Performing Arts Chair and Concerts @ Crocker Park Producer Brian Wheeler said his ultimate goal for the Marblehead Arts Festival’s concert series is to make sure everybody walks away feeling happy.
“So that includes the audience, the crew, the bands, the town, the neighbors, and generally everybody we touch along the way,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler said when he was 16 years old, he saw the festival’s concerts for the first time. At the time, he was sitting and playing guitar with a friend.
“I watched all the activity going on in the park and I thought, ‘Jesus, this is pretty cool,’” Wheeler said.
This experience kicked off a lifetime of involvement in the Marblehead Arts Festival. Wheeler became a crew member in 1975 and has been a part of the magic ever since.
In 1998, he said he was invited to take over as co-chair of the Performing Arts Committee and completely took over in 2000.
Wheeler said his team is responsible for building the entire show. He is also responsible for booking the entertainment and installing the sound and the light.
“Really anything that touches our concert series, I’m responsible for and interacting with,” Wheeler said. “We literally take the park from the grass, and we build a 30 by 20 stage, professional sound, and lights. And we have a crew of 15 or 20 people that come in and help us produce the concerts, and we have 16 acts over four nights and three days this year of all different types of music.”
Wheeler said one of the most fulfilling parts of the festival is an internship program for high-school and college students, who learn how to do live sound and stage management.
He said that the internship program and being able to work with the students has “been a really very fulfilling part of what I do.”
“We bring in, in most cases, people that have never been or haven’t ever heard of a Marblehead, let alone know what Marblehead is, and they come and be part of our crew for the six or seven days that we’re together,” he said. “And that’s something I’m really, really proud of.”
The program is 23 years old and the internship has served more than 300 kids. He said a large majority of them now have professional lighting or sound vocations, or have continued to stay in the business in another way.
Wheeler mentioned Tyson Miller, who was an intern for the concert series when he was 15 years old. This year, he is coming back to Marblehead to be the lighting designer after spending the last few years in London and Dubai doing lighting.
“It’s really exciting to see that come full circle,” Wheeler said.
He said his favorite part of the concert series is bringing all generations of the community together “under the umbrella of music.”
The 58th Marblehead Festival of Arts Performing Arts Committee will bring together more than 75 performers representing a wide variety of musical genres, including jazz, salsa, Cajun/zydeco, reggae, folk, soul, R&B, and rock ‘n roll.
“Everything, from the minute we walk on to Crocker Park until we leave, it’s all exciting. It’s all fun,” Wheeler said. “Crocker Park is just a gorgeous sandbox that we get to play in. It’s about 100 feet off the harbor and it’s really one of the most beautiful venues in the world that we’re lucky to have the opportunity to use.”
The 2024 Concerts @ Crocker Park schedule kicks off on Wednesday, July 3 at 6 p.m. For schedules, band bios, photos, and other links, visit www.marbleheadfesatival.org/performingarts