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[title]Event management specialist, Babylon
What do you do at Babylon?
“I’ve been here for six years. I was a guide for the first three, then I became the assistant to the venue manager. Now I’m in event management, which means that even though I don’t personally greet the artists, I’m responsible for planning every aspect of their stay here.”
How did you get into your line of work?
“I guess I could say I was schooled in it – I studied Cultural Management at Bilgi University.”
What does event management entail?
“We work together with the creative team to design Babylon’s program in line with both the artistic criteria and the budget. I’m responsible for maintaining communication between the creative and finance departments as well as with the rest of the team. Once an artist is confirmed to perform, I coordinate the rest of the process with regards to both the venue and marketing.”
What is it like to work within the music community?
“I don’t think there’s anyone who is difficult just for the sake of being difficult – sometimes they do things just to be funny. There was one musician who requested posters of Mike Tyson and Monica Bellucci backstage – it was more of a prank than anything; it’s not like they would cancel the show if we didn’t get those posters.”
Any musicians who are out of control?
“Not all of them get drunk and let loose. In fact, most of the big-time bands go through the whole concert without a drop of alcohol, since they have to play again the next day.”
So those huge parties thrown by musicians – were they all a lie?
“There’s none of that. In fact, the people working in this industry lead much crazier lives than musicians do: they have to attend concerts into the wee hours of the night, then report on them the next day. If you consider the fact that there’s an event going on more or less every night, followed by work the next day, you’ll begin to get a sense of how exhausting our lives are. Everyone in this industry has an incredible amount of energy – it’s a tough job.”