Pretoria - The thrill of a crowd and the experience of state-of-the art audio visual equipment, combined with an international artist, is a recipe that has had Lara Portelli, events and entertainment manager of the SunBet Arena at Time Square, hooked since joining Sun International in the 1990s.
From gala dinners for 1 400 people to music shows for 10 200, Portelli, who grew up in Gqeberha, has seen it all.
During her 27-year career, she has rubbed shoulders with the now late Tina Turner, Quincy Jones, Meat Loaf, Jackie Chan, Westlife, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Brightman, among other international superstars and celebrities who have visited Sun International properties in South Africa.
“My first role with the company was as guest relations officer at the Lost City, where I was involved in the Miss World pageant, and co-ordinating film shoots and movies filmed at Sun City.”
With ample experience in the entertainment and conferencing industry, Portelli worked as group events and entertainment manager and also held this position at Sun City before taking a short break and joining a sporting and entertainment industry company.
“Here, I learnt about commercialisation of venues and how they run massive stadiums. But when the opportunity arose to come back to Sun International, I jumped at it.”
In late 2021, when the bright lights of the stage were still extinguished by the pandemic, Portelli joined SunBet Arena at Time Square in Pretoria, the biggest purpose-built concert arena in the southern hemisphere.
“On June 15, 2022, SunBet Arena opened its doors once again to 5 000 people – 50% occupancy – for the All White Soul and Comedy Festival.
Not even load shedding can dampen SunBet Arena’s enthusiasm – their show generator guarantees uninterrupted entertainment. “We have to switch it on 10 minutes before load shedding, and then the power runs seamlessly. The team sets their watch alarms to remind us to flick the switch.”
With events such as the Time Square NYE Block Party, with 15 featured artists and thousands of people attending, means the generators have to be reliable. Hosting a show sees a minimum of 500 contractors employed in the precinct, including security, ushers, cleaners, health and safety and medics. “A big show has up to 650 staff, and the spin-off for Tshwane is huge.”
International artists are flocking back to the world-class venue – the Backstreet Boys and Counting Crows, UB40, Trevor Noah Live in South Africa, Westlife, Tamia, and Boyz II Men later in the year. “Kevin Hart (US comedian) said he had done 298 shows worldwide; only two had started on time and had no cellphone infringements – both were at Time Square.”
Watching an audience laugh, hug or cry while engrossed in a performance inspires Portelli. “I get huge enjoyment from knowing I’ve built a world-class team who make magic happen.”
Portelli’s advice to other women is to “find your purpose in building and supporting the team around you – their success is your success”.
Pretoria News