Episode Eight

Kenetia: Welcome to Celebrate and Chill, the podcast where the hustle meets the heart behind the scenes of the event world. I’m your host, Kenetia, and here we keep it real about what it takes to create unforgettable experiences, one celebration at a time. Whether you’re an event pro, a creative entrepreneur, or just curious about the magic and the mayhem that happens behind the curtains, you’re in the right place. So grab a drink, take a breath, and let’s celebrate and chill.

Kenetia: Welcome to Celebrate and Chill. My name is Kenetia Lee, your host for today’s show. We have a very amazing guest with us today. Her name is Ashley Bush, and she is the Chief of Special Events and Permits for Baltimore City Recreation and Parks. I hear she is a native of New York, and I caught a bit of her accent earlier, so we might get a chance to hear a little New York in the mix.

What does Ashley do over at Baltimore Recreation and Parks? Basically, I’m going to say she does all things—because I’m sure she feels like she has to! She reviews and approves applications for festivals, concerts, community gatherings, and public events.

Ashley: All things. Private and public.

Kenetia: She ensures compliance with fire safety, city regulations, and insurance. She “gets things done” is basically what she does over at Parks and Rec. I’m going to let her add a little bit of flavor to who she is, and then we’ll jump right into our questions. I hope, Ashley, you have something to drink, because we usually do a “little sip.”

Ashley: I wish you had told me beforehand!

Kenetia: It’s all good. I’ll drink one for you.

Ashley: Sounds good.

Kenetia: So, please introduce yourself to our audience. Again, welcome, and I’m looking forward to this. Thank you so much for being here.

Ashley: Thank you so much for having me. I am excited about this conversation. You said a lot, but as you mentioned, my name is Ashley Bush, and I am the Chief of Special Events and Permits for Baltimore City Recreation and Parks. That means I handle everything permit-wise. Not only do I permit our spaces to external customers, but I also produce events for the city. That is a very large part of my job. Then on the side—like most of us have—I also run a small business called Curated Creatives, where I produce events and travel experiences. So, that’s me in a nutshell.

Kenetia: Wow. Okay, so off the record, we have to talk about these curated events later. I am very interested! For the people who may not know, what does a Chief of Special Events and Permits actually do day-to-day? What is the part people never see?

Ashley: My gosh, I mean, we put out fires! Day-to-day, it’s something different every single day, to be fair. In my position, I manage a group of full-time staff for special events and another group for permits. One day I could be planning a 5K race, and the next day I could be permitting fields for a Little League. The next day I might be working with external partners to get events put on throughout the city or meeting with partners to discuss new parks coming online and what those look like.

It is never a dull moment. There are long hours and tiresome days, but there are also a lot of fun days. As many of you know as event professionals, it is always stressful. You are always nitpicking the work and worrying about what might go wrong. But at the end of the day, events are meant to be fun—not just for the people attending, but also for the people planning them.

Kenetia: I’m in agreement with you on that wholeheartedly. So how did you get into this line of work? What drew you to public events and permitting?

Ashley: I’ve always been into events. Since I was young, I was the kid in school planning activities for the class. As I went through high school and college, I was big on attending events, picking them apart, and helping people with birthday parties, weddings, and baby showers. Once I realized I was good at it and people started coming to me for help, I really got into it. 

I’m also very interested in the entertainment industry. I thought if I could figure out how to curate events for that industry, I’d be onto something. I went to school for Mass Communications and Broadcasting, and then I got my MBA in Sports, Art, and Entertainment Management. From there, I started thinking about how to move from smaller events to large-scale production.

I made it my goal: “When I finish this program, I’m going to find a job that allows me to learn more about scaling production.” I feel like I just manifested that. In my last year of the program, I saw an announcement for a job in Baltimore. At the time, I was in Pittsburgh, but I decided to take a leap of faith. It was a role as a specialist assistant, but there was an opportunity to do small-scale events, and I thought if I could just get my foot in the door, I’d be good.

