When Brittany Pallozzi was in grade school, she played the clarinet and the saxophone in the band and sang in the chorus. She both attended and was a part of many performances throughout her youth. As such, she eventually learned that it was not music that was her destiny. It was the music industry.
During college, she studied everything from audio engineering to the business of music. “Through classical music,” she says, “I found my love for nonprofit organizations, having interned with the Albany Symphony and the Catskill Mountain Foundation my sophomore and junior years of college in Albany.”
She found a job out of graduate school in 2015 with the Glens Falls Symphony as a part-time executive assistant, which quickly turned into a full-time patron services manager position. She recalls, “We were a team of two operating the smallest professional orchestra in the United States at the time. I quickly learned about ticketing and the art of the patron experience, learning all I could about the Vendini ticketing platform and how I could help continue to make the arts accessible to all.”
In 2016, she was hired as Patron Relations Manager at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, New York, and was eventually promoted to her current position as Director of Patron Relations. She says, “For the last eight and a half years, I have spent my career with the Hall maintaining our [Customer Relationship Management, or CRM], managing the box office and contributing to our development team's individual giving strategy. I wake up every morning looking forward to the smell of a 150-year-old Hall with so much rich history, all while being able to connect with the community, our patrons and key stakeholders to give them an exceptional patron experience.”
Brittany Pallozzi
Pallozzi especially loves the impact her job and her venue has on children. Her son, Cameron, just turned two and she brings him into work any chance she gets. She states, “I want him to remember the stage that Ella Fitzgerald performed on, and the significance our history makes to the community.”
She says bringing history, art, culture and entertainment to kids of all ages is the favorite part of her job. “We just hosted a Taylor Swift tribute/impersonator performance for the second year in a row,” she notes, “and to see 700 little kids in the crowd is astonishing and so awesome!”
That said, working in such an age-old venue does have its share of challenges. Pallozzi lovingly refers to them as “quirks,” stating, “Everything affects the acoustics in my venue, including the seats that are as old as the building is. So, a lot of our patron complaints come from the comfort of seating, or the lack of an elevator to our balcony, boxes and gallery.”
What gets her through are the people she works with and the relationships she has forged: “My dear friend and mentor, Laura Hartmann, always pushed me to do what I loved and try to make great connections while doing it. Foster the relationships that help you be a better version of yourself.”
Hartmann has given Pallozzi counsel at key moments of her career. This being our Women in Ticketing series, does Pallozzi have advice for any young woman reading this who’s just starting out in the ticketing/live event business? “Be ambitious and be confident,” she says. “Keep educating yourself on industry topics and delve into professional development opportunities. I signed up this spring term for a mentorship with INTIX and matched with Anja Arvo. She is helping me in the world of request for proposals (RFPs) and migrating data to a new system, which I'll admit I've never done before.”
And definitely keep loving the business! Pallozzi’s passion for her work really can be traced back to those first live performances she was a part of as a child and the fascination she had with the business of live events that grew as she got older. She even looks back at her hiring at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall with fondness and even whimsy. She recalls, “All of my to-be-colleagues were interviewing me. Talk about being nervous with five people asking you questions! I was asked, ‘What fun fact I wanted to tell the group?’ and I shared that I loved metal music. [laughing] Yes, you can see me in the orchestra at the Symphony on a Saturday night ... and then in a mosh pit the next day at a metal show!”
You May Also Like
Want news like this delivered to your inbox weekly? Subscribe to the Access Weekly newsletter, your ticket to industry excellence.