Absolutely Live Entertainment ยท Live music and events
Event company website case study: 7 festivals and series on one Events page
Absolutely Live Entertainment produces jazz festivals and concert series. Its website had fallen behind its own calendar. We rebuilt the Events section around seven programs, cleared out what was stale, and now make every change from an email.
The client
Absolutely Live Entertainment is a full-service festival, concert, tour and event production company, founded in 2007 by Danny Melnick. Its programs include the Saratoga Jazz Festival, which reaches its 50th edition in 2027, and the Joyce and George T. Wein Shape of Jazz series at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, which Danny has curated since 2003. The company also manages ARTEMIS, the Blue Note Records supergroup.
The website runs on WordPress with a page-builder theme. It is where artists, partners and ticket buyers check what is coming up, so it has to match the calendar.
The problem, in the client's terms
The site had fallen behind the calendar. The home page still carried an Upcoming Events block that told visitors no events were taking place, while the company was producing festivals and concert series all year. Past shows sat next to current ones, and some pages had gone stale.
Every fix meant logging in to WordPress, finding the right block in the page builder and hoping nothing else moved. Danny runs festivals; he did not want to be the person doing that.
His brief was short: one place that shows what the company is doing now, kept current, without him touching the site.
What we did
The work came in two parts: a one-time rebuild of the Events section, then a monthly plan for ongoing changes.
One Events page for seven programs
We built a new Events page with seven tabs, one per program: Saratoga Jazz Festival, JusticeAid, the Shape of Jazz series, The Local, ARTEMIS, the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame and Songs Along the Rhine. Each tab has a short paragraph on what the program is, when and where it happens, one photo or logo, and a button out to the program's own site for lineups and tickets. The layout reuses the tab style of the existing What We Do page, so the new page looks like it was always part of the site.
Built to stay current
Our first draft listed individual shows. We dropped it, because a list of single dates goes out of date within weeks. Each tab now carries only stable facts, such as festival dates and series dates, and links to the program's own site as the place where lineups change. That keeps the page right between updates.
Navigation and cleanup
The Events menu now leads to the new page, with Current Projects under it and the Past Events archive kept. The More button on the home page points to Events. We hid the empty Upcoming Events block on the home page, cleared out stale pages and past events, and refreshed photos and copy, including a new photo on the About page.
Changes by email, on a monthly plan
We took over updates on a monthly plan. Danny sends an email; the change goes live; he never logs in. The first round after launch was six edits in one email: a new festival link, a new date and series link, new copy for one program, new artwork for two programs and a two-line title. All six went live.
Timeline
- Week 1Brief from the client, first draft of the Events page reviewed and simplified to stable facts.
- LaunchEvents page live with seven programs, menu and home page button pointed to it, About photo replaced.
- Days laterFirst round of six edits by email, all applied. Empty home page block hidden.
- MonthlyOngoing changes on the monthly plan, sent by email.
What changed
- programs on one Events page
- 7
- programs on one Events page
- from email to live change
- Days
- from email to live change
- logins needed on the client side
- 0
- logins needed on the client side
Visitors now find all seven programs on one page, each with its dates, venue and a direct link to lineups and tickets. Nothing on the page claims there are no events.
Danny stays out of WordPress. A change starts as an email and goes live within days, and the first revision round of six edits was applied in full.
What this means for a business like yours
If you run events, your website goes stale faster than almost any other kind of site, because the calendar changes every week. Listing every date by hand is a losing game. Put stable facts on your own site and link to the place where details change, such as a ticketing page or a partner site.
If every update depends on someone logging in to a page builder they do not use often, updates stop. A short email to a team that already knows the site is usually faster and cheaper than learning the tool again each time.
And an empty block that says nothing is happening costs more than having no block at all. Check your home page the way a first-time visitor sees it.
Want the same for your business?
Start with a free ops audit: three jobs we would take off your plate, with hours saved. Or book a 15-minute call.
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