Today we’d like to introduce you to John Sharpe.
Hi John, 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?
The Westchester Arts & Music Block Party grew out of a marketing committee for the Emerson Avenue Community Garden Club (EACGC) a non-profit charged with maintaining a community garden on the campus of what was then Orville Wright Middle School Campus. The idea was to do something to bring the community to the area so they could see the good things that were happening in the garden, which was still in its adolescence. We came up with WAM Block Party as a brand, designed the logo, built a website, created a sponsor package, and began trying to recruit sponsors to fund the production of a day-long event that was free to the community and featured live music and dance performances, food trucks, art and commercial booths and activities for all. The first year was a success and we ended up in the black.
One of our sponsors suggested adding a beer & wine garden in year two and offered to pay for the physical garden space. We were able to secure a brewery and winery to donate the product, and it’s been a huge game-changer since. The proceeds from WAM went to fund EACGC activities and eventually resulted in the Westchester Rotary Club deciding to fund the majority of a huge makeover project in the space to make it ADA-compliant among other improvements during 2020. WAM split from the garden in 2022 with the vision of providing funds for other non-profits in the community and was able to donate $35k to the Westchester Family YMCA in 2022 and plans for the Y to be the beneficiary in 2023. 2023 will be the 8th year of WAM and we expect to exceed the estimated 7000+ guests who attended last year. In 2023, WAM was voted the Best Community Event and Best Charity/Fundraiser event in the annual poll taken by The Hometown News, the local paper with 18k circ… One last thing! During Covid, I started producing a weekly live concert, streamed on the WAM IG feed, to support working musicians who could no longer tour, and we ended up doing 60 shows from 2020-2021 with artists from all over the US and Canada. Those shows were an extension of a backyard concert series my wife and I have been hosting for years that I produce under the WAM umbrella.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Every year brings new challenges. Initially, it was changed we made, like adding the beer & wine garden in year two, which required new permitting, licensing and security requirements we hadn’t experienced before. As the event grew, it attracted attention from the city, so we were forced to deal with LAFD requirements. We’ve had four new Fire Marshalls over the years, which is a challenge due to their lack of experience with the family-friendly event. “Yes, there is live music, yes there is alcohol being served, no, it’s NOT Coachella!! We tried adding a second stage one year to attract people to the far end of the block we close down, but couldn’t put it in the street due to LAFD access issues. It wasn’t as successful as we’d hoped (it’s hard to pull people out of the beer & wine garden at the other end of the street near the main stage!).
We tried closing down the street the night before the event to help us with set-up timing and had to have security overnight. When we arrived the morning of the event, the patrol car was still parked on the street right in the middle of where the beer & wine garden was supposed to be, and the guard had left the scene with the key – and lived in Camarillo or some other faraway location! We were able to build the garden around the car and by the time we opened, they had rounded up the key and were able to remove it. We’ve run out of beer during the event for the past three years, so have had to make emergency beer runs to supplement the donated product. Last year, we had capacity issues with the beer & wine garden, so people had to wait in line to get in.
As you know, we’re big fans of It was Sharpe & Associates, Inc. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I retired in December 2022, but prior to that owned a repping agency for commercial artists (i.e., photographers, illustrators, CGI artists) who provided visual content for marketing for 35 years. We were very well known in the advertising circles nationally and had a reputation for integrity, honesty, service, and our uniquely talented artist roster. I am proud to have had long relationships with the artists we repped, which is uncommon in the industry. We also were innovators in marketing, being the first rep agency to convert to digital portfolios, one of the first to conduct portfolio shows virtually during Covid, and we won a ton of industry awards throughout our history for our printed promotional materials.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
That mother nature will take care of herself if we give her a chance. That people need people/connection. That remote work CAN work! I was inspired by how businesses were able to adapt to the new environment and innovate to stay afloat. The YMCA, where I am a board member, pivoted to providing showers at the facility for the homeless population in our community when they had to shut their doors to members, which led to food, hygiene and clothing donations and a community pantry at the facility. Just one example. People will step up to help if the right incentives are present.
Contact Info:
- Website: wamblockparty.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wamblockparty/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wamblockparty/
