Alumni
Integrative Arts Degree Takes Alumnus from Rec Hall to Times Square
By Katherine Anne Hoffman
It all started in Rec Hall with a B-52s concert, $20 and a T-shirt. As a concert-obsessed firstyear student, Mark Shulman (’96 B.A. Integrative Arts) worked 20 hours as a stagehand setting up sound and lights for the B-52s under the University Concert Committee. That experience convinced him that his destiny lay in the music business, and today Shulman is a successful concert promoter working for Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) in New York City.
Although Shulman initially majored in media studies with a film/television option, after his concert experience, he decided to switch to a major that would allow him to pursue concert promotion. Professor Bill Kelly first introduced him to the Department of Integrative Arts, which enabled Shulman to prepare for a career in the music business. “The integrative arts major allowed me to spend time learning through independent study and internships while actually producing concerts and working at the Bryce Jordan Center,” Shulman recalls.
Shulman has worked hard to earn his current position at AEG. Directly after graduation in 1996, he accepted a job as production manager at the Bryce Jordan Center, which had opened just a few months earlier. A year later, he took a position in Washington, D.C., at the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. During that summer, he worked 100 shows in 90 days—from Bob Dylan to Riverdance. While Shulman enjoyed the experience, he says he “wanted to get into the business side of concerts and away from production.” So he moved to New York City and took a position as an assistant agent at the Agency for the Performing Arts (APA). At the APA, he learned booking and deal structures with artists such as Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, the Black Crowes, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and many others.
In 1999, he was offered a position with Metropolitan Entertainment as a talent buyer and jumped at the opportunity. During the next four years, he produced hundreds of shows in facilities such as the Hammerstein Ballroom, Theatre at Madison Square Garden, Central Park Summerstage and Radio City Music Hall. After Clear Channel Entertainment acquired Metropolitan Entertainment and the company was closed, Shulman took a position with the fledgling AEG, which is now the secondlargest concert promoter in the country.
Many college students might classify Shulman’s position of concert promoter as a dream job. He
works closely with artists, managers and promoters
on a daily basis and there is constant variety.“You can be doing a show with Elton John in Green
Bay on one day, and then fly to Portland, Maine, to
do a Clay Aiken show the next,” he says. This fastpaced,
non-stop job does have some drawbacks,
though: Shulman often works nights, weekends and
holidays. He has worked every Thanksgiving for
the past six years, but says, “these are sacrifices
that I am comfortable with.”
Those sacrifices pay off for both Shulman and
his clients. He has watched a number of artists blossom
over the course of his career. Five years ago he
took a chance with a band named String Cheese
Incident, and last year, he sold out their New Year’s
Eve show at Radio City Music Hall.
Shulman is clearly a man who gets results. One
of his goals when he began with AEG was to open
a concert venue in New York City. Scheduled to
open this year, the Nokia Theatre Times Square,
located directly underneath the MTV studios, will
be the culmination of that goal. This state-of-the art,
2,100-capacity ballroom will function as a concert
space, special event location and broadcast
facility. Shulman will program the facility with
shows and events, having taken the project from
concept to reality.
In light of his recent work with the Nokia Theatre construction, Shulman recalls Penn State professor Donald Kunze “opened my eyes to music, architecture and art in ways that expanded the scope of everything I have done. Many of the lessons that he taught bring clarity to my work today, especially in the theatre design and construction work I have done recently.” Shulman also credits Carol German, advisor to the University Concert Committee, with introducing him to the concert business in the first place.
Although Shulman interacts with famous and sometimes notorious artists daily, his sense of discretion is paramount. When asked about performers he works with, he replied, “The nature of the music business lends itself to an interesting cast of characters. Artists, managers, promoters and label executives come from a wide range of backgrounds and the mix can lead to some odd situations. I have found it is best to not tell stories about people, but suffice to say, some pretty crazy situations come up.”
Shulman staunchly believes that his Penn State education, and more specifically his integrative arts degree, because of its unique elements, led him to where he is today. “It must be difficult to keep track of integrative arts majors because we head off in so many different directions,” he says. “It is my hope that more students at Penn State will utilize the integrative arts major to take them where they want to be.”
