1. BACKGROUND OF ERICA RUBEN
For ten years Erica Ruben was the Executive Producer of Central Park SummerStage, New
York City’s most popular performing arts festival. The free-admission festival incorporated
American and world music, cabaret, opera, modern dance/performance art, spoken word
and children’s programs and attendance exceeded 10,000 people daily. Having presented a
globe of performing artists to millions of New Yorkers and the media, Ms. Ruben has been
credited for introducing a number of major artists and artistic movements to North
America. Ms. Ruben’s highly creative, award winning programming style generated
pairings of artists, commissions, and debuts of ground-breaking artists that were often the
subject of critics’ praise.
In addition to SummerStage, Ms. Ruben has produced a number of other smaller cultural
events around New York City, including several festivals in partnership with the New York
Shakespeare Festival/New York Public Theater and Brooklyn Academy of Music. She also
produced numerous corporate and special events for clients such as Jamaica Tourist Board,
Canadian Consulate, South African Consulate, Merrill Lynch, Discover Card, Martinique
Promotions Bureau, Georgia Tourism Board, Kraft Foods, Self Magazine, Ben & Jerry’s,
The White House, Herman’s Sporting Goods, and others. Many of the events Ms. Ruben
produced with consulates and cultural missions were designed to create maximum media
exposure for countries and their national brands.
Ms. Ruben then ran her own company, Turf Events Inc., to consult event clients on the
development of audiences and original programming. Projects for clients ranged from
booking fundraiser concerts, to parties to niche marketing programs from festival
development to research and coaching.
Since 2003 Ms. Ruben has produced a weekly dance music and performance party, Deep
Space, which has been presented in the UK, Japan, France, Spain and Germany and ranked
the best party of its kind in New York Magazine’s “Best of NY” annual issue, “Best Party of
2004” by Time Out New York and other publications. In 2004 Deep Space was nominated for
the biggest internally broadcast dance music award, DanceStar USA, for “Best Club
Night,” and was nominated for “Best Resident DJ ” in Club Systems International Awards in
2005 and 2006. In 2013 Rolling Stone Magazine named Cielo, the home of Deep Space #7 on
their national list of Best Dance Clubs in America citing Deep Space as the first reason for
the club’s lauded reputation. From the success of Deep Space, a record label, Deep Space
Media, and national US Tour were launched. In 2012, Deep Space launched its first all-
day mini-festival in Brooklyn, NY.
Ms. Ruben has lectured to educators, festival producers, and municipal governments
worldwide, sharing her unique formula of success in building SummerStage into an
international cultural and marketing force. She has also traveled extensively worldwide.

2. And Ms. Ruben served as a part time co-host of WBAI-FM’s music radio show “Liquid
Sound Lounge.” She also worked a stint as a club deejay.
In her early career, Ms. Ruben worked as the Talent Associate of the popular music
television show, “Night Music” on NBC-TV. She also worked as a consultant for MTV,
WNET (Public Television), and served as Director of Artist and Repertoire for Rykodisc
Records. She received her B.A. with honors in Drama/Filmmaking from Vassar College.
She resides in New York City with her husband and two daughters.