the suburbs outside of Atlanta, it is imperative that we continue to engage our community so they can see not only the value of art, but what it can mean to them. We have been lucky enough to establish ourselves as a pillar of our community and aid in the growth of our city, but none of that would be possible if we only focused internally. Our mission is to engage community with relevant art experiences every day. A lot of other arts organizations focus their mission on the excellence of the art, we argue that for art to truly engage community it has to be excellent inherently.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My journey to my current position wasn’t easy, no career in the arts is, but I’m thankful for the challenges along the way. I came into my current position primarily focused in theatre, as Woodstock Arts grew, so did the responsibilities I had. That included the creation of a concert series, what we call the Lantern Series. The whole goal of the series is to bring together different people and cultures centered around music, Woodstock didn’t need “just another concert venue.”

Learning a brand new industry while jumping in head first is not an easy task by any means. In producing theatre, you hire directors, actors, designers, etc. and work together to create an artistic vision, presenting is a completely separate entity. You work with agents to talk about the value of art to then hopefully come to an agreement and then bring the artist to your venue. If you get lucky you can work with other venues to bring the artist for multiple days into the state, the venues can pay slightly less, the artist makes more and only has to travel into the state once, it’s a win for everyone.

Learning about this industry was difficult, but the most important lesson, that I think extends to any practice, is that if there’s a conversation taking place, everyone in that conversation wants the deal to happen. If I can talk to an agent about an artist and we are close to a deal, the artist wants it, I want it, and the agent wants it. I think with the world as divided as it is today it’s sometimes hard to see that if we can all start a conversation, the natural goal is resolution for all parties.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would definitely have to bring them to some of my favorite OTP cities, Woodstock, Marietta, Roswell, and try some of the amazing food in these places. Ideally there would be some productions happening at one of the amazing theatres around the area. If we are looking to splurge, my wife recently took me to Bones for my birthday and it had to be one of the best steakhouse experiences I’ve ever had. We would obviously have to visit some of the great breweries in Atlanta, Monday Night is at the top of that list. Then I think a lot of people in the city forget how beautiful it is just outside of the city. I love to go on hikes up to Red Top, Amicalola Falls, and many other spots in North Georgia.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would love to shout out my two mentors while in college, Ombra Sandifer and Josh Wickham.

Ombra, or Mombra as her students loved to call her, not only taught me everything I know about stage management, but also everything I know about how to treat people and take care of people when they won’t take care of themselves. Theatre artists have a bad habit of throwing themselves into their work so hard they forget what truly matters. Whenever she would see a student was stressed and not taking care of themselves she would make sure they got food, and would even let them sleep in her office when needed. She unfortunately passed away a few years ago, but I know that she left a resounding impact on every student that got the pleasure of working with her.

Josh took a chance on me and allowed me to be one of the first undergraduate assistant production managers in school history. He taught me the importance of communication and delegation. I was able to focus my degree in production management because of him, but it was not the job I thought it was going in. I thought it was a lot more hands on, but he taught me that if you surround yourself with good people, give them autotomy and trust, then the work will follow. He is brilliant at budgeting, scheduling, and problem solving.

They both left a lasting impact on my life and were integral to my growth not only as a professional, but as a human.

Website: woodstockarts.org

Instagram: @woodstockgaarts

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodstockgaarts

Image Credits
Libby Williams