Bonnaroo University Shapes Future Music Industry Pros

Belmont students turn one of Tennessee's most beloved festivals into a career-launching classroom

Under the sweltering Tennessee sun, Belmont University students navigate The Farm in Manchester, smartphones ready, engaging Bonnaroovians in interviews and surveys. These aren't typical festivalgoers, but future entertainment industry professionals in training. 

It’s Bonnaroo University 2024, where the next generation of music industry professionals is forged within one of the South’s most iconic festivals. For these students, the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival isn’t simply a music festival, but rather a living classroom where data is collected between artist sets and interviews are as prized as band meet-and-greets.  

Students spend June in an entertainment and sociology intensive where they complete six hours of coursework in one month, prepping for the festival and culminating final presentations. In its seventh iteration, students take two courses taught in tandem by social scientists Drs. Sarita Stewart (Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business) and Ken Spring (College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences):  

• “Sociology of Music: Festival Scenes and Subcultures” examines music’s societal role and cultural impact. Students explore how popular music has evolved throughout five decades, reflecting on social change and innovation.  
• “Research Methods and Festival Culture” equips students with practical skills in both qualitative and quantitative research within the festival setting. From crafting research questions to data collection and analysis, students learn to conduct comprehensive studies using various methods. 
   

Building Connections: A Four-Day Industry Crash Course 

While the class meets in the weeks leading up, the real star is the festival itself. Students spend four nights on climate-controlled tour buses and receive all-access passes to the festival grounds. From backstage to the press tent and every area in between, they experience festival operations from all facets, gaining insights typically reserved for industry insiders.  

Access is valuable, but it's just one aspect of the experience. Thanks to the longstanding relationships built by Stewart, Spring and others at Belmont, Bonnaroo U students build an extensive professional network in four days that would normally take years to develop.  

Stewart said the vision for the course has “blossomed over time,” with support from many industry veterans. 

The program’s distinguished speaker roster is curated from music industry heavyweights. Lending their expertise and networks to enrich the experience are Jeff McClusky, a powerhouse in radio promotion; Ken Weinstein, a seasoned music publicist and co-founder of Big Hassle; Ryan Carey, founder of Bedrock Music; and Nancy Tarr, music industry educator, advocate and executive director of Well Dunn.

C3 Presents (a Live Nation company), the organization behind Bonnaroo, completes the roster of key industry partners including festival director Brad Parker and project manager assistant Jenna Love. Instead of reading about event operations in a textbook, students learn directly from Parker and Love's extensive festival expertise, offering the class an unparalleled resource for understanding large-scale event management.

A week before the festival, the C3 Presents team guides the class through The Farm, detailing the complex logistics required to host nearly 7,000 staff and volunteers and more than 70,000 attendees. The team's engagement continues throughout the festival, as they share insights during press tent sessions and panel discussions.

As Bonnaroo festival director, Parker has a keen understanding of operations at a macro and micro level. “It’s like air traffic control,” said Parker. “We need things on every single plane, and we need to make sure that everyone is landing their planes at separate times.” 

Data-Driven Discovery: Uncovering the Fan of Tomorrow 

Belmont's partnership with Live Nation has strengthened alongside the course's growth. For the second consecutive year, students showcased their research findings to executives at Live Nation's Nashville offices after the festival. 

This year, students had an overarching theme — “Who is the fan of tomorrow?” — and were able to choose their group’s specific research question from there. In total, the class conducted 400 interviews and presented research findings to festival executives.  

“Our students consistently provide fresh perspectives, and I'm grateful they trust us to guide them on this journey,” said Stewart. “Allowing the class to choose their specific research questions gave students more ownership based on what they wanted to study.”  

Students studied four different areas including:  

• Fan interaction: How do diverse fan bases engage with each other at Bonnaroo? 

• Cultural inclusivity: What role does Latin music representation play in shaping the future Bonnaroo audience? 

• Lifestyle trends: How do music preferences correlate with substance use patterns among festival-goers? 

• Fashion expression: How does festival fashion reflect and influence the evolving Bonnaroo fan identity?  

Beyond the Music: Cross-Disciplinary Learning at The Farm 

Bonnaroo U's strength lies in partnerships, collaborations and champions for entertainment education. This year, Belmont University is expanding its Belmont USA program with the launch of Belmont ATL in Atlanta. Richard Dunn, a multifaceted entrepreneur and industry leader with a prolific career spanning music, entertainment, media, and business ventures, has been appointed as the program manager for Belmont ATL. To gain insights for developing a festival/live venue offering under Belmont ATL, which will focus on the hip-hop space of entertainment, Dunn traveled to Bonnaroo U to shadow the experience.  

In a separate initiative, Belmont Pharmacy students attended part of the festival to learn from a Narcan panel organized by "This Must Be The Place," an overdose prevention non-profit that distributes free Naloxone at music and art festivals nationwide to combat the fentanyl epidemic. Curb College and the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences are looking at further ways to collaborate in the future. 

Career Launchpad: The Long-Term Impact of Bonnaroo U 

Bonnaroo U pays dividends long after students complete the program. “The most exciting aspects as a professor are the stories that unfold in the months and years after,” said Stewart. “I hear from students all the time who got a job through someone they met at the festival. A meeting led to an internship which led to a job.”  

The final panel, “Next Gen,” invited young professionals in the industry to share wisdom with students on navigating internships and first jobs. Of the eight young professionals on the panel, five were Belmont alumni.  

Eden Leach (‘20) of the 2019 Bonnaroo U cohort said, “Bonnaroo U was life-changing. Everything that played out in my career happened because of this class.” Today, Eden serves as a tour marketing manager at Live Nation. 

Curiosity is key to propelling a young professional’s career in entertainment. “You won’t love every job you have, but if you’re curious enough, you’ll work through it and find what you’re good at.”  

Beyond the excitement of a music festival — and more than the $400 million local economic impact — the cultural significance of Bonnaroo is profound. “It’s not just about selling tickets to see shows,” said Parker. "There's a deeper reason why all these people are willing to subject themselves to the heat and weather." 

Bonnaroo U helps students uncover this deeper reason. Through one-on-one conversations, rigorous research, and industry connections, the program equips the next generation of music industry professionals with an intimate understanding of the transformative power of music and community. 

As Bonnaroo evolves, so too does Bonnaroo U, shaping not just careers but the festival's future. For these students, the four days spent on The Farm are just the beginning of their careers in entertainment, echoing the spirit of discovery, connection and innovation that defines both Bonnaroo and the music industry.  

Photos by TJ Samuels and Matt Willoughby