When tens of thousands of fans stream through the gates at Lollapalooza each summer, few pause to appreciate the intricate choreography that transforms Chicago’s Grant Park into a temporary city—complete with power grids, sanitation systems, emergency operations, artist compounds and a skyline of sound and light. Tim “Tuba” Smith, c’03, sweats every detail so others don’t have to.
As director of festivals and strategic initiatives for C3 Presents, one of the largest live-event production companies in the world, Smith helps orchestrate the moving parts that ultimately make people—as proclaimed in his company’s mission statement—“stand up and cheer.”
“There’s nothing like the energy that comes from a live show,” Smith says from Chicago, where he lives and works when not flying to C3 headquarters in Austin, Texas, or global event sites. “The artists feed off the crowd; the crowd feeds off the artists. It’s a thing of beauty.”
Smith, who got his snappy nickname as a member of the Marching Jayhawks, came to KU from Clay Center as a human biology major, intending to follow his older brother into optometry. His swerve into live-event production began by happy accident when he stumbled into a Kansas Union job fair and found himself dragooned into an event-production seminar at the Lied Center—where unexpected opportunity rocked his world.
“Vernon Reid, the guitar player from Living Colour, an absolute monster, came through with a project called ‘The Jazz Train,’ and I was literally skipping class because Vernon was there and I wanted to be involved in all those shifts,” Smith recalls. “That’s when I had the epiphany that maybe this is a good point to make a shift.”
Smith switched his major to theatre and film studies and found his calling in the thrill of live production—the lights, the sound, the teamwork and the shared energy that connects artists and audiences. He built a career one show at a time, first with StagePro at the Wakarusa Music Festival, and then as an associate technical director at the Lied Center. When the recession wiped out his next full-time job, he turned to freelance work—“the mercenary game,” as he calls it—which led to contract work with C3 Presents. By 2013, he was on staff full time, helping manage the country’s biggest live festivals, including Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo and Austin City Limits.
With 250 full-time employees, C3 produces about 30 big festivals each year, along with events such as the NFL Draft and FIFA Fan Fest. Smith’s portfolio includes festival oversight, safety and security planning, and even development of the company’s internal contracting software.
Still, for the global scale of his work, Smith has never forgotten the spark that started it: a student job that opened a world he didn’t know existed. That memory inspired him to create KU LEAP—the Live Event Accessibility Program—which introduces students to the broad range of careers behind the stage lights.
“The crux of it is trying to provide access and opportunity,” Smith says. “Most of the jobs in entertainment aren’t performers or athletes. Obviously there’s the whole technical side of things, but we also have graphic designers, tradesmen, medical professionals. Everything is represented in the entertainment field.”
Twice a year, Smith returns to campus to lead LEAP seminars, open to all interested students and even alumni. He shares his own journey and invites alumni working in production, entertainment or media to do the same. After the spring seminar, attendees are invited to apply for a weeklong, all-expenses-paid immersion at Lollapalooza, shadowing C3 staff and experiencing the festival through a professional lens.
“It’s not about hanging out with the artists—it’s about learning how the whole thing works,” says Smith, who funds both the seminars and immersion program himself, along with his company’s charitable contribution match. “By the end, we want them to see it through new eyes: Why is the venue laid out this way? How do we keep everyone safe? What does it take to make this city come alive?”
Among the growing list of LEAP alumni now working in the biz is Genesis Garcia, c’23, a native Chicagoan who attended two seminars and the Lollapalooza immersion before landing a coveted gig as Smith’s administrative assistant. “When I went to the festival as a patron, I was always just in awe,” Garcia says. “And then when I was in LEAP, I got to see the background side, and I was amazed. Nobody realizes how hard these people work for eight to nine months to put on a great show.”
Garcia, who worked at KJHK and the Lied Center as a student, credits both LEAP and KU with changing her life. “I took a chance and told Tuba I wanted a job,” she says. “He took a chance on me, and I’ll be forever thankful, just as I’m forever thankful that I chose KU. I could have gone closer to home, but KU really did change my life. I’m in such a great place right now. I’m so happy with my job, and I really see a future in this career.”
Smith delights in Garcia’s success story, and he’s especially thrilled to keep adding KU alumni to C3’s roster as well as those of production outfits nationwide. He notes with a laugh that when he leaves his number for another industry exec to return his call, he’ll occasionally hear, “‘785? Oh my God, you’re another Kansas person?’ Yes, I am, and we are everywhere. The best people are from Kansas, and I’m happy to keep pouring gas on that fire.”
Chris Lazzarino, j’86, is associate editor of Crimson & Blue.
