Mary Dugas is a seasoned music industry executive with a distinguished career in artist management that began in 1993 in Athens, Georgia. She has worked in artist management for notable Georgia artists Widespread Panic and Gregg Allman. Currently, she continues to work on music legacy projects with the Gregg Allman Estate and provides management and marketing consulting for various music and community initiatives.
Savannah Music Collective (SMC) represents a shift in non-profit leadership experience for Mary from governance to management. Since 2018, Mary has been on the Board of Directors for the Savannah Music Festival, where she currently serves as Board Chair. Her prior board experience includes serving on the board of the March of Dimes from 2014 to 2020, where she held the position of Executive Board Chair for Southeast Georgia. She also served as Committee Chair in Marketing and PR for The Savannah Scottish Games from 2010 to 2019.
Mary has a deep-seated passion for music and her hometown of Savannah. She believes in the power of collaboration within the music community. "The concept of uniting the entire Savannah music community for collaboration, professional development, and artist support is fantastic. I’m excited to create an environment where everyone is welcome and we can unlock the full potential of local talent and create a thriving, music scene for all of Savannah to enjoy."
Her drive and vision behind SMC was the need to connect all the various events, promoters, artists, organizations, talent buyers, etc. under one hub. It’s a comprehensive live music calendar as well, everything from small church concerts to large productions. The QR code on the flyers sends you directly to the live music calendar. She wants our community to realize that we truly are a “music city” with so much to offer.
There’s also an artist database as a resource and anyone can be listed here. She realized that a lot of artists are in need of support in terms of communication, EPKs (electronic press kits), social media presence, etc. Mary is assisting those artists in need of professional development as well! She’s also working directly with the Savannah Film Commission to connect production with local artists - the database also includes sound engineers, production crews, etc.
She thanked Victory North's Mohamed Eldibany (owner) and Brian Goldman (talent buyer) for their incredible support. They gave her an office at the venue and have offered the space whenever it’s available to use for the collective’s needs (mostly on Monday evenings when other programming isn't happening). She’s helping local musicians with logistics issues around parking services with permits to avoid artists getting parking tickets while loading in/out of venues. She also thanked Michael Owens (Tourism Leadership Council) for his assistance getting the information out to hotels and Savannah visitors, and WRHQ for making SMC the official music calendar of the radio station. She also connects new artists to have their music played on the Q's Second Sunday show and announced they will be hosting Sunday nights at B. Matthews (in partnership with the Gaslight Group) with a true listening room experience.
Mary has filed and is still waiting on Savannah Music Collective's 501(c)3 status. She wrapped up her talk with the charge to support local live music!
Deanna Whitt classifies her life as sacrifice and purpose through service and adding value. She’s lived a very full life. Growing up in Pittsburg in a blue collar family, her father worked in the steel industry, and she started working at the age of 12. Deanna joined the U.S. Navy active duty in 1997 for 9.5 years. While stationed in Italy, she met her husband how was in the Army. She eventually went into recruiting for the Navy. She then went on to work in marketing for Fortune 500 clients including USAA, Tiffany & Co., Citizens Bank, etc. Deanna currently works for EY as a Business Consultant managing and supporting the US Army’s global audit readiness efforts. She moved to Savannah in 2008 and had her son in 2018. 
Savannah, GA 31405
United States of America