PRE-COVERAGE BAR CONVENT BROOKLYN

We go to a number of events throughout the year that involve an array of product and brand launches. It's always great to see what is coming out and those that are involved behind those brands. Bar Convent Brooklyn is in its 6th year and is for the industry professionals from bar and restaurant owners, mixologists, educators, and more to come together. We have the opportunity to to meet brands new and old as well as to try brands. Whether you're hitting the show floor, the Main Stages for education, parties, and more this event really does celebrate the community and you leave wuth a bigger understanding of spirits as well as seeing trends that you'll notice when you're at your favorite spot.

We wanted to sit down to find out more about this event, why it's located in Brooklyn, what it takes to put on this 2 Day event that takes place June 11th and 12th at Industry City and more. We talked with event industry veteran, Jackie Willuams, Event Vice President of RX (the organization that puts on trade events of this nature) to have these questions and more answered!

ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s always great to go to industry events and there are some that we have gone to that we have seen it from its debut season forward! When BCB launched in 2018, we headed to Greenpoint to check out the vendors, programming, education, and parties that took place and then we came back again in that neighborhood in 2019. Now in it’s 6th year, we’re looking forward to attending again in Industry City. So it’s amazing to see how it’s progressed over the 6 years that it has been in existence!

JACKIE WILLIAMS: Yeah, it’s pretty crazy! The fact that it has been 6 years and yet it’s only been 6 years, it’s just you blink and it’s gone!

AM: Before we delve into talking about BCB and this year’s events, I’d love to know about your background and how you came into BCB.

JW: For sure! How did I come to BCB? Well, I’ve worked in the tradeshow world for 18 years. I have been at RX for just over 15 years. I started out in Marketing, I have worked at a ton of our events from jewelry to security, to publishing, and then I ran marketing for all of our consumer events for awhile. And then, when the opportunity came up for BCB, I said, yes sign me up! I was running a different event at the time and the event I was running was the exact same dates as BCB so I would see the pictures online and I was in Manhattan and BCB was in Greenpoint at that time and I was like, man, I want to be able to check that out! I think that this will be my year 4 of running it in Brooklyn and I said, yes absolutely! This is amazing and I was so excited to be part of it. Since then, it has been such a good old time in trying to do a groovy event and keep growing to support the industry. It has been amazing.

AM: We love hearing that story and hearing about your time with RX. We’ve been from the fashion and accessories side attending the JCK shows for as long as I can remember!

JW: Oh yeah! I used to work on the JCK portfolio for a little while.

It’s such a small world in terms of how it all just comes together and is full circle. I used to help out with Agenda and a couple of the other events that we did.

AM: You’re known as someone who does these large scale events. What is your role as an Events Vice President as I know you must have 80 hands going!

JW: I have a lot going on. As the Events Vice President, I do a little bit of everything. I oversee the strategy down to the execution I do have a large team and they are excellent at what they do, right? We have a Registration Manager, a couple of Operation Managers, a Marketing team, and it’s about keeping it together and organized and being able to function as a well run machine. So there is a lot going on and there is a lot going on in my brain at all times. My notebooks are always constantly full. It’s a little bit of everything that I touch.

AM: We can only imagine.

What is an average week like in terms of getting this event together. What is it like when you’re a year out planning the next event, what’s in that month, and what’s that week of life?

JW: Yeah, so – one of the things that I love about doing events is that we don't do the same thing everyday and we don’t do the same thing every week which kind of makes it exciting!

So we actually start more than a year before the next event.

AM: Really?

JW: Yeah, so right now, we’re pretty far down on the logistical side of 2025, we have our dates, we’re finalizing our floorplan, setting up our systems so we’re ready to sell booth space for 2025. We’re working on what our event creative for ’25 is going to look like and we’re zhuzhing it up for what it’s going to look like then.

