Behind The Scenes Of Dubai Jazz Festival: In Conversation With Done Events Managing Director Girish Bhat Done Events, a subsidiary of Arab Media Group, recently added the Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival to its music genre portfolio.

While the 2019 edition of the well-known Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival is underway, running from February 20-22, at Dubai Media City's Amphitheatre, we had a chat with the entrepreneurial team that has organized, operated, and managed the popular festival this year for the first time. Namely, the festival was recently bought from Chillout Productions by Done Events, the entertainment agency and a subsidiary of Arab Media Group (AMG).

"The Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival (Jazz Fest) has always been in the background during the festivals we plan during the year," says Girish Bhat, Managing Director of Done Events, whose diverse music genre portfolio also includes RedFestDXB, BlendedDXB, and DXB Laughs. "RedFestDXB and Jazz Fest have been going hand in hand with just a week in between them for the last five years. This year, Jazz Fest has finally become a part of the Done Events family, allowing us to cater to different demographics of music lovers. With RedfestDXB catering to the younger teen crowd of 15 years and older, and BlendedDXB to individuals who enjoy the 90s music from an age group of 25 years and above, Jazz Fest joins us with a huge fan following of varied age groups from 20 to 35 and 40 years and above."

Since launching 12 years ago, Done Events has been nurtured under the umbrella of AMG to grow from a smaller team managing in-house events and various government functions to a 20-strong core team, including a dedicated client servicing team, production team, design team and an operations team, and over 120 staff contracted for multiple projects in a year. "Done Events, like every other every entity in the industry, will always have the same goals, KPIs and plans, such as to expand, grow, and strive to be the best in the region," says Bhat. "Yet, what we feel is more important to us is to make sure that whatever we do, we do it differently. With the help of a strong and hard working team, we are growing fast, and we will continue to challenge ourselves to grow our portfolio by adding more exciting projects that will keep us being a part of why Dubai is the city of tomorrow."

The Done Events team has already produced over 60 live concerts, 25 music festivals, 35 comedy shows, and over 400 corporate events, ranging from government summits and brand activations from product launches and talent booking and management. Just a reminder for many UAE-based music lovers that it was Done Events that organized, in cooperation with AEG Live, several well-known live concerts of the recent past, which include artists like Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bieber, One Direction, The Eagles, and many more. "Done Events is one of the only events management agencies in the region that not only provides a turnkey solution to our clients, but also promotes Dubai as an entertainment hub with live concerts, music festivals, comedy festivals, as well as venue management and destination enhancements," Bhat says. "Our passion for events challenges us to achieve more creative solutions to every project we manage. Our love for events is personal for each and every team member of Done Events. This makes us stand out."

Girish Bhat, Managing Director, Done Events
Source: Done Events

This passion was previously noticed by AMG itself since Done Events became one of its integral parts after the two entities collaborated on various projects, such as Dubai Global Village, helping make AMG the 360 degree events solution in the UAE. And Bhat has assured us that much more is to come. "We live in a generation of social media," he says. "You need information and you always find it first on social media before it comes on the news. Being a resident of the UAE and living within the 'insta-life' generation challenges me and my team everyday to bring something unique and new to the city that has seen it all in a relatively short time-frame. However, this challenge is what drives me and my team to bring a creative twist to every project we facilitate, manage, or produce. We want to create new experiences, and that's what makes this industry exciting and keeps us young."

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