In my first year, I helped with the Mayor’s back-to-school event and a youth summit. From there, it took off. Recreation and Parks had an opening for the position I’m in now. To be honest, the first time I applied, they rejected me. They really wanted someone with large-scale event experience. I had to sell myself on the fact that while I didn’t have that specific scale yet, I knew events and I knew how to scale them. I even interviewed while I was on vacation in Spain! As fate would have it, the position opened up again a few months later. They reached out, I re-interviewed, and I’ve been in the position since 2022. I have fulfilled my goal of putting on large-scale productions.

Kenetia: You’ve fulfilled it a hundred times over! That is an amazing story. It teaches the audience that you really need to believe in yourself. What you enjoy most about being at the center of city events?

Ashley: I love the creativity of it all. I get the opportunity to bring my ideas to the city. I’m a big “experience” person. When I think about events, I try to put myself in the shoes of the attendee. What events do I want to go to? What do I look for? Then I expand that to the community. It’s always fun to see external organizers’ ideas and then have the opportunity to create my own events as well.

Kenetia: I love it. Now, I’m going to get “all up in it” because I’m curious. What are the most common mistakes event organizers make when planning for permits in a big city like Baltimore?

Ashley: A couple of things. First, waiting until the last minute. Sometimes an individual or community member thinks, “Oh, we should do a back-to-school event in August,” but they think of it in late July. The city needs time. Things do not move quickly in a municipality.

Organizers often come to us wanting to do an event in two or three weeks, but there are so many levels and channels to go through. Another mistake is underestimating the amount of information we need. You might have a date and a location, but you don’t have a step-by-step plan or a map. Do you need street closures? Do your food truck vendors have health permits? All of those things are your responsibility as the organizer.

Often, people come to us with incomplete information. Sometimes, unfortunately, you can’t have your event because you simply need more time or you realize you suddenly need to add $5,000 for security to your budget. Those are the most common issues.

Kenetia: So, being in your position, what would you say is the ideal amount of time to plan?

Ashley: We require a minimum of eight weeks prior to the event. However, depending on how large it is or what areas of the city you want to use, six months or earlier is much more ideal. It gives you more time to flush things out. A park might be going under construction, or someone else might already have your date. Giving yourself that window allows you to work through the city process and then have time for promotion. Well-known national organizations often schedule a year out.

Kenetia: Does it ever shock you how little thought some people put into the logistics? Like, did they not think about who was going to clean up the site?

Ashley: Oh my gosh, yes! That’s such a funny question because my colleagues and I are constantly surprised. People often don’t read the information on the website. For example, if you want to close down a main thoroughfare, did you think about the city buses? How are we going to reroute them? Or if you need a street closure in a neighborhood, did you know you have to post “No Parking” signs 72 hours in advance? If you don’t do that, you can’t tow the cars in your footpath, and that’s a problem.

What shocks me most is that people still don’t realize you need a permit for a large-scale event.

Kenetia: What does Baltimore consider “large-scale”? Is it 250 people? 500?

Ashley: We classify it as 250 people or more, OR if it’s open to the public. If you’re posting flyers, you don’t really know how many people will show up. If you have DJs, vendors, or large-scale tech/tents, that pushes it into the “special event” category.

Kenetia: I’m sure there are some well-meaning people who aren’t prepared but are pleasant to deal with. If someone is going to come in a bit unprepared, what attributes should they at least have?

Ashley: Coming with an open mind. To be fair, the challenges usually come from “repeat offenders”—people who have been doing the same event for 10 or 15 years. Newbies are often very open to learning what they need to do. We really try hard not to turn anyone away, but sometimes things change. We have new rules or policies. Even if you’ve done it one way for years, you have to be willing to adjust. I tell people: if you’ve built a strong brand, people will follow you even if you have to change the location or the date.

Kenetia: How do you balance public access, safety, and the creative vision of the organizers?

Ashley: It’s about sticking to our policies and procedures. We have a committee meeting for new events where every city agency—Fire, Police, Transportation, Health Department, Liquor Board—comes together with the organizer. Everyone asks questions. It helps the organizer understand what we need and helps us see the vision that might not be clear on paper.