Immediately following the event is when we get into strategy. We’re looking at the post event surveys that we sent out, doing group conversations with our vendors and our partners, and internally we talk about what we can improve upon. We talk about what went well and we always want to continue to do what we went well on. We also look at where we fell short. How can we come together collectively and make the event better? Whether the registration line was too long and we needed to add more tables – we need to increase our registration space or if people want to see more food offerings – how can we get some more food trucks into the mix? Those kinds of things, every single survey, I read every single word of it. So do a lot of the other members of our team as well. So that year out, we’re looking at diving in to see how we can improve on those things. We continue that as we start selling, hitting the road and talking to customers.

I would say at 4 months out, that’s when things get really crazy! That’s because that is when registration is opening and we’re trying to get all of the logistics for the exhibitor manual, move in time, compliance information, the Certificate of Insurance they need. At this point, it's about finalizing all of the education.

As we get closer, it’s about answering all of the questions whether it’s a customer or someone internal coming up with new ideas or experiences. Right now we’re about a month out and I don’t really sleep much at this point! I just want to be there for our customers and the ramp up to the event and to support our internal team. At this point, I’m just trying to get through all of those emails and phone calls.

A week out, we get to the event and we start building it up from laying down the turf, marking the floorplan, building the registration tent, working with our General Contractor on when we will accept freight, when the floral goes out – our production schedule is an Event Planner’s dream. It’s long, color coordinated, very detailed, but I have an amazing team to help and they are the ones that really deserve all of the credit for their hard work.

AM: Wow it’s intense!

Why was this show created and what was the decision to have it in Brooklyn?

JW: BCB started in Berlin many years ago and it was very small and a couple of bartenders and brands got together and Bar Convent Berlin has really grown to be the largest international beverage event which is amazing. If you haven’ gone, I suggest you do!

AM: It has been on our list.

JW: It’s a very impressive event! So we brought BCB to Brooklyn in 2018. We were working with our counterparts in Berlin to see if this made sense. Do people want this? We had those conversations with our brands and the exhibitors. We spent a lot of time talking with bartenders, owners, influencers, and navigated the landscape of the bar and bev scene in the US. Brooklyn felt like a natural fit, right? NY is an easy place to get to in terms of the States and globally as well. The heart and soul of Brooklyn, the creativity and the culture that is Brooklyn made it make sense for it to be in Brooklyn. So that's where it landed. We were at the Brooklyn Expo Center in 2018 to 2021 which was our last event there and then we moved to Industry City in 2022 and this was just an amazing place! We have been able to grow and connect with the folks that have their businesses there and it’s been a cool vibe!

AM: We’re excited as attending the first 2 years left such an amazing impression. So we can’t wait to check it out this year!

Last Dec, we did an interview with Lynnette Marrero who we know is your Head Educator at BCB.

JW: Oh I love Lynnette! She is amazing!

AM: It was so exciting to be able to talk with her as she’s such an OG in the space and we talked about a number of the places she worked at which was a bit of nostalgia for us as we were going to those spots so it’s interesting how things happen within a period of time.

In her interview in addition to other projects she is involved in, she really drove home the education component of BCB. What are the different things that take place that attendees should be aware of?

JW: For education, we have 4 different stages and they run all day, both days of the event. Our Main Stage is curated by our Education Committee which Lynnette is our Head of Communication, there are 14 sessions on our Main Stage over the course of the 2 days. 13 of them come with your badge and are free and is first-come-first-serve. The 14th one focuses on leadership and that is our Lunch & Learn. That happens on Wed, Alison Anne is hosting that session and it is a separately paid ticket. With that comes access to the session, lunch, as well as gift bags. So we’re really excited to introduce that this year.

We then have 2 other stages called our Liquid Lounges. These are really our brand stages where our brands get up and speak on different topics. But it allows our visitors to have an opportunity to sample. So as XY exhibitor is up there talking about their product, you will get a sample of up to 6 products that you can taste, smell, and see as they’re speaking. So it’s like being able to put liquid to lips during the education. Our last stage is Park Street University which our partners at Park Street, they curate it, they run it, and that stage is located in Building 8 on the 2nd floor and again it runs both days and those sessions are really geared towards the brands, exhibitors, and marketing. So that’s awesome in terms of education.

