Born and raised in the Capital Region, Mona Golub has been bringing live music to that very same community for 35 years, but her love of music started far before that.
An affable, kind, and a candid speaker who gave thoughtful responses in this interview with NYS Music, Golub produces two concert series each year, one at Music Haven in the heart of Central Park for free each summer and another at two of Proctors Collaborative venues, the GE Theater in Schenectady and Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs. Those two at Proctors are held in between summers during the year.
Each series presents national and international acts that bring music and culture from all over the world to the Capital Region. But she does a lot more than just choose the acts to perform. “I do everything from program the series to raise whatever funding is needed to produce it, to handling all of the artist-related elements, the contracting, the hotels, the hospitality, all of the audience facing comforts,” Golub says. “Creating the programs with biographical information, to food and beverages, hiring whatever crew staff are needed, recruiting volunteers if that’s in order as it is during the summer series. I figure out ways to develop the series further with additional elements of production or nuances that round out the experiences.” But, she says, choosing the people who perform is really at the heart of it all. “That’s the impetus for everything.”
To do this, she stays on top of which artists are touring where at all times. “I keep up on who’s doing what and when, through magazines like Songlines International, listening to various groups that are emerging from all over the world. The internet’s been wonderful because it’s given me access to be able to see them perform live and not just hear their music, so I know how they move. How they connect with a live audience. But I basically try and stay on top of tours that are being planned. Artists who are beginning to blossom who may not ever have played this region. I love introducing new artists that people haven’t heard 20 times. So I rely on my contacts in that respect. And the conversation is ongoing.
People say, ‘When do you start booking for next summer?’ I’m booking for ‘25, ‘26, and ‘27 now. Many international artists don’t tour every year. You kinda need to know if they’re planning a tour for 2026. What does that mean? When will that be? How does that fit into your schedule?” She adds, “I’ve been in the business for 35 years now, so I’m fairly well connected to the international music community, through agents, managers, and artists themselves.”
But it’s not easy to curate interesting selections of talented musicians when they’re constantly moving around from town to town and sometimes even country to country. “It’s almost like chasing folks down a rabbit hole on occasion,” Golub says, “Sometimes they’re well represented by an agent or manager who’s working on a tour. Sometimes you need to express interest for 5 years before somebody makes that tour and is able to come to your market. So again, it’s a lot of relationship building and conversations about who’s doing what and when. For a given season, I’m always looking to ensure that my series has a certain flow and a certain cadence from concert to concert. That there’s variety and uniqueness. An artist may fit into one season better than another. I’m not just gonna bring them in and program them into the series because the dates jive.”
Mona Golub has loved music since she was a child and she even performed through high school and college. “I enjoyed that. But I certainly realized even at that time, there were people in the world who were much more talented than me,” she explains. Even though performing wasn’t for her, she was still eager to find her place in the world of music. “[In college] I directed the swing band. I started directing theater, and musical productions with a full orchestra pit underneath the stage and the vocalist on the stage just to get some understanding of other perspectives.
“I wanted to keep music in my life, and I needed to figure out how I might do that. It was at that point I connected with a local band whose music I loved. I started producing shows with them and for them, then blossomed into some other things; a Friday after-work happy hour kind of concert series in a courtyard downtown, then a coffee house, and then a jazz club. And I loved producing the shows. I loved working with the artist. The band was called Begonia. They had just won the band of the year or favorite band of the region through Metroland Magazine, which was our music and arts weekly at the time. I was working at a grocery store with the drummer of the band and I said, ‘Where are you playing? I wanna come hear you live,’ and she said, ‘Oh, we don’t have a gig set up.’ And I thought you’ve got to be kidding. You just got this recognition. You should have a gig set up so everybody can come celebrate. So I planned that gig. And I loved the band until they retired. They were great.”
It was at this point that Golub finally found her niche. From that first gig, the ball began to roll. “I loved orchestrating all of the details that it took to set the stage for really wonderful talent to shine. And I realized that’s what appealed to me most, and that’s what drove me to notice that the old music cabin, which was a trailer stage in the park was most often empty, with nothing happening on it. This was back in the late eighties. And I went to the mayor and I said, ‘are you okay if I put together a series for the stage?’ and she said, ‘have at it.’ And that’s where it started.”
Since then, Golub has been producing concerts for 35 years.
“Most of what I do is because I’m driven to bring different kinds of music to the market, and to elevate regional artists in special guest slots so they can feed off of some of that wonderful energy that is exchanged. Whether in the park, or in the venues that I work in most regularly that draw a really appreciative and energetic crowd that loves to hear something really wonderful that may not be mainstream, but reflects artists who are at the top of their game.”
When asked if she had encountered any barriers because of gender, she answered “ For sure.” When she started, she says, there weren’t many women involved in the arts. “There was one club owner, who was like the queen bee of the downtown Albany scene. But other than that, I don’t remember seeing other women as there are today.”
But Golub kept her head down in those early days and stayed focused on learning the ropes. “I think at the time, I was more focused on what I needed to do to learn, to learn how to do it as I went along, learn by experience.” She tells of a prominent promoter who promised he would give her advice to help her when she was just starting out, but never did.”While I was waiting for him, I lived it. And so I harbor no resentment. I just kept moving forward, and lo and behold, I figured some things out.”
When asked if she thinks things have gotten better for women in music, she reflects on how much things have changed since she started in the late 1980s. “I’m speaking about a time that was nearly 40 years ago. So the world has changed, and women in many different professions have proven themselves ultra competent. I think promoters and managers of old were mostly men. Club owners were mostly men. Now at this point in time, I see art centers where I would say 80% of the art centers in the capital region are run by women. So a lot’s changed and I think it has everything to do with drive and interest and ability. Once given the chance whether male or female, people who are driven to do something get the opportunity to prove themselves. And I think that’s what’s happened here. There are ways to do things today that didn’t necessarily exist when I started in 1988. So I am excited to see those opportunities and excited to see women reaching for them and attaining them.”
When asked if she sees herself retiring anytime soon, Golub is reflective.
“You know, I’ve thought about it from a couple miles away. And I would love to find a protege with whom I could work for a handful of years, just to convey what I’ve learned from experience, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Because I’ve experienced all three. And be able to watch someone else work this magic and figure out how they wanna fill these spaces going forward. Because everybody’s got their own creative bent. I would love to work with someone who could be committed, in maybe the same long term way that I have been to run with it and do their thing.”
When asked about her choice to keep the concerts free, her response shows the value she places on community. “I think [charging an entrance fee] would really destroy the feel of it. I’ve always believed that music and food are some of the best ways to celebrate, share culture with others. Being able to do that without any barriers to entry, being able to welcome in everyone who wants to be there, adds to the magic.”
”People are not standing around wondering ‘where did that person come from? What corner? What religion do they practice? How much money do they have in their pocket?’ They’re there because they’re interested in what’s on the stage, and that’s what it’s about.”
And for 35 years, that’s what it’s always been about. “I can’t imagine not doing it. It’s really become a very important part of my life. It fulfills me in a way that nothing else does. I think the opportunity to gather community to experience different cultures through music is magical.”
For now, Mona Golub’s not going anywhere. “I have a wish list of artists that never gets shorter. It gets longer.”
Learn more and see a show this winter in the passport series.