Kenetia: Should event producers build relationships with the city before they actually need a permit? Does that help?

Ashley: Actually, no. People sometimes try to befriend us thinking they’ll get a “back deal” or an “in,” but we focus heavily on equity. We enjoy working with everyone, but it’s not about who you know. We’ve had people come in with expectations because they “know someone,” but the process remains the same. It’s more important to be thorough in your details and flexible in your planning than to have a personal relationship with someone in the office.

Kenetia: What is the biggest “Please don’t do this” for organizers?

Ashley: I’ll give you two. One: Do not host an unpermitted event just because you feel the process is taking too long. Two: Do not promote your event or sell tickets before you have the actual permit. People get up against the clock with marketing, but they haven’t cleared the city process yet.

Kenetia: What happens if they promote it and then don’t get the permit?

Ashley: It happens. We try to help them find alternative spaces or dates, but sometimes we have to be the bearer of bad news. People in the community often “snitch”—they see a flyer for an event in a park that isn’t supposed to be used yet and they email us. I’ve had to call organizers who were panicking because they promoted a space that was unavailable. If you don’t have approval, that’s on you. We have had to completely shut down events because the elements were not part of our policies. Don’t make those mistakes! Follow the procedures and get the permit first.

Kenetia: In the procedures, the two things—okay, so if word spreads before they get their permit, say they promoted the event and then didn’t get their event or the event permit. Mm-hmm.

Ashley: That has happened. So, yes, I guess it does happen. Again, what we do is try to help them, depending on what it is. So, I’ll give you an example. I had an organizer, or someone in the community, sent me [an email]. Because also, people snitch on their community members. So, people will send emails and say, “Hey, I don’t know if you all are aware of this,”—especially if they don’t want the event around their house or in their spaces—they “snitch” on you. So, when that happens, like we just had this organizer who started to promote an event at our new park, but we hadn’t permitted it yet. When I opened it, I realized that park wasn’t open yet and there’s no permit.

So, I had to letter them, saying, “Unfortunately, we got this flyer about this event that’s taking place, but this space is unavailable.” I had to get on the phone with them. Of course, they were now panicked about it. And I asked, “Who did you talk to about being able to have it at this location? Who approved this for you?” And then they come through my office. I try to see if there are alternative spaces, if there is a way to host the event at that location, but on a different day. And so, I really try to work with them.

But sorry to say, that’s on you. You didn’t get any approval, right? And so, while we’re going to try to help you—and sometimes it works out—if you are being dishonest, and you know you don’t have permission, that honestly is on you. So, figure out when we say you can’t have it during this date, time, location, whatever, or you can’t have these elements as a part of your event; you have to figure out how to adjust. And we work with you to do so, but we do tell people we have the force to completely shut them down because things were promoted that were not accurate or were not a part of our policies. So it does happen. Don’t make those mistakes. As I said beforehand, make sure that you are following the policy, procedure, and actual permit.

Kenetia: I love it. That is great information, like for real. So, thank you for that. Okay, so I’m getting into the rapid-fire thing.

Ashley: Okay, okay, let me get it together. Let me get ready.

Kenetia: Kind of like Steve Harvey and Family Feud.

Ashley: Oh my God, that’s always going to be good on Family Feud, but I don’t know, now it’s pressure!

Kenetia: All right, so this is easy. I’ll give you the first one easy. So, festivals, concerts, or community movie nights? 

Ashley: I guess I gotta go with festivals. Out of those three, festivals—I think because of the experience you get, you get more people interacting more. You know, sometimes at concerts, you’re just solely focused on seeing that musical act. It can be a solo experience. But with festivals, you have more of an option to get involved, to be engaged.

Kenetia: It was a great answer! Keep them moving right along. So, tell me, what’s your favorite party food or event food?

Ashley: Wings.

Kenetia: Nice. Okay. And morning event setup or late-night event breakdown?

Ashley: Morning event setup. Got it.

Kenetia: And what is the most bizarre event that you’ve ever had a permit for?