But we do have other activations that are going on throughout the course of the 2 days. William Grant and Sons is sponsoring our Opening Night Party on Tues night. We have our Welcome Cocktails so as soon as you walk in, Zamora Brand is sponsoring that so that’s the first opportunity once you get through registration. We have our courtyard bars and our new bar on 34th Street. For the 1st time we are also doing an event from 5-7 on Tues that will be located on 34th Street and it’s the BCB Street Party so we will have some live music. There will be some entertainment and an opportunity to sample, mingle, and network with other visitors on Tues.

AM: That is exciting and what a full calendar over those 2 days!

What are 3 events that you’re excited about or 3 events taking place over the 2 days that we should highlight?

JW: So I’m really excited for the Street Party! I think that it’s going to be really cool and different. Who doesn’t love live music and this event will be on Tues from 5-7 and it will feature music and lawn games and a variety of other entertainment! But it’s really about the connections and being able to network.

We have also added the Writer’s Block for the 2024 event. So we will feature 15 or so writer’s over the course of the 2 days and this will be happening in Building 8 on the 2nd floor as well. This will be a unique platform for industry writers to showcase and promote their latest publications as well as to engage with the visitors and to be able to meet and greet, sign and sell their books. It is just a dedicated space to offer an additional experience to the authors and the visitors.

I’m really excited for Alison Anne’s session and I hope that I can make that one as the topic seems amazing! It will be apropos to many of our visitors!

But one of my favorite things is just to be on that show floor! I love being able to see those brands that we know and love to see what their booth is going to look like and what the products will be. I also want to see the new brands and the new launches that are coming out. There are some new products that will be debuting at BCB this year and I am really excited for those! We do have an area called the Emerging Brands Pavilion. It’s an area of 27 brands and they are really first time exhibitors to BCB and they’re new and up and coming. It’s an amazing little area to sample and talk with these brand owners.

AM: That’s one of the best parts is to sample a brand that is starting out! I think it was in 2019, there was a gin brand that was based in Japan and it was a matcha gin. It tasted phenomenal and we got to speak with the owners and I was blown away to be able to learn about them as well as to our favorites that we have enjoyed for years. It’s also fun to see something launch somewhere and then to see it over the next few years in terms of how they have grown.

What are the challenges for you guys in putting on this kind of an event?

JW: There is always a logistical hurdle that we need to find a solution for. Another hurdle is that we always want to do better. We want to put an event together where people have success. We want to do the best that we can for each of those brands. Making sure that we’re communicating things in the best way that we can in the right way so that we can get folks to understand everything that we have going on and that they can get the most out of it. We want them to keep coming back and to continue to foster those connections that they have made. We’re always thinking about how we as BCB can continue assisting in making sure that they feel that they are able to make those connections whether that’s their individual brand or the large scale brand that they work for.

AM: For a brand that has never participated, how do they go about being part of BCB in the future as an exhibitor? Is there a qualification process?

JW: Every part of BCB is qualified. So we actually make sure that all of our visitors are part of the Bar and Beverage community. So we look at every single individual to make sure that they are coming and are a good fit for the event as well as the exhibitors naturally. The best thing to do is to use the form on our site that focuses on those interested in exhibiting. Someone from our Sales Team will get that and follow up with a few conversations. There is a form to fill out after those conversations. I’m also very available and my contact information is at the top of the website and I answer every email that I get so I’m happy to direct them to the right place. But they can come to our website to begin those conversations with us.

AM: BCB takes place over the 2 days, but are there things that you do throughout the year that is not just the tradeshow component?

JW: We go see our customers and we participate at the other BCB’s – there’s Berlin, São Paulo, and Singapore – there are 4 of us. So we do that and we can always pop up in other locations whether that at another event, someone’s office, or a bar!

IG @barconventbrooklyn

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | Bar Convent Brooklyn

Read the MAY ISSUE #102 of Athleisure Mag and see Pre-Coverage Bar Convent Brooklyn in mag.

