The Beehive Block Party: Where the Next Generation of Live Music Takes the Lead
Key Takeaways
Beehive Block Party expands entertainment-career access in South Los Angeles.
SoLa Live develops future industry talent while creating a platform for local artists.
20 Accelerator graduates
6 months learning alongside Live Nation professionals
1 live event produced
5 years of the Beehive Block Party
10 annual Live Nation internships for graduates
5 participants receiving added mentorship through Live Nation Women
Twenty students. Six months of hands-on training. One live show to bring it all together.
This summer, participants in the SoLa Live Accelerator Program, created by the SoLa Foundation in partnership with Live Nation, put what they learned to work producing the fifth annual Beehive Block Party in South Los Angeles.
The event is more than a celebration to close out the program. It’s the students’ final project, a chance to take what they’ve learned about the live entertainment business and put it to work producing a real show for real artists and a live audience.
From the classroom to a live crowd
Over six months, 20 students ages 16–22 learned directly from Live Nation professionals working across booking, production, marketing, operations and other areas of the live entertainment business. Then it was their turn.
Students helped curate the lineup, worked on artist relations, developed merchandise and took on the behind-the-scenes responsibilities required to welcome hundreds of fans to the Beehive’s 20,000-square-foot courtyard.
For participant Audrey Ohwobete, the experience opened her eyes to careers she hadn’t known existed. “I knew I loved music, but I didn't know there were careers where you could combine music, strategy, marketing, and producing live events,” she said. “Now I understand how many different opportunities exist behind the scenes.”
That discovery is a big part of the program’s purpose. As Chloe Wilder, Director of School of Live, explained, the program is designed to go beyond introducing students to the industry. “Students aren't just learning in a classroom,” she said. “Every week they're applying what they've learned to producing their own live event.”
The Block Party is where all of those lessons come together.
One show, opportunities on both sides of the stage
While students were learning what it takes to produce a show, local artists were getting an opportunity of their own: a stage, an audience and a chance to grow their connection to the Los Angeles music community.
This year’s Block Party was headlined by acclaimed rapper, producer and creative Navy Blue (Sage Elsesser), alongside soulful octet wst cmplx, jazz artist Veritus Miller and DJ Club Dice.
For the students, working alongside the performers turned lessons about booking, production and marketing into real-world experience. For the artists, the event offered a chance to reach new audiences. And for the community, it created a night of live music built in South LA, for South LA.
That sense of community stood out to participant Gladis Ramirez Veliz, who described seeing people from across Los Angeles “listening to music, laughing together, smiling together, eating the same food” as one of the most meaningful parts of the night. “I think it's really heartwarming,” she said.
Turning experience into a career pathway
The Block Party may mark the end of the six-month accelerator, but the goal is for the experience to be the beginning of something bigger.
Each year, 10 internships at Live Nation are reserved for graduates of the SoLa Live Accelerator Program, creating a direct opportunity for participants to take the skills and relationships they’ve developed into a professional environment. Five high performing women from the program also receive additional mentorship and career support through Live Nation Women.
For Sherri Francois, Executive Director and Chief Impact Officer of SoLa, creating that kind of access is central to the partnership.
“This program is about representation. It's about exposure. It's about creating access,” Francois said. Simply putting young people in the room with industry professionals — and people whose career journeys they can relate to — can change their sense of what is possible. As she puts it, “If you can see it, you can be it.”
That’s particularly important in live entertainment, where building the future of the industry means investing in both the artists who will take the stage and the people behind the scenes who make those shows possible.
What comes next
The SoLa Foundation and Live Nation are continuing to expand that pathway through the recently opened SoLa AI & Entertainment Center Powered by Live Nation, where young people can access workforce development programs spanning entertainment, media production, AI and technology.
The partnership with School of Live also supports SoLa programs in areas including culinary arts and cybersecurity, exposing students to an even broader range of careers and skills that help power live entertainment.
But the value of the program is perhaps easiest to see at the Block Party itself. Six months earlier, many of the students were just beginning to understand the range of careers that exist behind a live show. By the end of the program, they weren’t simply learning about the industry, they were helping bring a real show to life.