Jon Avary: Start a Successful Event Production Company From Nothing
Jon Avary dropped everything and started throwing events out of houses to pursue his dream as an events producer. Now a frequent collaborator with Nashville’s renowned venues, Avary Entertainment is a true underdog to top dog story.
I realized I wanted to pursue a career in music, events, and events production
once I experienced Bonnaroo Arts and Music Festival in Tennessee. So, I dropped out of Grad School at Tennessee Tech to make my dream career happen. My very first show was in 2012 for a Voodoo Festival afterparty in New Orleans.
At first, when I was young and just starting out trying to build a business throwing events, it was difficult to convince venues to work with me because I didn’t have much prior experience. So, I started throwing events out of my house. Since people who showed up would rave “you’re really good at this,” I felt event production was something I was geared towards. When I finally moved to Nashville in Fall of 2013, I was literally trying to throw events anywhere I could: houses, warehouses, wherever we could get space.
Finally, I had a friend that knew a club owner here—at the time the club was called Seen, but now it’s called Headquarters. That club was my first big break into event production in Nashville. After that, it took off.
Fast-forward to 2018, and I was one of the first people to join HOME, before it had officially opened.
Logan and I met each other while in line at the bank. When I went to pick up a certified check for Paradigm talent agency for an event I had in town on NYE, Logan overheard and said he wanted to talk for a few minutes. That’s when he pitched me HOME. Instantly, I was in and very much wanted to be part of Logan’s vision for the Nashville music community. To this day, I love being a HOME Member (aka Homie).
Out of all the Homies, I’ve thrown the most events at the HOME Facility. When Avary Entertainment booked the HOME Facility to throw the official afterparty for a show at Marathon, almost 600 people showed up. Back then, I struggled to legitimize my business and get my foot in the door at other venues to host events, until HOME swooped in and became a great partner. Avary Entertainment mostly focuses on electronic shows, so we’ve had other Homies like Falcone do some shows for us. And another Homie, Jon Gambino, used to have a warehouse where we would do events with him as well. Because we forged those relationships early on, we’re pretty plugged in with all the Founding Members who have been with HOME since day one. It’s been a blessing to be part of a community of entrepreneurs eager to collaborate.
HOME is a great resource to meet people who can open doors for you that you can’t open on your own.
One of the first years that I was a Member, Logan invited me to the Lightning 100 offices to talk to some people at a private party. When we went over there, I met people that I would otherwise not have been able to get in front of that helped me forge some really good relationships here in town. There were lots of people who worked for different labels, who worked for liquor companies, and who presented different sponsorship opportunities. You can’t get that kind of value or experience anywhere else. That’s one of the things that makes HOME worth it for sure.
Since this is Avary Entertainment’s tenth year producing events, I’d say we’ve accomplished our goal of creating a trustworthy reputation and forming valuable, strategic partnerships with brands. We’re finally really starting to take off and scale. Things are going well for Avary Entertainment.
The HOME Team recently asked me to be part of the Special Events Leadership committee that they’ve started. Along with that position, I’m trying to incorporate some of the newer performing artists with some of the shows we’re doing to give some of the Homies opportunities to open up for bigger acts.
The coolest event that I’ve gotten to do, with plans to do more,
was the first ticketed electronic event at Nashville’s Adventure Science Center planetarium. Amazingly talented designer Angel Rivera created custom worlds that we used in the planetarium on the projection mapping. It was super unique and unprecedented. And I got to do that with some of the people I met at HOME, which made it really special.
Avary Entertainment announced a big show we’re doing at 6th and Peabody downtown—the Music City Crawfish and Music festival, a day-long and all-ages event. We’ve got Omari Neville & the Fuel from New Orleans headlining. Other performers are jazz funk band The Gripsweats, funk band Seeds?, hip hop DJs KDSML & Spice J, and another up-and-coming DJ named GODDYSS. We do a few of these crawfish boil festivals a year, so I have a custom cooker that I use and everything. I’m pretty obsessive about food; I love it. To unite the two things I love most together is really important to me, and I love showing Nashville the traditional crawfish boil of New Orleans.
To anybody reading this who is looking for a career in music… if you want to connect with people that will really impact your career, you’re going to meet people through HOME that you wouldn’t be able to go out and meet yourself.
HOME is such a unique community. It would be really hard to replicate what they’re doing.
Logan, Banks, and others have lined up some strategic partnerships that are really going to be able to move your career along. You’ve got people from all walks of life and all sides of the music industry who are part of HOME, and we’re all here to help each other in any way we can. I would definitely encourage anyone to connect with the HOME Team and see what it’s all about. I’m sure you’ll fall in love with it like I did.