Sarah Roffman Email & Phone Number

Washington, Dc, Us

As Production Manager of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, I oversee stage production and venue management, as well as support the buildout and trafficking of curatorial content throughout the process of a program's development. I recruit, hire and supervise the Production and Stage Crew, of about 35 people, during the Festival.As well, I lend support cross-departmentally in their team building and hiring by interviewing and recommending candidates for placement.Working closely with Tech, Operations, and Production, I facilitate contract procurement for vendors providing physical services on site, including security, medical, trailers, concessions, plumbing, waste management, composting, international shipping, and more. I build schedules to guide load in and load out, and support programmatic elements of the Festival with their operations needs. This vendor management encompasses a $500k-$1m budget.In 2020, I led the effort to create a virtual program pipeline, launching Festival research and content into a live stream format for artists to reach audiences during the pandemic. Supervising the production process and team, we proudly presented 75 online music, narrative, educational, and culinary programs that reached 50,000+ people. Our process and format has been duplicated across the institution, and we regularly receive accolades for the quality and depth our live shows achieve. I have also worked closely with the Festival artist participant staff, liaising between with administrators and curators in executing logistical arrangements for 700+ Festival artists, including travel, housing, meals, and schedules.

Greensboro, North Carolina, Us

Greensboro, North Carolina, was competitively selected by the National Council for the Traditional Arts as the host city of the National Folk Festival for 3 years, from 2015-2017, during which I worked on their venerated Operations Team. When it became the independent North Carolina Folk Festival in 2018, I was invited to be a Director of Operations. A project close to my heart, this is a role I do alongside my other work. I oversee the recruitment, hiring, and supervision of the stage and operations crew each season, around 70 people. I direct the physical site build of Festival, including six stages, food courts, fine arts marketplace, and family activities in downtown Greensboro. I negotiate contracts with vendors for required equipment, assets, and rentals, in addition to supervising logistics for staff and artists services, including travel, accommodations, meals, and transportation. The budget of this Festival is approximately $1.2m.

New York, New York, Us

Stareable Fest is one of the top web series and indie TV events in the country, connecting talented and diverse creators to mainstream Hollywood. Stareable is dedicated to democratizing television and making it a truly representative and inclusive medium. I joined Stareable Fest in 2020 to launch a virtual iteration of the Fest for the first time, allowing creators and audiences to connect globally for an interactive and seamless experience. As producer, I oversaw an entirely online 5-day celebration, with 4 live events per day, including workshops, panels, competitions, filmmaker talkbacks, and an award show, in addition to an industry marketplace that created face-to-face connections between independent filmmakers and decision makers at major platforms, including AMC, HBO, Comedy Central, PBS, Warner Bros, Vice, and more.The event received rave reviews and was considered by many filmmakers to be the best virtual festival they attended in 2020.We now produce two in-person Festivals a year, in Los Angeles and New York. We have surpassed other festivals of larger size in offering of Industry Marketplace opportunities to up and coming creators.

Alexandria, Virginia, Us

I supported Visit Alexandria with several of their waterfront events, including Portside in Old Town, Summer and Fall Music Festivals, August Sidewalk Sales, Thanksgiving Weekend’s Small Business Saturday, and the Annual Holiday Boat Parade of Lights on the Harbor. I provided oversight of event set up, strike, staffing, contracting, production, and vendor management on site, as well as facilitated community participant communication and tent activation.

Los Angeles, California, Us

As a brief contract position to get the LA Film Festival up and running under new leadership, I was brought in to supervise a team of 30 production staff, build and orchestrate the production timeline and distribution process to all venues and theaters, and support vendor contracting and resources.I returned in 2019 and 2020 to support the production crew of the Independent Spirit Awards, televised live in their signature massive tent on Santa Monica beach.

Washington, District Of Columbia, Us

I worked with Markham’s team of event professionals on the ground to execute high profile client-driven events in the full-service production and management agency space, specifically for events with political and social impact. • A Day of Unreasonable Conversations, Los Angeles, CA• MoveOn Big Ideas Forum, San Francisco• Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund’s Presidential Gun Sense Forum with Democratic candidates for President, Des Moines, IA• J Street National Conference, Washington, DC

Miami, Florida, Us

As the Director of Activation and Operations at Miami Film Festival, I oversaw all operational components of the Festival, including: Venue & Theater Operations, Special Events, Box Office & Ticketing, Guest Services including air travel + hotel bookings, Ground Transportation, Volunteer Systems, Balloting + Awards, Logistics + Distribution, Security, Production + Installations. I annually recruited, trained, & managed a team of 50+ staff, sourced and contracted 20+ vendors, and managed relationships to ensure successful execution of Festival production, within the Festival's $1.7 million budget, working closely with all official venues to orchestrate exceptional patron experiences and high quality presentation for an audience of 60,000+ annually.Increased ticket sales over three years by $100,000 in revenue.

