The Tourism, Event, and Sport Management faculty are all believers in the power of hands-on and experiential learning. We are always collectively looking for opportunities to bring our classroom content to life with our students in real world experiences. We were already gearing up for 2024 to be a year of incredible opportunity in Indianapolis with events like NBA All Star in February, NCAA Men’s Basketball in March, the Solar Eclipse in April, and the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials in June. These were all on top of our typical annual events and conventions – Indy 500, Gen Con, FFA National Convention, and Big 10 Football Championship. Then came the cherry on top, Taylor Swift announced 3 days of shows for November as the end of the Eras Tour.
A Class on Taylor Swift?
How do we engage our students and help them maximize 2024 as resume and learning experiences? That was the question our team worked on. Every event had an answer of classroom projects, internships, jobs, and volunteerism. However, the Taylor Swift visit, we felt, deserved a unique approach. Many of us were involved in Indy hosting Super Bowl XLVI in 2008 and will carry those memories with us forever. The Taylor weekend had the ability to be the biggest thing to hit Indy since that Super Bowl. So, we decided to build a class – On Tour With Pop Icons. A one-time, special topic course that would engage students in the weekend, but also take them behind the scenes and into the business of producing world-scale live music events.
The Perfect Instructor
We couldn’t do the class without the perfect instructor, and we knew who it was. TESM has been building an incredible relationship with the local Live Nation venues and teams over the last 5 years. Our classes tour their venues and MANY students and alums work at them throughout the year. We are lucky that Andrew Newport, Regional Vice President of Operations with Live Nation, lives in our community and has been a big part of building the TESM/Live Nation relationship. With over 20 years of experience in the live music and venue management industry, all of which has been in Indianapolis, he had the expertise and knowledge to make this class more than just fanning over Taylor Swift. We worked with Andrew to craft a course that would allow students to:
- Analyze the psychology of superstardom, while understanding Taylor Swift’s history and business model
- Explore how music brands are built and managed in the live event industry
- Understand the process of booking and promoting music events in different communities
- Review the logistics and labor necessary to produce large-scale music events
- Appreciate the process of event budgeting, setting ticket prices, and selling tickets
- Analyze the economic impact of events on destinations and local populations
- Explore the career opportunities available in the live music industry
Diverse Students
We created the class live but online to allow any student from any major across all the IU campuses to be able to take it. This was a success and brought a diversity of students to the calls that contributed to unique and interesting questions and conversations. There are students in the class majoring in business, communications, public safety management, HR, sport management, and event management. They were diverse in their music interested and live event experiences too. One student had only been to their first live music concert in May. I was fully expecting a class filled with “Swifties”. I was wrong. Many mentioned on the first day that Taylor Swift was ok, but they didn’t think of themselves as “Swifties”. Half way through the class, this started to shift though. Not because they fell in love with the music suddenly, but because they got an opportunity to learn about how Taylor Swift and her team have handled her stardom as a business with positive impacts in all directions. They grew to respect her.
The Weekend
As I mentioned, we wanted this class to be experiential. So, we worked early with Visit Indy and Downtown Indy, Inc. to identify ways the students could engage in city initiatives, support local businesses leveraging the weekend, and be ambassadors of Hoosier Hospitality. We wanted them to see first-hand the human and visual impact of the event. A couple of students came into the class with lucky tickets to experience the events inside too.
Visit Indy put together an incredible website resource for locals and visitors alike with details on everything happening that weekend. The students volunteered at multiple events over the three days. Some with the Indiana State Museum to support their TAY/gate event, some with Crystal Catering for their SWIFT + SHIMMER Pre-Party, but most of the class with Visit Indy and Downtown Indy Inc. for the Swift City Street Team.
The Street Team were on the ground, pink Indy uniformed ambassadors of Indianapolis, there to greet the over 200,000 visitors from around the country and world. Going in, the city knew that 81% of the tickets were sold to fans outside Indiana. This was an opportunity to highlight the city’s ability to host a large-scale event, while fostering a welcoming, vibrant, and engaging environment. The students manned the streets in key locations, such as Monument Circle, Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Lucas Oil Stadium, and the Indiana Convention Center. They were equipped with over 5,000 friendship bracelets, Taylor Swift themed postcards, QR codes to resources, and information on hotels, restaurants, parking, and activations.
After the weekend, students wrote article reflections on LinkedIn about their experiences.
IU and Local Media Support
The university was so supportive of our unique class idea. They wanted to ensure the students involved were recognized and the community was aware of their engagement. Through IU studios, a few students were selected to participate in media interviews, articles, and press conferences – an additional professional learning experience. They made all of us proud.
- IU News – ‘On Tour with Pop Icons’ course explores ‘ins and outs’ of Swift’s Eras Tour in Indianapolis
- WRTV – IU Indianapolis course studies Taylor Swift, the Eras Tour
- WISHTV – Swifties street team volunteers to help Eras Tour visitors navigate Indy
- Indianapolis Business Journal – College students get inside look at Swift tour, will help visitors navigate Indy
#LoveIndy
Reading the reflections was incredible. It was just what we had hoped. The students really saw and experienced the class content come to life. The had a blast representing the city, handing out friendship bracelets, and seeing the Indy come to life with positivity and joy.
According to one of the students, “Whether it was Taylor-themed drinks, street signs, posters, or pre-parties, Indy was ready for it! I am excited to see what the future of Indianapolis holds for major events because of the success this past weekend.”
Another student said, “I’ve seen the city be full of people in the popular spots during event weekends, but this weekend the entire city was full all day, every day. The restaurants had over 2 hour waits before lunch hour even started and everyone seemed to be on a mission to get somewhere to do something. The public safety officers were at every event in downtown and at the busy intersections ensuring that traffic was flowing smoothly. This weekend could not have been possible without all the different parts of the city coming together to ensure that everyone was safe and having a good time.”
In the class after the weekend, Andrew led an incredible discussion where everyone shared their experiences. Ever student was excited to talk about what they saw and experienced. A couple of things stood out to me:
- “The city had police on every street, some on horseback. It was a huge event but you really felt safe and protected. The horses had giant friendship bracelets around their necks and police officers were giving friendship bracelets out to people. What an incredible way of bringing our community together with such positivity.”
- “I am not originally from Indy, but I am so proud to live here now. Our local events community is incredible the way they bring everyone together to host these events. I’m excited for my future here as a professional and as the place I call home.”
An unintended learning outcome was that communities that have a culture of growth, support, gratitude, and hospitality become wonderful places for events but even better places to live in. I hope many of these students stay after graduation and represent the future of our city. Maybe what they learned from that “crazy Taylor Swift class they took in college” will stay with them as lead our city in the big events to come.
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