David M. Mayeri, founder and CEO of the UC Theatre music venue in downtown Berkeley and a former executive at Bill Graham Presents, started out on the bottom rung of the music business. Wanting to give other young people a leg up, he started an internship program at the UC Theatre. The venue is now expanding that in several directions to help even more young adults get started in the music industry.
At age 16, Mayeri, a Berkeley High School student, was hired by concert promoter Bill Graham Presents as an intern. His first paid work for them included long days of unloading trucks, setting up and tearing down stage equipment, ushering during the show and repacking the truck for acts at the Berkeley Community Theatre.
“It was transformational,” Mayeri said.
Thirty-five years later, when he left Bill Graham Presents, Mayeri was the organization’s chief operations officer. In 2012, Mayeri formed the Berkeley Music Group to renovate and repurpose the UC Theatre for its second life as an independent nonprofit music venue, providing inclusive, diverse, and culturally rich music programming and transformative workforce development programs.
“We wanted to create a program that offered the same opportunity I received,” Mayeri said, “but remove barriers of entry for marginalized communities.”
This idea gave birth to the Concert Career Pathways (CCP) education program, where each year, 25-30 young people, ages 17 to 25, participate in a nine-month training program. CCP graduates come from diverse backgrounds. Statistics from the UC Theatre indicate that 52% of graduates are women, 8% are non-binary, 79% are people of color, 29% identify as LGBTQ+, and 58% come from underserved communities.
The application period for the 2024-25 Concert Career Pathways program is open through May 15.
Mayeri and the UC Theatre team are now widening the reach of Concert Career Pathways. The program collaborates with venues, festivals and promoters in other cities to bring the internship program to those communities. Last year, the UC Theatre launched a pilot program (CCP-X) with the Bumbershoot Art & Music Festival in Seattle to provide the framework and curriculum for the festival’s workforce training program. It successfully graduated 15 young people and is reviewing applicants for the second cohort.
The UC Theatre also addresses economic mobility challenges with a remote extension program (CCP-REP) that allows students to participate virtually in the training portion of the traditional program before being matched with a venue near them for their internship.
These two new approaches allow the program to expand far beyond Berkeley and the Bay Area, opening doors for more people to follow their dreams in the music industry. Removing barriers is a constant motivator for Mayeri and his team. From paid hands-on training internships to introductory and advanced workshops with industry professionals, the education team at the UC Theatre centers on inclusivity in their program designs.
“I love what I do,” Mayeri said. “Love that energy between the artist and the audience.
“And we love passing that experience on to other folks and having a program where we all work together to deliver a hands-on training experience to new people in our CCP cohorts who are trying to break into the industry. We just find that very, very rewarding.”
Funding the program
The UC Theatre’s program has received funding from Bayer, one of the many organizations that receive community investment funding as a part of Bayer’s development agreement with the city of Berkeley. The Bayer agreement outlines more than $33 million in investments in Berkeley organizations through 2052.
The UC Theatre program received a five-year funding commitment totaling more than $150,000, thanks to the community-directed portion of the Development Agreement STEAM Education Selection Committee.
“We have a long history of active support of our community — both financially and through volunteerism,” said Jens Vogel, SVP and Global Head of Biotech for Bayer Pharmaceuticals.
“The Concert Career Pathways program is part of our ongoing commitment to STEAM education, particularly for underserved populations in the Berkeley community. Our goal is that, as we grow and transform our operations to bring new medicines to patients, we are also helping our surrounding community to thrive.”
Bayer is Berkeley’s largest private-sector employer and has committed to investing in the community as the company continues transforming its operations. Programs supported by Bayer’s community investment dollars are wide-ranging in scope and include housing support, reducing health disparities and food insecurity, as well as supporting STEAM education efforts, like those at the UC Theatre.
Internship details
The UC Theatre program is open to 17-to-25-year-olds (including Berkeley High School students) and receives about 150 applicants per year. After a review and interview process, the program accepts up to 30 participants interested in the technical, creative and business aspects of promoting and producing live concerts and events.
Perhaps the strongest indicator of the UC Theatre’s commitment to removing barriers to advancement is that this comprehensive program is entirely free to participants, thanks to the organization’s nonprofit status and the generous support from the community and companies.
The nine-month program has three phases. In phase 1, interns learn about jobs in talent buying, marketing, front-of-house management, production, sound engineering and lighting design. Trainees learn how the departments work together and how a venue makes money.
During phase 2, participants are assigned to the UC Theatre staff and spend 50 to 60 hours job shadowing. Advanced workshops are offered, and outside speakers across the industry share their experiences. In phase 3, participants chose two or three areas of interest to work and are paid for their time during this portion of the training.
“This is a hands-on learning experience,” Mayeri said. “It’s visual learning, tactile learning, and experience-based so that everyone has an opportunity to succeed.”
But the program doesn’t stop at training and graduation. CCP boasts an 80% job placement rate.
“We also provide resume writing skills and interview practice,” said COO Joan Rosenberg. “Then we match graduates up with our professional partner network. Sometimes, they get placed here at the UC Theatre. About 30 or 40 percent of our core staff have come through the program and, in many cases, advanced to management positions, so they leave more experienced. We’ve also got an extensive network of partners at agencies, promoters, managers and other venues that look to us for entry-level, job-ready candidates.”
The application period for the 2024-25 Concert Career Pathways program is open now through May 15. More information is available online.
