Sonic Pie Productions celebrated its milestone 10th anniversary last weekend with a 1920s-themed costume party, complete with Keenan McKenzie Quintet, JoRose Burlesque, 20s cocktails, dancing and lots of friends. Curators, community organizers, sound engineers, dancers, musicians and concert-goers–it’s because of YOU we do what we love and love what we do. Here’s to ten more years. Thank you!
Today we’d like to introduce you to Tess Mangum.
Hi Tess, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I am a seventh-generation North Carolinian. Though I grew up in a musical family (my grandmother, Kate Mangum, taught Randy Travis how to play guitar and great-uncle Homer Briarhopper was fortunate to call Doc Watson a fan), I always felt my role in the family business was behind the scenes.
When I was an undergrad at UNC-Chapel Hill, there were no formal music business/music industry degrees, so I quilted together my own by majoring in public relations and adding in music industry internships, part-time jobs, fieldwork and an independent study. By doing this, I was able to land a job right out of college, working for a small world music record label in Durham, NC. A few years later, I became the first in my family to get a Master’s degree (M.A., Ethnomusicology, University of Limerick, Ireland.)
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Not smooth but not boring! For instance, a decade ago, a few weeks before Christmas, I got laid off with no notice. We’re talking go to work with a job and health insurance but come home a few hours later with a box of desk things, memories, and a lamp. However, two months later, I was officially incorporated as Sonic Pie Productions, LLC. (I spent a lot of time that holiday season reading about, researching and planning the new, uncharted entrepreneur era!)
The Covid pandemic has acted as a big curve ball in this business as well.
We’ve been impressed with Sonic Pie Productions, LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Sonic Pie Productions is a concert and festival production and curation company. We curate (book talent for) festivals and concert series, offer P.A. and staging rental, sound engineers, stage management and event logistics navigation. We are also able to do consulting work related to the arts, economic development, placemaking, cultural diversity and social impact.
In fact, what sets us apart is that we integrate social impact as the core part of the business. It IS possible to build community and commerce. We often work in tandem with local and national non-profit organizations to produce events all people can enjoy. Another way Sonic Pie Productions is different from other companies offering similar services is the strength and diversity of our crew–this is a HUB-certified women-owned company, and you’ll find women, people of color and LGBTQ here!
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was always the one who would talk to the “new kid” at school. I was fiercely independent and good at public speaking. I lived for band and theater classes.
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When Sonic Pie Productions was awarded an event production/management contract from the City of Raleigh and Raleigh Arts, for their annual Raleigh Medal of Arts Award show, we knew it needed to be a hybrid event. But this time, not hybrid in the sense we all became used to the past 2 1/2 years (part in-person, part virtual/online.)
This event was coming back, LIVE, and in a proper theatre! (Theatre In The Park, in Pullen Park, near North Carolina State University.) Though not without its challenges, the space (originally built in the 1930s by the WPA as an armory) allowed us to stretch out, creatively–even embracing a few aspects of a traditional award show, such as an Awardees red carpet arrival and interview segment, viewed by family, friends and patrons.
The 2022 Raleigh Medal of Arts Awards was held on Thursday, October 20 at 7 p.m. Hosted by Rissi Palmer, the awards featured presentations and performances honoring extraordinary achievements in the arts by:
YouTube footage is coming soon. In the meantime, here is a photo essay from @coco.butter.shutter and @willasteinphotography
It’s not every day you get to experience something like this. Sonic Pie Productions, in partnership with The ArtsCenter in Carrboro, and Raleigh-based Friends of World Music presents BOMBINO, Thursday, June 2, 8 p.m. Tickets are $29.
Omara “Bombino” Moctar, whose given name is Goumour Almoctar, was born on January 1, 1980, in Tidene, Niger, an encampment of nomadic Tuaregs located about 80 kilometers to the northeast of Agadez. He is a member of the Ifoghas tribe, which belongs to the Kel Adagh Tuareg federation. His father is a car mechanic and his mother takes care of the home, as is the Tuareg tradition. Bombino was raised as a Muslim and taught to consider honor, dignity and generosity as principal tenets of life.
The Tuareg, known amongst themselves as the Kel Tamasheq, have long been recognized as warriors, traders and travelers of the Sahara Desert – as a people of grace and nobility as well as fighters of fierce reputation. They are a nomadic people descended from the Berbers of North Africa and for centuries have fought against colonialism and the imposition of strict Islamic rule.
PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release Contact: Chasyah L Scott Marketing Director o: 984-500-5253 cscott@artscenterlive.org
The ArtsCenter Announces New 2022 Live Concert Partnership with Tess Mangum and Sonic Pie Productions!
(Carrboro, NC) It’s a match made in paradise! Tess Mangum is back! The ArtsCenter announces a new partnership with Mangum, working with The ArtsCenter to curate 12 concerts at The ArtsCenter, this spring, summer and fall.
