Nikki Malpass, director of event production at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, celebrated her 24th year with the arena in August 2022. After coming from a large amphitheater in her native South Florida, Malpass was seeking a new change of scenery. With her previous experience, she talked to friends in Columbia who knew about the open position at The Well, and the rest, she says, is history.
What interested you about The Well?
I had never been in an arena when I took this job. I had always been in either an amphitheater or working with tourists directly. I was interviewing to be a production manager for a tour and for the job here. I had to really look at what I wanted for quality of life and thought that being on the road at that point would not afford me what I wanted out of life.
What are some of the daily tasks of your position?
There are a lot of people who don’t know what we have to do before shows even go on sale. For example, we do a CAD architectural drawing, where we draw out the touring stage. We look at capacity and fire lanes and safety and send it to the tour for approval. I have to count every seat in the building for every show before we can put it on sale to make sure that we’re going to be able to accommodate all of the seats and be able to set the floor adequately. An average show day for me is usually 18 to 20 hours.
What is something that might surprise people about your job?
The amount of time dedicated to each show and even each hockey game. We do everything from scheduling the practice time to managing timelines. There’s a lot of small-detail management that makes it successful. It’s not all hanging with rock stars, there’s a lot of nitty-gritty that goes into it.
What skills do you need to ensure everything is running as it should?
You have to be detail-oriented but you also have to be prepared to throw all of that out of the window and make changes on the fly and be super flexible. And that’s not easy for a type-A personality to be able to encompass both sides.
What kind of training or experience do you need to have to be a production director?
You must have some technical training for sure, for CAD training, management training, and go to school specifically for the technical skills, but you really have to be able to learn easily and be very tuned into your surroundings.
What has been your favorite performance so far?
I think all shows are great. I think that what we do is it’s not about me, it’s about the fans coming here. You know, I’ve said this and everybody that works with me and my family ever heard me say this for a million years. The world is a really cruel, harsh place to live in. And people come here and they sing and dance, to their favorite songs. Or they cheer on their favorite team and forget about all of their problems for a couple of hours. And I get to make people happy for a living which is a huge blessing to me. But, we did three Garth Brooks shows and, you know, I have to say they’re all good, but there’s some that are, you know, have special little places for you.
Who are you hoping comes to The Well?
You know if the Foo Fighters ever tour again, I would love to see the Foo Fighters come back. They were here a million years ago, and I would love to have them come back. But also, you know, if Lizzo or Harry Styles, or if Taylor Swift came back, I think they’re all great.
