Q & A with Veronica Maynard

Name:

Veronica Maynard

Chan Centre staff member since:

2016

What is your official job title?

I have two roles: Ticket Office Supervisor, and Finance and Administration Clerk.

What does that mean, in a nutshell?

As a Ticket Office Supervisor I’m responsible for acting as promoter liaison as well as staff management during shows, keeping the ticket office running smoothly.

As a Finance and Administration Clerk, I reconcile financial reports, process settlements, and look after some of the day-to-day running of the office.

Why a career in the arts? What is your background?

I have a BA, and 30+ years of experience in customer service and admin. I have always been interested in the arts but worked in other fields over the years before discovering an outlet for my true passion. In 2006, I was in between jobs and had a lightbulb moment when talking to a friend who was taking the Arts and Entertainment Management Certificate at (what was then) Capilano College. I took the course, got myself a job in ticket sales and haven’t looked back since.

What is the coolest part of your job?

The feeling that I had a part in making these events happen. I love the buzz of an event and being on the front lines, so to speak. Opening night is always my favourite.

What is your most memorable Chan Centre moment?

Hard to pick just one, but it’s generally that moment that can come in any concert when the performers do something so beautiful that you feel it in your bones. Mari Boine and DakhaBrakha both hit that spot for me in the 2019/20 Chan Centre Presents series.

What is your favourite part of the building?

The lobby. This is where the real buzz happens. The snippets of pre and post-show conversations you hear as you walk through are the pay off. Since I began working in the arts, I’ve always taken great pleasure in watching the build-up to an event: an empty building slowly fills up with people, excited anticipation for what’s about to happen, and at the end, the slow exodus, people drifting out, feet barely touching the floor, until the lobby is empty again waiting for the next event. This is what it’s all about.

Other than the Chan Centre, what is your favourite spot at UBC?

The area behind the Museum of Anthropology, looking out over the water. It’s a lovely spot to sit and have lunch. It’s also the view from our administrative offices building, and I feel very lucky to be working in such a beautiful environment.

Chan Centre staff are working from home these days. What’s helping you cope? Keeping you inspired?

Keeping in touch with my Morris (English folk dance) community via social media. April and May are usually busy months for Morris folk. We celebrate the changing of the seasons, dancing at various events and festivals throughout the year. This has been the hardest part about self-isolating for me – not being able to get out there with my crazy community.

But we have started a new tradition via social media: The Lone Morris Festival. On those days we would normally be out at gigs and dance-outs, we are still dancing, singing, playing music alone in our own backyards, kitchens, and balconies, connecting on Zoom and Facebook. I even wrote a song, included below, called “Corona Cruel” (based on “Katie Cruel”, a traditional American folk song) as my contribution for the St George’s Day edition, and I was up and out in my own backyard in full Morris “kit” just before dawn on Friday May 1^st to dance up the sun. “To welcome in the Summer, to welcome in the May-oh, for Summer is a comin’ in, and Winter’s gone away-oh.”

This is what keeps me going. Seeing the indomitable human spirit rise to the occasion. Even though we are isolated, we stand together across the world, adapting our living traditions to the times, keeping our culture alive, so that it’s ready and waiting, and new again when this COVID-19 crisis has ended.