Shaping the Success Christian Webb, Brown County Music Center Executive Director ~by Ryan Stacy, photos by Michele Wedel
F
rom the beginning, priorities for the Brown County Music Center were clear. The new venue had to offer top-quality entertainment, bring visitors to Brown County, and remain a communityowned facility. And thanks to the talent and hard work of the planners involved, the Center’s path from conception to completion—though not always the straightest or easiest to travel—was ultimately forged, with its priorities intact. But once the venue was built, who was going to run it? Fortunately for Brown County, another path was about to cross ours. When a longtime pro in the largescale events business named Christian Webb saw that the Music Center was looking for an Executive Director, he jumped at the opportunity. Christian’s journey started in the 1990s, when he was a freshman at the University of San Diego. Fusing his love of sports with his interest in business, he took advantage of the school’s new tourism program; a
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few internships later, he had experience in sporting events operations and sports radio on his resume. After college, he found himself working for the San Diego Chargers, where he eventually became their Stadium Operations Manager. A few years as the Venue Manager at an Olympics training facility in Carson, California followed, and Christian figured his path in life was pretty much laid out for him. Then came the call from Live Nation. The higherups at the entertainment giant had gotten word of Christian’s success in athletic events, and wanted to see how he’d do with live music and other non-sports entertainment. The offer was a management position in the Midwest, which meant moving to Indianapolis. Having visited Indiana family growing up, Christian already liked the area, so he took the job, getting to know the ins and outs of the live performance world. “Unlike with sports events, where some of the audience is always going to go home unhappy, ninety-