Us

Served as liaison between producers, performing companies, venue staff, marketing, guest services and box office on all matters relating to front-of-house and on-site ticket sales including customer service, signage and marketing materials, late seating and other protocol issues. Recruited, trained and supervised ushering staff for off-site venues; created staffing budget projections, completed weekly payroll. Managed on-site ancillary events such as lectures, pre- and post-performance talks, and coordinated merchandise sales. (This was a seasonal role that concluded at the end of the Festival.)

Charleston, Sc, Us

Worked with Spoleto Society, highest level donor patrons, (gifts of $1,250-$25,000) to facilitate Patron Priority Ticket Service + a smooth on-site experience, from promise to delivery. Handled donor files in Tessitura Software, managing single event sales and ticketing operations related to patron services. Managed and monitored the seat allocation for over 135 performances of 30 events in 11 venues. (This was a seasonal role that concluded at the end of the Festival.)

San Rafael, Ca, Us

Oversaw operational support of all festival departments including Marketing, Press, Development, and Programming. Supervised Special Events, Box Office, Venue Operations, Technical Staff, On-site Branding and Signage, Volunteer Systems. Sourced equipment and supplies + handled vendor agreements; including rentals, apparel, communication devices, installations, venues contracts, vehicles, security. Established and managed trainings, budgets, project timelines, communication protocols, operating procedures for year round + seasonal MVFF staff. (This was a seasonal role that concluded at the end of the Festival.)

The NCTA owns The National Folk Festival, a traveling national event with a new host city every 3 years. I have worked with them on the logistics and production of six major music festivals, (Greensboro, NC; Nashville, TN; Butte, MT; Lowell, MA; Bangor, ME; and Richmond, VA, attendance at each of 100,000 - 250,000+)Marketing + Program: Preparing artist content + images for publications. Initiated marketing efforts, developed brand image, and produced social media content to raise NCTA visibility. Pitched stories to local and national media outlets, attracting press for tours, and coordinating interviews between outlets and artists.Logistics:Coordinated artist + staff services for hotel, travel, ground transportation, meals, check-in, schedules, and welcome materials. Maintained FileMaker Pro database with contract specs and riders for all artists and staff. Coordinated festival Street Performances; advance with artists, transport sound equipment, set-up on site, maintain crowd control.Merchandise:Oversaw sales, display, inventory and tracking of $45K worth of artist merchandise on 13 city mid-Atlantic, Crooked Road U.S. East Coast Music Tour. Reconciled with venues nightly; generated sales reports + issued weekly payments for individual musicians.

Seattle, Wa, Us

Advance with venues, communicate with venue reps to coordinate tour activities. Create reports of audience engagement statistics post event. Supervised front of house activity at Youth Summit venues and coached student participants. Work on production crew: load-in, set build (trussing construction, stage, lighting, sound), show run, strike, load-out. This was a seasonal, temporary position. (This was a seasonal role that concluded at the end of the tour.)

Us

Trained, scheduled, and supervised: House Managers, Health Services Employees, Student and Volunteer Ushers, and Parking Attendants. Coordinated 200-member volunteer program, with emphasis on increasing volunteers’ sense of received appreciation. Oversaw patron load-in for 620-seat Ted Shawn Theatre and 240-seat Doris Duke Theatre, running concurrently, 6 nights per week, 10 weeks. Manager on duty for all Front of House, patron-related and customer service issues for 120 events, in a 10 week festival period. (This was a seasonal role that concluded at the end of the Festival.)

Park City, Utah, Us

Co-Supervised staff of 30 ticket agents and volunteers to facilitate ticket sales to over 600 festival film screenings and surrounding events. Performed daily accounting and reconciliation, tracking $400K+ in individual ticket sales revenue over 10 day festival period. Trained agents on Titan ticketing software, troubleshooting sales problems; providing in-depth customer service to high-profile patrons. (This was a seasonal role that concluded at the end of the Festival.)

Bloomington, In, Us

During grad school, I worked at the BCT, a home for performing arts, concerts, and rentals. Communicated with presenter, technical director, box office, merchandise, and concessions, on show nights to ensure smooth front-of-house flow. Handled patron concerns, customer service, seating issues. Directed usher activity, operated nightly usher training.

During grad school, I took a summer to work with the Utah Arts Festival. I oversaw ticketing fulfillment for the Annual Kick Off Concert, featuring Ani Difranco. I assisted with media + PR relationships and interviews, artist services, site prep, load-in/out procedure and operations, responded to artist needs and concerns on site during festival. As a guest service, I initiated and produced the first artist newsletter, that was distributed daily to the artisans on site. I also did graphic design for digital + print ads.

During college, I worked with the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, coordinating the Townie Street Party, a community kick-off event to the four Ann Arbor Summer Art Fairs. Oversaw steering committee, budget, food vendors, artists, stage entertainers, volunteers, media presence resulting in audience of over 2,500. Worked closely to manage sponsor relationships, preparing contracts, coordinating benefit fulfillment, and provided assistance on site to ensure successful sponsor experience and maximum audience exposure.

Ba, English, Philosophy

Ma, Arts Administration