Episode 007: Amber Shaverdi Huston Interview

My interview with Amber took place prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The conversation we had covers information about their live conferences and all the services NACA provides to their members. Since the pandemic, NACA has created a NACA Virtual section on their NACA.org website. This year they will be hosting two virtual conferences in October, 2020. Visit NACA.org/virtual for showcasing information, program schedules and ways that you can participate from home, in a dynamic college conference experience.

[02:20] Amber presents an overview of how NACA got started 60 years ago. It began as a regional small group to join together to bring entertainers to college campuses to enhance cultural activities for students.

[03:38] Amber describes the three main ways in which NACA serves their artist/ agent members. Their conferences live performance opportunities, the professional development offerings and multiple the block booking capabilities. With over 1000 college campus members internationally, artists have unique access points to find work on campuses.

[06:50] There are both National and Regional memberships to meet the artists where they are in their career. She describes the benefits and characteristics of each type of membership, what’s included and what resources are available with each.

[08:40] NACA college members are both four-year and two-year institutions. This opens additional daytime booking opportunities when working on Community college campuses whose club and activities programs run during the day.

[10:11] Amber describes two of the main differences between NACA and many of the other booking conferences. NACA’s focus on creating block booking opportunities for the artists attending the conferences is key. And college activities attendees to the conferences come knowing the types of acts that work on their campuses and are prepared to book the acts at the conference.

[11:21] There are multiple showcasing opportunities at the various conferences. Amber explains the processes for applying to showcase both in advance and onsite at the conference. She also describes the Spotlight High and Low showcases, the On-Site and Main showcases and how artist might benefit from each.

[13:09] She also highlights the newest showcasing platform the Low-Tech Stage set in the center of the conference. This on-site instant showcase is perfect for most smaller solo acoustic acts.

[14:07] Amber delves into how artists benefit from participating, presenting and attending in the educational sessions offered throughout the conference program. When artists learn about the issues students and staff are dealing with on campuses, they can better position their act to get booked on campus and appeal to the current student consumer.

[16:00] NACA has multiple conferences throughout the year. She talks about the National and the regional conferences and how some remain in the same location and other rotate year after year. Amber suggests how regional artists interested in breaking into the college market in their own region can take advantage of all that the regional conferences have to offer an artist or agent.

[18:11] We wrap up with some excellent insights for artists and why entering the college market through a NACA conference is such a powerful career building move. Earning a fan at this stage of their lives as a student can earn you a fan for life. The college market has a lot of buying power. 

[18:41] Keep in mind that so much of your musical tastes are formed during your college experiences. She points out how so many of our major stars in comedy and music, began their careers on college campuses, mentioning Margaret Cho, Dave Chappell, Jay Leno, John Stewart.

[20:02] Major entertainment companies and agencies want to develop the college market because they know those student fans will grow along with their artists even after college.

[22:20] She explains that the success of NACA is that it provides a real life learning environment for the students to engage in professional training, interaction with entertainment professionals and negotiation skills development that reach far beyond classroom studies. The artists that engage with the students in this dialog are the ones that often see the most success in the college environment.

[24:51] Amber shares her story of how she became the current and first woman Executive Director for NACA. She offers an open invitation for performers and agents to check out all that NACA has to offer by visiting NACA.org

If the college market might be a perfect fit for your act, then explore NACA.org for the information about their upcoming conference schedules, application time frames and membership packages.