Reinhard De Klerk
Collection
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I always felt that my calling in the world was to bring people together and keep challenging myself and others in social environments. I would always try to have conversations and get to know complete strangers just to see if humanity still exists but sadly most of the time I am disappointed. I felt the need to ignite that flame and start an entertainment business in a way where it highlights the importance of social gatherings and connection.
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Year 2000
2000 was the best year in my career. I brought thousands and thousands of people together to the point where we blocked off highways for kilometres and filled up a whole unused farm field. It was a completely unexpected turnout of mass amount of people and never before done or seen in the entertainment industry. Artists that accompanied and performed at the festival were, Jimi Hendrix, Jani Joplin Grateful dead, Joe Cocker, Nash and Young and many many more. The even that took place has been one of the biggest impacts in the music industry and history.
It took us 4 days to set up the stage, and even then people were slowly gathering already. By the 2nd day we already had 10,000 people on the grounds with the stage half done, however it was enough so that we could have artists play while finishing the stage. Slowly but surely people flooded in and we realised that it has reached a lot more people than we ever thought it would. On the 3rd day the grounds was filled. Roadways were blocked and from an aerial perspective it looked like a giant colony of ants. At the time we were charging $20 entry but by the time the numbers grew to 100,000 people it was hard to keep track at who has a ticket and who doesn’t. However we still made $2million from the whole event.
I had to oversee the whole operation and organise the whole event. I wanted to make sure everything was perfect and exactly how I wanted, and it was. My goal was to bring people together, and I brought 400,000 people together. I particularly picked artists who I knew would make an impact and a different in the society because that’s what Year 2000 was about.
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Rombus
Rombus was another event I organised before year 2000. It was a festival that was mainly surrounding punk music and genres around that. We had 200,000 people attend Rombus and made a total profit of about $2.5million. It was another extremely successful event, top artists such as Green Day performing. I had a team of 100 organising, setting up, maintaining and controlling the event throughout the 3 days. It was a challenging but rewarding experience causing me to learn a lot of lessons and ways to better myself the next time and my business
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Alley Wey
Alley Wey was the first event I organised that was specifically focused on reviving a dead street in the city of Adelaide. Adelaide is a very small city and some streets that were once booming with life have died down causing both businesses to struggle and the economy. I decided I wanted to revive these streets by doing pop up alley way bars, live music, restaurants and food vans in order to boost the life of the street. I decided that Rundle street would be a good decision because of the vast amount of side alley ways and hidden treasures. The event was held over the period of the Fringe which is a festival that happens every year in Adelaide. I had old school buses located in alleys equipped with a fully functional bar inside and multiple food vans around. Small details such as lights pointed in the right directions and contemporary art in some Alleys added to the lively energy and appeal to people walking past.
Roles I have done in the Past
I was a stage hand when I first started in the entertainment/events business. I helped setup and also pack down after events. I did this for a year and decided I wanted to make more of an impact in the events business and grow bigger so I asked for promotion to Stage Manager.
As a stage manager I handled many responsibilities such as, keeping the performing artists happy and providing whatever they asked for, managing all the backstage workers, helping setup and pack down as well as coordinating it so that it is as efficient as possible and coming u
After 2 years of being a Stage Manager I decided its time for a big step, and so I started my own entertainment/events business and became an MC. This has caused me to constantly want to improve and pursue new ideas and bring the social gathering of people back into the world. I improved skills throughout this role such as critical thinking, organisation and leadership skills and it has caused me to constantly think of new ideas and ways to improve the event experience for anyone and everyone.
Health and Safety
The following is an overview of some of the Health and safety aspects I had to follow when organising the events throughout my career
Health and Safety is a major aspect of any event to keep it safe and enjoyable. I had to prepare multiple risk assessments, Organise emergency services, First AID location inside the event with trained professionals, Availability of clean drinking water with multiple locations for ease of use and of course make sure everything inside the festival such as structures, stages and food and beverage vendors were all safe and did not oppose any danger.
Public Liability
Before having any person step foot onto the even grounds I had to take out public liability insurance in case of any emergency. Public Liability insurance is an extremely important aspect of any event. Through the 3 events I organised I have had to take out public liability insurance for the performing artists, the attendees and many other workers and roles that were at the event on that day.
