INDIANAPOLIS — For a few students at IU Indianapolis, Taylor Swift’s Era’s tour is a homework assignment.
“Super-stardom to the level of Taylor Swift happens about once a generation, right,” explained tourism, event, and sports management professor Erica Shonkwiler.
Alongside the regional vice president of Live Nation, Andrew Newport, Shonkwiler teaches ‘on tour with pop icons.'
The course analyzes everything from economic impact to tour logistics for music performers.
This semester’s focus is Taylor Swift and the Eras Tour.
“They're actually getting to see the business behind something that was exciting to them because of the topic but they're getting the real career experience,” explained Shonkwiler.
Sydney West and Alena Reed are upperclassmen in the course. They both aspire to work in event/music management.
“Being able to be on the ground, share not only our love for Taylor Swift but our love for Downtown Indy and having all these amazing people that were able to give us this opportunity, just that's what I'm looking forward to,” explained West.
“It's really shown me what I want to do and what I'm interested in and what parts of the music industry I do want to pursue post-grad,” Reed added.
Shonkwiler hopes the course sets students up for long careers in hospitality here in Indianapolis.
“Indianapolis is such an event destination we bring in so many events. From the Indy 500 to all of the different sporting events to live music events. It's allowing them to see behind the scenes on a fun topic but get an insight into what the industry looks like,” Shonkwiler explained.