OUR MUSIC OUR CULTURE | GREG HARRIS + ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME

Music has immense value, from enjoying the song, melody and instruments used, to the artists, performances and remixes there is a much larger scope in terms of what it means to the social fiber and how in many ways it serves as a mirror of who we are, where we want to be and how we are held accountable. It creates a series of feelings and memories that are enlightened and intertwined.

We had the pleasure of talking with the President and CEO of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Greg Harris. In addition to their noted Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony which honors a class of musicians across rock & roll, they are known for the museum which is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

We wanted to know more about the museum, how they connect with music enthusiasts around the world and how artists can become eligible for the honor. Greg also shares how he came to this role and how he continues to drive the importance of impact in music.

ATHLEISURE MAG: Before we delve into your work and role at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I’d love to know about your background because I know you were the owner, partner and operator of the Philadelphia Record Exchange. When did you fall in love with music and what was your focus behind opening this retail store?

GREG HARRIS: You know, I grew up, per your readers loving both sports and music! I was fortunate to be raised to play various sports depending on the season with two brothers. On the music side, it just always spoke to me. We always had music in the house and in Philadelphia, the area where I grew up, new music and old music mixed together. So oldies and FM radio were all the same. I got involved a little bit with one of the local public radio stations when I was in high school. Then we had a club near us called City Gardens and it had every live band and we went there as soon as we were old enough to get in! We were there all the time! Then, I went to college in Philadelphia, I went to Temple University and one of my off-campus jobs to help pay for school was the record department of a used bookstore. That’s where the idea came from that the other clerk and I were friends and we realized that the store owner was making a lot more money than we were as the hourly employees!

So we quit and rented out a storefront about a half a block away and we opened our own store. That business has been a great success! I was involved for a couple of years and sold my half to some other people, but my original partner still has it. The Philadelphia Record Exchange has been around for 30 years and it’s an iconic place in the city. Every musician knows it, everybody that is into music when they are in Philly, they find their way to the store and that includes current artists like Kurt Vile and other folks back in the day, like Ahmir Khalib Thompson – Questlove.

I think an important thing to note in terms of looking at my career is that I found out pretty early on that I couldn’t play very well. I could play some guitar, but I was never that great. But I was always better at helping other people market and grow. So the store became that place. We would put concerts on, we’d shut the streets down and do block parties and promotions with artists and other musicians. We just loved helping them succeed and helping our customers find excitement and joy.

AM: It’s so funny, I grew up my dad was a huge record collector and he would slap my hands every time I would try to go to the stereo to play with the records and at my campus at Indiana University, we had 3 record shops near my campus, Tracks was my favorite one. There is something about a record, I love them and when you hear the sound that comes out and the needle hitting the vinyl – it’s an experience. When I read that about you, I thought that’s really cool!

GH: Those stores back then, that was kind of the social network. It's where you met like-minded people that loved the same music or liked similar music. It’s where you learned! You couldn’t Google everything so sometimes the customers taught you and you taught them!

AM: Especially if you were able to come up with crazy imports. I think there’s something about that social fiber when you don’t have that independent local record store. The guy that I would get my music from knew so many things about various artists and had stories to tell and I appreciated it. I don’t remember if they had block parties but it would have been amazing!

GH: I really want to celebrate my original partner, who still has it Jacy Webster and he has given such a gift to Philadelphia music lovers for the last 30+ years, it’s an amazing place!

AM: Another part of your background that’s interesting is I love your focus on curation. To know that you were at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown where you focused on curation was really interesting. Can you tell us about what your role was there, what you did, and why curation was so important?

