Promote a real show. Learn by doing it.
CCP Presents is the live production track inside the Concert Career Pathways program. Participants don’t study concert promotion, they do it! Every cohort books an artist, builds a marketing campaign, runs the venue on show night, and analyzes the financials after. It’s the most intensive, most hands-on learning in the entire program.
CCP Presents — the promoter challenge
The promoter groups are divided into groups of 4–6 people. Each group produces and promotes one profitable show at The UC Theatre, working with local rising artists in a three-act format. Every participant takes a core role, and the entire group is accountable for the outcome: artistic, operational, and financial.
The Premise
Core roles in each promoter group
Talent Buyer
Researches and books artists, negotiates deals, evaluates risk vs. opportunity.
Marketing lead
Runs all promotional channels: social, email, press, street team.
Production manager
Coordinates stage, sound, lighting, and load-in/load-out.
Box office manager
Handles ticketing, walk-up sales, settlements, and capacity tracking.
Project manager
Keeps the team on timeline, budget, and accountable to each other.
Operations lead
Manages day-of venue flow, hospitality, and staff coordination.
From research to show night — the full process
Our participants reflect the communities the music industry too often overlooks. We recruit actively from Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, and San Francisco — and provide travel stipends, meal access, and wraparound support so economic barriers don’t limit participation.
Artist research & booking
Participants identify local emerging artists, evaluate genre fit and draw potential, draft offers, and negotiate deals with artist management.
Marketing & promotion
Full campaign across social media, email, event listings, street team, and press outreach. Each group owns their own promotion budget.
Production planning
Stage plot, sound and lighting rider, load-in schedule, hospitality, and show-day coordination with UC Theatre production staff.
Box office & settlement
Ticket sales management, walk-up window, door count reconciliation, and post-show financial settlement with the artist.
Day-of operations
All departments run simultaneously: participants manage real problems in real time with the full venue open to the public.
Post-show P&L analysis
Every group reviews their own profit and loss. What worked? What didn’t? What would they do differently? The debrief is part of the curriculum.
BMG Presents — the talent development platform
BMG Presents is Berkeley Music Group’s vertically integrated artist development and promotion platform. It’s the professional infrastructure that CCP Presents trains participants to enter, and the context that gives the training its stakes and its scale.
BMG Presents programs across a structured growth ladder of venues, moving artists from early-stage rooms to headline status within an independent venue network. The goal is a sustainable ecosystem for emerging talent, and a real promoter management program for CCP graduates who want to go pro.
The artist development ladder
250-cap
Early-stage rooms
500-cap
Developing artists
750-cap
Mid-level routing
1,350-cap
Headline status
By curating across multiple capacity tiers, BMG Presents creates a structured growth ladder, one where emerging artists have a clear, supportable path from a 250-cap debut to a UC Theatre headline, and where CCP graduates gain promoter experience at every rung.
The Promoter Management Program
CCP interns and graduates who demonstrate strong performance in CCP Presents can enter the BMG Presents Promoter Management Program, a supervised professional track where they gain real-world experience in artist evaluation, budgeting, booking strategy, marketing execution, and show profitability.
What the Promoter Management Program offers
Get involved
Artists interested in BMG Presents:
booking@theuctheatre.orgCCP applications:
education@theuctheatre.orgSponsorship & support:
development@theuctheatre.org