Ashley: Gosh. Bizarre, but one of the most unique that comes to mind is when an organizer wanted to bring a plane to the Inner Harbor to promote something that had nothing to do with flying or traveling. They wanted people to tour the inside of the plane as a promotional part for the product. I didn’t even see the correlation!

Kenetia: I completely get it. Okay, so we’re going to switch gears. In your professional career—like your whole professional career—what is one of the things that you feel you would have done differently, if anything?

Ashley: That’s a thoughtful question.

Kenetia: I’m just looking for something that we could give. If people are feeling stuck…

Ashley: So, I think for me it would be the lesson of “do it anyway,” right? I think I spent time so focused on, like, “I’ve only done family events.” And while I love this industry, it took me a while to be confident and say, “I’m going to do this bigger.” It took me a long time to work up the nerve to accept that I was good at it. I mean, if I do say so myself, I am really good at what I do, whether it is producing events or helping other people to think through how to produce their events. And for a long time, it was like, “I’m not sure. I don’t know if I’m going to have the knowledge to do it.”

And so I always say, you can move in faith and fear. Because sometimes we’re going to be scared, right? We’re not quite sure the direction that we’re going in or the thing we want to do is the right thing to do, but the only way you’re going to know is if you do it. My line name—I’ll be celebrating my Deltaversary this weekend—and my line name is “Leap of Faith.” And that’s what I honestly believe. You have to take a leap of faith and bet on yourself, fearful or not. Go ahead and do it!

Kenetia: So let’s just slide on in there while we’re talking about you.

Ashley: So, Curated Creatives was a brainchild of mine for about 10 years before I decided to do it. But just like so many people during the pandemic, it was like, I had more time to think, to go with a plan at the end of 2020. After I had been traveling while everybody else was at home—I was traveling the world because prices were cheap, right?—I was getting a lot more experience. And looking at how different things ran in different countries, it really pushed me to say, “Okay, now I think I can curate some travel experiences for people.”

I have a lot of people and friends in my network who offer those services or have their own small businesses. And I was like, “Well, if I take all of my ideas around events and I connect with some of these people I know and create a one-stop-shop type of place.” I really like to customize things for people so that, again, when you’re attending an event done by me, it leaves an imprint on you. That’s how Curated Creatives came about.

Kenetia: From one entrepreneur to the next, like honestly, hats off to you. It is no small feat to be an entrepreneur, for real. And it takes a bunch of courage. Do you have a website? Is there a place or a Facebook page where someone could go to check it out?

Ashley: So right now, I am living on IG only. You can visit @curated_curators to follow me, to learn about the work that I do, and I have a link there to a form in case you want to potentially work with me. You can also see me in Baltimore producing events. We are coming up on the 50th anniversary of the AFRAM Festival. Yeah, we have an amazing lineup this year. I’m one of three co-producers. We see 200 to 300,000 people over the weekend. It is Juneteenth weekend. This year we are back to three days. So for that, you can visit AFRAMBaltimore.com. We have some great headliners. Charlie Wilson is one of our headliners.

If you are interested in, like, the smaller events that we do for Baltimore City Parks, we do things like “Birds, Bourbon, and Bacon”—that is one of my curated events—at Patterson Park. Look up those events. I’d love to meet some of you.

Kenetia: Wonderful. Well, I hope I can be out there. Yeah. And I actually have a niece that lives right in Baltimore proper. It is a beautiful city. You are a wonderful, amazing woman. Last, last question: When you have the time, how do you celebrate you, and how do you chill? Let our audience know what that is.

Ashley: I travel and chill with friends. That’s what I do. I have a great circle of girlfriends that I have brought along with me from all of the places that I’ve lived and traveled. I spend time with them and visit them in the cities they live in. For a while, I got bit by the international bug, and so I really enjoy traveling and spending time with friends.

Kenetia: Love it. Well, Ashley, it is such a pleasure to have you on the show. I know for sure our audience has gotten so much out of you sharing yourself. So, we appreciate you. We’ll be in touch and letting you know when everything is ready. So, thank you.

Ashley: Thank you so much for having me. This was so fun.

Kenetia: I love it. Thank you so much.

Ashley: Thank you. You too. Bye.