GH: My first significant museum position was at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. I was originally hired to be there Broadcast Media Archivist. My job was to curate the broadcast collection and that was recordings of All-Star games, World Series games, home movies, radio pieces – all the things where that exciting history of baseball is. In museums, they have to take their collections and tell stories with them. You want to tell the stories where you have impact to your visitors and to make those connections and that’s what we did in Cooperstown. You know, it’s an amazing museum. I started in that area, I was fortunate to be able to curate some exhibits and much like the record store, I got involved in business development and fundraising and things like sponsorship and inductee relations. It really helped to grow the business and as I advanced from the collections side of the house, I got more involved in business development and the growth of the enterprise. I spent 14 terrific years there and it was really hard to leave. It’s a wonderful museum. Anyone that has ever played catch in the backyard or Little League, should go to Cooperstown to experience it.

AM: What do you think is the connective tissue between baseball and music and how were you able to move onto the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame where you’re the President and CEO currently?

GH: They’re 2 great places and they’re both so much part of our culture. People have a deep love for both subjects. They make these pilgrimages to Cooperstown or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. These music and sports evolve and they are the history of our culture – all the good and all the bad comes through and you can tell these stories. On some fronts, you can talk about exclusion and people not being included and you can tell about opportunity opening up. Sometimes it opens up in sport before it opens up to the wider society. These are really important pieces for all of us to learn from to think about and to grow from. Then on the other part from the business side, these museums operate in a very similar way. They each get hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.

We have inductees that are the best of the best individuals, we have broadcast properties, we have important digital engagement with our visitors, we have retail operations and we are places that kind of mean a lot to a lot of people. So they’re very similar from a business sense and it’s just the subject that’s a little bit different. But they are magical places where people learn about their history, themselves and it helps them to better understand the present.

AM: Well can you tell us about the history of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in terms of who founded it and what it’s mission is? I know a lot of people think about it in terms of the amazing induction ceremony, but there are a lot of things that it does.

GH: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame started close to 40 years ago by a group of music industry professionals – the head of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun and the head of Rolling Stone Magazine, Jann Wenner and others. They conceived it as a special evening celebration for their industries’ best of the best. After doing that for a short period of time, the idea came up to want to build a museum. A bunch of cities looked at it New York, San Francisco, my hometown of Philadelphia – all made a play for it, but Cleveland really stepped up. Cleveland had a great story about rock & roll being important to the city and being an important place for artists who broke in – including David Bowie’s whose first shows in the US were in Cleveland, Jimi Hendrix when he came back from England – his first shows were there, Rush’s first shows were there. Also a DJ named Alan Freed was playing music in the early 50’s and inspiring young people – so they had this great story! But, they showed up and had a business plan. They said this is how we’re going to build it and how we’re going to fund it and this is what it is going to mean to the region. Long and short, 27 years ago we opened up in this I.M. Pei building on the shores of Lake Eerie in Ohio. Since opening our doors, over 13 million people have visited the museum and we’re at the height of our summer season now. We'll get thousands of people through everyday all summer long. Every one of those people who comes through the front door has a lifetime of memory connected to the subjects inside our museum. When they see it, they hear it or hear it through a band that plays on our stage, it inspires them and makes them think of the people they were with and the places that they were at, the greatest week of college, the time their heart was broken, the greatest road trip that they took and they might even hear a song that reminds them of their mom, dad or siblings.

AM: So when you say rock & roll, what genres comprise this very broad title?

GH: It’s a big title and quite frankly, our definition is a very big tent. Rock & roll is more about attitude and spirit then it is about a specific sound. We embrace in the 50’s Doo-Wop, Street Corner Harmony and RockabIlly; in the 60’s there’s Psychedelic, Soul music, Folk music; in the 70’s there’s Heavy Metal, Hip-Hop, Dance Music, Disco, Punk Rock – it’s all under the umbrella of rock & roll. Synth Pop and Industrial – we embrace it all! So for us, it’s all about attitude and spirit! There’s an attitude about Johnny Cash that he had to the music industry and when Ice Cube was inducted, a couple of years ago, In his induction speech, he said, “rock & roll is a spirit, rock & roll is an attitude.” You can find his full quote online. (Editor’s Note: When Ice Cube was inducted, he talked about whether a rap group was considered to be rock & roll. He said, “Now the question is, are we rock & roll? And I say you goddam right we rock & roll. Rock & roll is not an instrument, rock & roll is not even a style of music. Rock & roll is a spirit. It’s a spirit. It’s been going since the blues, jazz, bebop, soul R&B, rock & roll, heavy metal, punk rock and yes, hip-hop. And what connects us all is that spirit. That’s what connects us all, that spirit. Rock & roll is not conforming to the people who came before you, but creating your own path in music and in life. That is rock & roll, and that is us. So rock & roll is not conforming. Rock & roll is outside the box. And rock & roll is N.W.A. I want to thank everybody who helped induct us into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and I just want to tell the world – Damn, that shit was dope.”) That is what we embrace. It’s the voice of change, it’s always been the sound of young America and it continues to evolve and as a museum, we continue to evolve with it.

