Today we’d like to introduce you to Will Gibbons.
Hi Will, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Since a very early age, music has been an escape for me, it seemed that music was a catalyst for friendship and bonding with my family and friends alike. I attribute my close relationship with my sisters to our mutual love for live music and to this day. One of my sisters went and got her Master’s degree while helping run Believe In Music, a non-profit funding and after-school program for inner city youth. It was a place where students could have a safe space to create, write and record music. Believe In Music’s main fundraiser every year was a multi-genre live music event incorporating local artists of all kinds. This formula has always stuck out in my mind as how the entertainment industry should be run. For the past 10 years, I have had a hand in organizing, promoting, and helping run a fair amount events in our area. While continuously growing and taking notes along the way, with the help of a few mentors, I decided I wanted to officially put my networking and live event experience to work.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The inception of this began out of a need to adapt to the possibility that the live event industry as we knew it was over. I saw a few promoters using outside-the-box thinking to still allow people to enjoy a concert during these dark times of uncertainty. During the pandemic, I organized a 2-day music festival with a planned capacity of 75 people, with a plan in place for everyone to social distance if they wanted to. The plan was to give as donate any of the proceeds from the event to Rage Against Addiction, a non-profit out of Harford County that provides assistance and housing for women in recovery. The festival called “Northwoods” was hosted on the property of a long-time good friends and was going to be the launch of the Party For A Purpose brand. I had the perspective that if I were able to successfully pull this off, I would be able to make a run at making this dream a reality, I was able to organize top-notch musical and visual art talent and production only to have there be a spike in covid cases having people uncertain whether it was safe or not. I ended up having an open invitation to friends to come and enjoy the party or whatever they were able to donate so all of this work could be enjoyed.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have worked in all types of trade work my whole life but never really found anything I felt was my calling. I spent 2014-2020 working for an environmental restoration; although I loved working outside and feeling like I was doing my part to repair our local ecosystem, it caused severe wear and tear on my body. I quickly became a team leader and foreman that was tasked with instilling positive energy into my crew while completing very long and demanding days out in the elements during all seasons. I was forced to explore new career paths when I had to go on disability for a back injury. I spent some time doing door dash and the like to pay some bills until I was given an entry-level position at an event production company that specializes in Audio, Staging, Video, and Lighting. I work in the sales outreach department and also assist project managers in putting quotes together. This opportunity has given me an inside peek at a part of the industry that I was unfamiliar with but always interested in. I look forward to continue to growing with them and expanding my knowledge in the industry. I am also currently managing a band for the first time ever. Which has been a very exciting experience as well! This opportunity came from a very talented Musician friend Jeff Roden. He was recently asked to join a young band that had been building a good reputation on the Eastern shore while they were going to school at Salisbury University. I have been working closely with the “Uncle Kunkel’s One Gram Band” for about 6 months now with brand building, promoting, and booking. This has also lead to me making my relationship with Lost Compass (Artist & Booking Management Agency) official. As of last week, I have signed on as an official agent with them and will be working with their team create a stronger relationship with the Philadelphia music scene.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Community is what stands out to me as the thing that matters most to me. It really does take a village!!!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.partyforapurposepresents.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/partyforapurposepresents/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087039142608