Known for welcoming performers such as Mavis Staples, Rickie Lee Jones, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Tinariwen and Les Nubians to The ArtsCenter, she served as Concerts Director & Facility Rental Coordinator of The ArtsCenter, from 2002-2012. Eclectic curation with a mission of representing rich, artistic diversity and, at times bringing artists rarely seen in the southeast earned Tess an Indy Arts Award from Indy Week in 2012. “Tess Mangum makes The ArtsCenter a national, and local, destination” – Indy Week.
Mangum, a seventh-generation North Carolinian, earned a B.A. in Public Relations from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and M.A. in Ethnomusicology from the University of Limerick, Ireland. February 14, 2013, Mangum founded Sonic Pie Productions, LLC, a concert production and curation company based in Durham, NC. In the past nine years, she and her team have worked with artists such as Anderson .Paak, Van Hunt, Gabriel Garzon-Montano, Les Filles de Illighadad, Valerie June and author and COO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg.
So, who’s coming to Carrboro? The ArtsCenter, in partnership with Sonic Pie Productions, presents Blues/Folk/Punk songwriter and guitarist Sunny War Friday, June 10. Thursday, June 2: Tuareg band, Bombino. Call The ArtsCenter at 919-929-2787 to purchase tickets, $15, or purchase online at www.artscenterlive.org. Local beer and wine is available for purchase starting one hour before curtain. In addition to wearing masks, proof of vaccination is required for all attendees of in-person performances. More exciting concerts to be announced soon!
For more information about Sonic Pie Productions, visit www.sonicpieproductions.com.
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The ArtsCenter is a 501(c)(3) Arts Education non-profit located in Carrboro, North Carolina. It is the single largest employer of artists in Orange County and serves more than 100,000 patrons each year, including K-12 students.
Durham, North Carolina-based Sonic Pie Productions, founded in 2013, creates community and commerce via curated concert bookings, consultation and sound production services.
MAY, our favorite month, is when the busy came back to Sonic Pie Productions, LLC. Here’s some of the debut performance of Deep Fog (North Carolina Museum of Art asked us to engineer and multitrack–engineer Jasmine Battle at the helm.) This is #PUNK #INDIE from Laura King (Bat Fangs, Speed Stick, Moaners), H.C. McEntire (solo, Mount Moriah, Bellafea), Nora Rogers (Solar Halos, Object Hours, The Curtains of Night), and Jenny Waters (Work Clothes, Object Hours).
Recorded live in the West Building at NCMA the commissioned set of original material was composed this spring over the span of one month and includes a score to this year’s #ArtInBloom fashion show, NCMA Foundation’s major
#fundraiser. #work #music #film #fashion #flowerart #show #sonicpieproductions #ncma
This week, Cardinal & Pine published an extensive feature about Covid’s impact on North Carolina’s music industry and economy, including part of a candid interview with Sonic Pie Production’s founder & CEO, Tess Mangum. From IBMA, J. Cole and Amythyst Kiah to Ramseur Records and PineCone, you’ll want to read the entire piece, by Jesse James DeConto.
Durham from the Heart is back, for a second season! Don’t let your week blur together–reclaim your Wednesday and mark the middle day with these 1-2 p.m. online performances at https://www.facebook.com/DowntownDurham
Comment in real time or just hang out. Sponsored by Downtown Durham Inc., curated by Sonic Pie Productions. If you live or work in Durham, North Carolina or Durham County and want to apply for this (paid) performance opportunity, email us at sonicpieproductions@gmail.com.
Through our partnership with Three Attic Entertainment, Sonic Pie Productions is prepared to handle all video needs for your event. Keep your YouTube, Instagram and other social media accounts fresh and reach worldwide viewers with concert videos, livestream, event videography, live conference panels, meet and greets, virtual real estate tours and historic site tours. Email sonicpieproductions@gmail.com for pricing and information.
If you are ready for some in-person fun, join Tess in the big backyard of her 1935 farmhouse for fried chicken, deep fried mac & cheese, homemade coconut cake and more artery-clogging nibbles to enjoy with two glasses of craft beer or wine. It’s a Deep Fried Swap Meet Hootenanny! It’s especially monumental because it’s Sonic Pie Productions’ first live concert event since the U.S. outbreak of COVID-19 in March.
To Tess and Bryce, a hootenanny is where folk music can mean country, soul or hip hop, so get ready for special musical guests Rissi Palmer (Apple Music’s Color Me Country), Tamisha Waden (The Foreign Exchange) and Keenan Jenkins (XOXOK). Throw in a swap meet and everyone goes home with unforgettable memories and a new treasure. Each ticket holder should bring 1-2 sanitized personal items to swap and the story that goes with them. A zero waste event.
Saturday, October 10, 5:30 p.m.
Durham, NC
Tickets $45, tips encouraged! All proceeds benefit the 501c3 Durham Central Park, Inc.,