AM: So as music continues to evolve, you will always look for new forms and elements to add to what rock & roll is.

GH: We will and that’s kind of the wave right now. That’s why we have been inducting great Hip-Hop artists right alongside great Heavy Metal artists. In the last induction, it was LL Cool J, and it was Carole King, it was the Foo Fighters, Jay-Z and Tina Turner that were all inducted! To us, it’s a broad tent and everybody’s welcome!

AM: What are your 3 favorite rock genres that you love listening to?

GH: I look for stuff that’s a little harsher, a little stronger. I love old Blues, I love 60’s Soul like Memphis and I love Punk Rock! I like for it to have a little punch and a little attitude.

AM: I can see that!

GH: Yeah, that’s what I prefer.

AM: What is your day-to-day like in your role and what are the key projects that you’re focused on?

GH: My day-to-day role is 1 – to make sure that we have the greatest museum in the world, that every single visitor that comes through our doors leaves being transformed and impacted and that we have a great team that makes that happen. It’s about keeping our staff inspired and changing. We don’t believe in maintenance mode, we always want to be growing and reaching. To that end, we're working on an amazing expansion project at the museum. We’ll be breaking ground later on this year. We will be increasing the museum by about 50,000 sqft. It’s a great project and we’re very excited to be doing it. For that project, one of my biggest responsibilities is to work with a team and to raise the funds to be able to do that. We talked about how there have been 13 million visitors that have been through the museum for the past 27 years. We need to build something for the next 13 million visitors!

AM: What can guests expect when they do come to visit and then for those that aren't available to come in person, is there an online version where people can connect that way?

GH: Yeah, so I’ll back up a little bit to your question of what do we do. So, we have this great museum and then in addition to this great museum, we have this great digital outreach. So anybody in the world can connect with us and they can experience the Hall of Fame, but also if there are teachers out there, we have ready teaching materials that they can use for free. Pre COVID, we averaged 50 teachers a day using it, during COVID it was about 500 to 1,000 a day and we have reached over 1 million students last year with our online education programs. We would love it if teachers would use it and help spread the word! We’re not teaching kids how to play instruments or to write songs, we’re teaching them math, science, social justice all through the lens of rock & roll.

AM: That’s really cool! It’s a large job!

GH: Oh yeah. We have a really great team and we’re cranking through!

When someone walks onsite at the museum, the experience starts when you’re in the building. You’re going to hear music blasting from speakers, it might be a live band on stage outdoors or it might just be coming out of our PA speakers. In the museum, you can see the whole history of rock & roll – from Blues, gospel and country through the Beatles, Stones, Supremes, James Brown, Motown and all of that. On our 2nd floor, you can play on instruments and jam with your friends. If bands visit us and they want to jam with visitors – they can do that. On our 3rd floor, you can walk through our Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and see the greats of music where they are immortalized forever in our Hall of Fame and experience our immersive theater that has an amazing show that was edited with the great Jonathan Demme and it’s really the greatest moments from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductions. So really, that’s some of the things you do and throughout it all, you’re reminded of times in your life that you listened to certain music, the greatest road trip, your Freshman year in college, who you hung out with and we bring all of those memories back and that’s the real power of our place.

AM: Going back to the expansion, what will that involve?

