While Dirk Stalnecker was in college studying business, marketing and management, his high-school pals were taking the music world by storm one small venue at a time. Their band was called Blues Traveler, and upon his graduation, they invited Dirk to join them on the road as a production assistant, beginning a lifelong passion for music and live events. Stalnecker spent several years managing concert tours and itineraries for Blues Traveler, H.O.R.D.E., Widespread Panic and Tonic. On the road he met the masters; the road hard tour managers, sound engineers, production teams, agents, managers and talent buyers, learning from each along the way and building relationships that have informed and inspired his work for two decades.
In 2000, Dirk settled in Austin as the Production Manager for Stubbs Legendary Barbeque, one of Austin’s premier live music venues featuring both indoor and outdoor stages. Managing production for a venue that hosts local and national acts seven nights a week is the music business equivalent of being in the Special Forces when everyone else is in the National Guard. Not only was he responsible for the successful execution of each show, he was juggling the concerns of the artist, the manager, the talent buyer, the marketing team, the box office, security and the local authorities monitoring sound and fire ordinances, traffic and capacity. His ability to communicate, empathize with and solve for the requirements of all these disparate departments in an ever-changing environment made him the obvious pick for Production Director at C3 Presents.
At a time when the modern destination festival was just a dream, Stalnecker emerged as a visionary, tightening the production of Austin City Limits Music Festival and designing the new home for Lollapalooza in Chicago’s Grant Park. At that time, there was no model for these large-scale festivals in urban green spaces, so he set out to create one, spearheading all aspects of logistics, event site planning, build timelines, budget development, contract negotiations and coordination with the City’s municipal leaders including Police, Fire, Parks and Recreation, Waste Services, the office of the Mayor and City Council.
Dirk both produced and studied the festivals in real time, adjusting design year over year for growth in capacity, footprint, changes in crowd flow, and adjustments to safety and security that needed to be addressed in a changing society. His drive to improve and his attention to every nuance allowed him to see events globally and down to the detail, to calculate logistics against multiple scenarios, to envision crowd movement and sound, and to create an impeccable road map to guide thousands of staff in executing a great event.
Stalnecker’s experience with every aspect of the festival production, the role and needs of every artist, fan, staffer, vendor and volunteer, and the nuances of the relationships with sponsors, media, city stakeholders and the neighboring community served him in the creation of world-class events, as well as the best practices, cohesive systems, contracts and critical documents fundamental in creating safe, successful events of all kinds. As the Production Director at C3 Presents until his exit in 2015, Dirk was responsible for designing, managing and transforming dozens of events, both internally owned and as producer for hire. In 2008, he was tapped to produce the election night celebration for Obama, after which he produced the 2009 and 2013 Inaugurations.
After nearly two decades of producing and studying events, and building relationships across the industry, Dirk realized that many festivals and events with huge potential were floundering due to a small and overwhelmed staff and a basic lack of organizational structure leaving the event vulnerable to failure and liability. Knowing that they could help these small, inspired teams transform and elevate their events, Dirk and his longtime collaborator/wife, Emily launched ESD to support event stakeholders in creating safe, fun and profitable events while eliminating chaos, miscommunication and stress.
Emily Stengel was born and raised in Central Texas. The daughter of artists and entrepreneurs, she was immersed in and passionate about culture at an early age, but her real fascination was everything behind the scenes. Before she’d graduated high school, Emily found her calling in production, working as an all-hands-on-deck PA for a small production company bringing a festival to her hometown of Wimberley, and later a concert series to Austin’s Paramount Theater. Whatever they asked, she took on with zeal – street teaming – artist relations – hauling trash – she was determined to learn as much as she could and happy to pay her dues.
In 2005, she was working for ACL Festival and a few years later, she was a fixture on the production team at C3 Presents, where her influence and innovation in crowd experience and social responsibility grew to touch nearly every aspect of C3’s festivals. During her tenure at C3, Emily served on the production team for ACL Festival, Lollapalooza, Lou Fest, Counterpoint Music and Arts Festival, Cultivate Festivals, Austin Food + Wine Festival , Music City Food + Wine Festival, Red Bull Music and Sporting Events, The White House Easter Egg Roll, the 2013 inauguration and more. As the manager of crowd experience, Emily was responsible for the festival’s volunteer program, ADA access program, food court, art market and nonprofit areas and partnerships, tasked with designing, curating and managing the areas under her supervision. Her ability to create strong systems and communicate best practices to teams big and small resulted in a fun, seamless fan experience and allowed her to succeed across multiple events simultaneously.
Behind the scenes, Emily is guided by the belief that festivals can be both profitable and good. She understands the relationship between the festival platform and the people who need it, and has worked throughout her career to bring local artists, artisans, restaurants and nonprofit organizations to very large festival audiences. The result of these partnerships varied from bringing an international audience to a local food producer, to facilitating dozens of life-saving bone marrow matches for leukemia sufferers, to bringing a fresh young audience of thousands to the Art Institute of Chicago. In every case, good for the festival and the community that supported it.
Her concern for the impact of live events on the environment inspired her to raise festival standards around disposables and create innovative sustainability programs that increased waste diversion, mitigated and offset carbon footprint and engaged fans to intuitively take part in composting and recycling. Her leadership in sustainability earned her an opportunity to work with the EPA and other industry leaders on a Sustainable Concert Working Group, as well as a chance to collaborate with the City of Austin’s Office of Sustainability. Emily brought her expertise in crowd experience and sustainability to South America as a part of the team advising Lollapalooza’s international production partners. Among other things, this resulted in Chile having one of their first sign language interpreted concerts - a huge win for people with disabilities in the region.
Emily aligned with festival Marketing, PR and Sponsorship teams to engage fans, media and festival partners in each festival’s positive impact. She created systems for gathering data that enhanced the understanding of the festival’s impact and operations in multiple areas including environmentally, economically, and within small populations including fans with disabilities and children.
While studying communications with a focus in mediation and conflict resolution, Emily co-founded the HOPE Farmer’s Market, bringing fresh food to East Austin and creating a platform for local artists and food artisans. In addition, she has contributed to several boards and committees in service of local artists and the arts community in Austin.