Statement of Purpose

Statement of Purpose

Event Promotion and Production

Jimmy Hunt

My concentration is Event Promotion and Production, with specific attention within the music industry. I am pulling from all my different backgrounds, such as my two prior majors; Business Management and Political Science. In addition, I am using my real life experiences and company to help guide me through my concentration.

Event Promotion and Production covers many areas of study which I’ve already taken and many I wish to pursue while at ASU. The events which I’ve already produced tie in other aspects of my study, such as Sustainable Development which I now take with Chuck Smith.

Specifically, Event Promotion and Production is the ability to plan, promote, and produce community events, with music being the main feature. These events are important because they are my medium to which I transfer other important life messages, such as sustainable living. Moreover, I use my business background to gage the correct logistics of large scale production, such as budgeting, finances, and break even points. I intend to fully support myself and my family with the events which I promote and produce, so my major is a directly effecting my future by giving me hands on guidance.

The classes I am taking for my concentration range from Sustainable Development to Histories of Knowledge. I intend to pull the tools from each class I need to help make the events more successful. For instance, another class in my IDS studies is Karl Marx’s Capitalism. From this class, I’ve been able to draw out vital theories on labor and why people work. Theories such as these better me to understand approaching others to work for my events. It is helpful to understand which kind of people will work with what incentives, etc. Another class I am taking is Sustainable Development. My last event, our goal was to have as little trash/waste as possible. We encouraged people to only pack in what you were going to pack out and also required our vendors to serve on all compost-able material. In SD, I am learning that though my actions were in the right direction, they were only the tip of the ice berg. SD is helping me find ways to produce events in the long term and keep a long term sustainable aspect.

I choose IDS and my concentration for several different reasons, but mainly because the discontent I felt with other schools with ASU. I wanted a major and class structure which would allow me to create and move unrestricted throughout my studies. In doing this, I learn much more because my mind works better with this approach. I am so pleased so far with my short time spent with IDS because of many reason; class size, open discussion and theory based lectures, and an open minded approach. It is crucial for kids our age (18-22) to be able to think on their own and not be shipped in to a major, taught the basic fundamentals, and then shipped out. My concentration and IDS studies have left room for me to grow, make mistakes, and learn from those mistakes.