GH: We are keeping the whole I.M. Pei pyramid as is and that’s 128,000 sqft and we’re going to add another 50,000 sqft. You know the Pei Pyramid, the only other pyramid that he has done was at the Louvre which is truly the center of Europe’s great art as it’s the home of Mona Lisa. His only other pyramid is here in America at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and we’re the home of America’s great art rock and roll.

AM: That expansion is going to be huge as that’s 175,000 sqft!

GH: Pretty close give or take!

AM: That’s a lot of space.

GH: Well it’s a big subject!

AM: What are 3 of your favorite exhibits that are at the museum?

GH: I love the Garage Exhibit where visitors can come in and jam with each other it’s amazing.

We finished an exhibit that I liked a lot that I think is particularly interesting to your readers. That was an exhibit that we did about the greatest Halftime Show Performances in Super Bowl history. We had it at the museum when we hosted the NFL Draft in Cleveland. Then we worked with the NFL and we took it out to the Super Bowl in LA this year and we’re working with them again to take out to Phoenix for the next Super Bowl.

It shows performances and great moments by Prince when he did Purple Rain in the rain, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé – it’s just these iconic moments in American cultural history that happened at the Super Bowl Halftime performance it’s just a really great exhibit.

We have an exhibit which really is the legends of rock and each band has a focus area. That focus area could be David Bowie, Elton John, Michael Jackson – they all have an area that highlights their career. And that’s an exciting area to walk through and to be reminded of these individuals and their wider impact on our culture.

AM: What’s the process for acquiring items for the museum?

GH: We work directly with the inductees and pretty much everything we have at the museum has been donated by an inductee, a family member or the artist directly. We make sure to partner with them. They donate to us and occasionally it’s a loaned item if they still need it! We’ve had artifacts that are on exhibit that an artist needs back because they're touring so a guitar goes out to them and a label says, “currently on tour.”

AM: For those that are in town, how many live shows do you have a year?

GH: We have live music probably about 100 shows a year at the museum. This summer, every Thurs and Fri, we’ll have live music and some of the bands that are still coming this summer – Guided By Voices, Adrian Belew is playing and people can go to RockHall.com to check out what we have going on. There’s all different genres and one of the things that’s important to us is that we just don’t put up a party band that plays cover songs. We want original artists playing original music and we want to mix it up between the different genres whether it’s bands that are heavy metal, classic rock sounding or if they’re Hip-Hop. We love having all of them at the museum and they will be playing outdoors on our plaza.

AM: Like many, I am a fan of music. My great uncle was Joe Henderson a tenor saxophonist, I love various genres of music and here at Athleisure Mag as well as outside projects I have styled a number of known artists or have interviewed them. I know that our readers would love to know more about what goes into the induction of artists for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. What are the eligibility requirements?

GH: Artists have had to have made a record 25 years ago to make them eligible for consideration. And then, it’s really impact and influence. You look at did they take the art form in a new direction, did they push the envelope and that’s what they’re recognized for more than chart placement and sales. The process is, there is a ballot made for all those that were nominated. It then goes out to our voters and the largest voting body is all the other inductees. This year, Jay-Z is going to get a ballot, Bono gets a ballot, Smokey Robinson gets a ballot, Madonna gets a ballot, Bruce Springsteen and members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers – they all get ballots. So they vote and the top 5 vote getters are elected to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

AM: I like that the public is also allowed to join in the fun – why was this an element that has been added to the process?

GH: So the fan vote is interesting. During the year, we let fans in the museum voice who should be nominated. It’s always fun to hear that and to understand that. Then when the voting is underway with all of the inductees, we also do a public fan vote and part of it is engagement so that they can engage with us online and let us know who their favorites are. Then we take all the fan votes online and we aggregate them and they count as a composite ballot into the bigger vote. So what it is important for is to see who people are interested in and to understand what they are thinking about. Because the induction into the Hall of Fame is not a popularity contest, those that are in the industry and have made their living off of rock & roll, their votes are really what counts the most because they can judge the merits of their peers. If that wasn’t the case, whoever has the most social media followers would be elected and that doesn’t necessarily mean they they are the most impactful, it just means that they have great music and great followers. We need that impact.

