BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 Long before the first song plays or the first beer is poured, the work begins.<\/p>\n
At ArtsQuest, the nonprofit behind Bethlehem\u2019s biggest events \u2014 from Musikfest and Oktoberfest to year-round concerts and film screenings \u2014 what the public sees is only the final act of a process that stretches back months, sometimes even years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re already deep in planning for next summer\u2019s World Cup celebration,\u201d said Patrick Brogan, ArtsQuest\u2019s chief programming officer and manager of the SteelStacks campus. \u201cIt\u2019s October now, and we\u2019ve already had three meetings this week about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brogan, who\u2019s been with the organization for 25 years, oversees teams responsible for music, cinema, comedy and festivals \u2014 essentially everything that happens in front of an audience. The work behind those moments, he said, is anything but solitary.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really is a team effort,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one person is making a decision in a vacuum. We have volunteers, board members, community partners \u2014 so many voices come together to decide what we do. The more partnerships we have, the more successful the event usually is.\u201d<\/p>\n
A year-round operation<\/p>\n
The sheer scale of ArtsQuest\u2019s event calendar is large. Weekends are booked solid through 2026 and most of 2027.<\/p>\n
Famous artists like Jerry Seinfeld, Snoop Dogg and Sabrina Carpenter have performed on the Musikfest stage, but those moments are the result of months of negotiations and logistics. Offers for next year\u2019s headliners, Brogan said, went out in May \u2014 before Musikfest 2025 even began.<\/p>\n
Smaller events \u2014 like the annual Taco Fest or new concert series in Allentown\u2019s Union Terrace Park \u2014 go through an intricate planning process that balances community demand, partnerships and funding availability.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes a partner will come to us with a great idea,\u201d Brogan said. \u201cIt might sit on the shelf for a year or two until we have the right funding or calendar slot. We\u2019d love to do everything, but timing is everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
The people behind the magic<\/p>\n
Behind every ArtsQuest event is a small army of staff and volunteers \u2014 from sound engineers and production crews to parking attendants, bartenders and crowd coordinators. ArtsQuest employs more than 100 people and relies on anywhere from a handful to more than 1,000 volunteers, depending on the event\u2019s size.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in the experience business, and you can\u2019t create experiences without people,\u201d Brogan said. \u201cWe simply could not do what we do without our very talented team and the generous volunteers who give so freely of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of those volunteers give up nights and weekends to help make the magic happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink about it,\u201d Brogan said. \u201cWhen most people are out enjoying the event, our staff and volunteers are working. Last night we had a concert with 12 volunteers giving up their Sunday evening. Other people were home watching football or relaxing, and here they were helping create something special for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cory Stevens, the volunteer program manager, said those efforts are what give ArtsQuest its unique energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s this sense of pride that comes from seeing the city come alive,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cOur volunteers love being part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
A labor of love<\/p>\n
Brogan admits the work can be unpredictable, and no live event goes off without a few surprises. But he said he believes that\u2019s part of what makes it meaningful.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt requires a lot of flexibility and patience,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you go to an event, bring that patience with you. There\u2019s so much work that goes into making these moments happen, and they\u2019re fleeting \u2014 you can\u2019t recreate them another day. That\u2019s what makes them special.\u201d<\/p>\n
After two decades of helping shape the region\u2019s cultural heartbeat, Brogan has seen countless moments that remind him why the work matters.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you pick a favorite star in the sky?\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cSeeing Jerry Seinfeld on our main stage, or a young Sabrina Carpenter before she became a global star \u2014 those moments are electric. But it\u2019s also the smaller ones \u2014 when you see people dancing, smiling, feeling connected. That\u2019s why we do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 Long before the first song plays or the first beer is poured, the work begins.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-10161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}