Meet Diana Hentschel of Potent Productions

Today we’d like to introduce you to Diana Hentschel.

Diana, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I suppose my story in the music industry begins while attending CU Boulder, Class of 2013, SKO BUFFS! As a part of The Fox and Boulder Theatre street team, I would hang posters on Pearl Street in exchange for free tickets to shows. Many weekends involved a party bus to Red Rocks to catch acts such as Pretty Lights, The String Cheese Incident, STS9 and Lotus. I attended my first music festivals – Electric Forest and Snowball and really just became infatuated with the ins and outs of the music scene and wanted to get involved any way that I could.

After graduating, I eventually moved to Denver and linked up with a promotion company, Colorado Concerts. I managed the street team for a few years, helped put together show lineups and coordinate various events. In 2016, we were presented with an amazing opportunity to collaborate with the beautiful humans that make up seven Healing Stars, and we opened The Scarlet. The Scarlet was a one of a kind casino turned holistic music venue in Central City, CO. We had massage therapists & card readers, a Lumonics Light and Sound immersive art gallery installation, a full kitchen and restaurant, and of course live music! With the help of Feyline, we hosted nationally recognized artists such as Thriftworks, Kyle Hollingsworth, Late Night Radio and Space Jesus. It was during this time that I really got to dive in head first and learn more about all aspects of the live music scene. I was helping with marketing, booking and event coordinating – handling the vendors, security teams, live painters, artist hospitality and miscellaneous day of show operations. Unfortunately, due to city regulations we eventually had to shut down. However, this opened the door for myself and my business partner, Kyle Macbeth to officially launch Potent Productions – a culmination of our knowledge, passion and resources for live music and events.

Potent Productions initially gained traction by throwing these grassroots style events where we would show up to a parking lot or an art gallery, build out a stage, bring in sound, lighting and music and throw a party for our friends that had hours of music, live painters, yoga, workshops and vendors. The artists that we had play these shows were good friends of ours and it’s been amazing to watch them also grow in to the Denver music scene – LYFTD, LowPro, PhLo and JusChill are among some of our long time friends that started out playing these local events with us. Eventually, with their growing popularity, these artists needed representation and management. One thing led to the next and we now have a roster of around 15 or so active artists, and Potent Productions has become an agency and management collective in addition to event production company. I wear many hats throughout the day as an artist agent, manager, talent buyer, event coordinator and as well, in my current role, two years in, as a marketing assistant at the beloved Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom in Denver! That is one of my favorite things about this industry, every day is different and you naturally take on many roles in order to work your way up. Plus, you get to physically experience the product of your hard work by enjoying the show or event that you made happen. Work is truly my passion. I have learned and continue to learn so much through my experiences in the music scene and have met and made connections with so many incredible people along the way.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It is not an easy step by step road to work in the music industry. Most of what I know now has been learned through experiences, creating positions for myself and volunteering a ton of my time. I worked for free for years. Being a female in the industry also poses its own challenges, having to constantly prove that you’re not just a groupie in the green room, but actually an artist manager or the promoter that put on the whole event.

Please tell us about the company.
Potent Productions is an artist agency, management team, event production and promotion company. We handle booking and management for a growing roster of mostly Denver based electronic artists. We also provide full production (audio, lighting, visuals, stage hands, engineers etc.) for our own events and are available for hire for events outside of our organization. Going from hosting local artists in small gallery space events to personally booking acts such as Desert Dwellers, Random Rab, Alex & Allyson Grey, Michal Menert, Mr. Bill, Prince Fox and many more is definitely something I am very proud of. However, what makes me the proudest about this company and what sets us apart from others is the people that make it up. It is the most genuine, hard working group of managers, agents, production crew and artists you could ever meet. It started out as a passion project and it still is. Quality over quantity always.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Favorite childhood memories include dancing around the house with my little brother and my parents to the Rolling Stones and anytime we went on a beach vacation.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.potentproductions.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/potent_productions_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/potentprod/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/potent_prod_
• Other: https://soundcloud.com/potent_productions

Image Credit:
Brittany Teuber
Brian Greenblatt

Suggest a story: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.