My 2021 festival team at Jacob’s Pillow

Back in January, I shared with my team that 2022 is the  “ year of abundance, connection, and growth.” 

I often turn to this overall goal & mission for the year especially  when I’m sending proposals for new projects, meeting with clients, revising working systems, managing my team, and more.

For example, this summer at Jacob’s Pillow, I’m running my team differently. For mental health purposes, and to make sure the entire team enjoys life outside of video production work, we’re incorporating what I’ve been doing for 11+ years with my work in NYC< Jacob’s PIllow and the Vail Dance Festival.

We make sure we have multiple people on the team who can take over roles for each other. 

“This is something Nel has done for a while, but it’s finally coming to fruition this year. Something I love so much about working with NSP at Jacob’s Pillow is that nearly everyone on the team has been a Pillow intern or NSP team member before. For example, Ben Richards used to come when I was an intern, and he taught me so many things! I hope that the interns are able to learn different skills and leadership styles from all of the people on the team who have worked at the Pillow and with NSP for years.” – Caroline

It’s incredibly important for me to make sure my full media team is rested & recharged, especially during one of the busiest times of the year for Nel Shelby Productions! 

We are grateful for this abundance of work AND we acknowledge that our well being matters, and I don’t want my team to feel burnt out!!

We stay connected with each other as well as the artists we work with to communicate clearly our ideas, needs and capacity to do our jobs well.

We look for the opportunity for all members of the team to grow into new responsibilities, skillsets and roles as we support each other.

Nothing’s ever perfect, but I hope that if we all work together and continue to go back to this guiding principle for the year, we’ll make better working systems for years to come!