AM: When the nominees are announced, I am sure there are a number of logistics to figure out from who will accept an award for the artist/group if they have passed away and who will perform if there are other artists that will do a tribute versus those that opt to play themselves. Can you tell us more about that?

GH: The show producers are amazing! It’s our Foundation President, Joel Peresman and our Foundation Chairman, John Sykes and they do an amazing job working to create a show that is dynamic and exciting and also appropriate for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. They have done a super job working with the show, the production design team and sometimes at its greatest when it’s an artist from yesterday that is being honored by an artists of today and when they perform together – when you have Stevie Wonder inducting Bill Withers and then they sing together and then John Legend comes out and performs with them – it’s amazing! When LL Cool J was inducted, LL was joined by Eminem and by JLo. Just an incredible combination. It’s a desire to allow some artists to pay tribute to those that have influenced them and it’s a chance for other artists to combine that they have meant a lot to. So it’s kind of a neat looking back and looking forward and making something that is even better for that moment in time at that event.

AM: As we’re based in NY, it’s always fun when the ceremony is in our backyard, but for the upcoming 2022 induction ceremony, it will be in LA this fall. Why is it being held there and what is behind the decision of the city that you opt to do it in?

GH: Well there are rock & roll fans everywhere and let’s face it, NY is a big center for music and LA is the home of much of the industry. So those 2 cities make a ton of sense and we also do it in Cleveland which is the home of the museum and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We’re working on a sequence where it goes on between those cities and we’re really excited and honored that Cleveland is in that cadence and we’re looking at how that pans out in future years. We’re really excited and thrilled to be going to LA as it hasn’t been there since 2013!

AM: Looking at this year’s inductees, I was excited about all the names but especially pleased to see that Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, Eminem, Lionel Richie and Dolly Parton are in this year’s group – what are you looking forward to this year?

GH: You know, they’re all terrific and they’re all deserving! I’m looking forward to just being surprised. Every year there are super highlights and it’s amazing as this honor isn't about haing 1 hit record or having a great soundtrack song or something like that. This is a lifetime award that is emblematic of excellence and forever they will be celebrated and enshrined at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. This is a really powerful moment for those artists and I can’t wait to hear their speeches and then to see them light up the room with their performances.

AM: I know we talked about the educational elements that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is involved in throughout the year. Are there other community programs that takes place throughout the year?

GH: We have a program called Toddler Rock where kids from First Start Programs come to the museum twice a week and we teach them for 15 weeks on rhyming, alliteration, and social skills with trained music therapists. It’s amazing. We have another program where anyone who lives in the city of Cleveland can come in for free admission all year long, everyday – whenever – just come on in! It’s a great community outreach for us and we love partnering with our conventions and business bureaus and other entities around town. When the city is bidding on and trying to attract the NBA All Star Game or the MLB All Star Game, we are in the mix. We are part of the hosting committee and we pledge to be a great partner and frequently they theme the event rock & roll because it is Cleveland. We love doing that and we think that if our reach can do well, then everyone can do well and we want to make that happen.

AM: In terms of the remainder of this year and looking forward to next year, what are you looking to do in terms of outreach and education on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?

GH: One, we need to execute on an amazing summer season which is what we are doing. We want to keep going with all of our educational initiatives. We have a traveling exhibitions program where certain exhibits once they are in Cleveland will go out to cities around the country. We're actively working on this building expansion project which is a significant endeavor for the museum and we’re very excited. We have been ramping up our digital presence and we have been adding a lot of Spanish language to what we are doing in our digital outreach. There is a massive group of people that love rock & roll that don’t speak English and we’re very excited to reach out to those audiences as well who do speak English.

IG @rockhall

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Read the JUL ISSUE #79 of Athleisure Mag and see OUR MUSIC OUR CULTURE | Greg Harris + Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in mag.