Donovan Fairhurst, Everybody’s Working for The Weeknd
In a call from his hotel in Minneapolis, MN, the excitement in Donovan Fairhurst’s voice is remarkable. A 6th semester student in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management (RPTM), Donovan is spending his summer with the tour management support team for the North American concert tour of Canadian singer and songwriter The Weeknd.
“Travel days are our days off,” said Donovan. “On other days we work 17-hour days.”
Donovan found his way to RPTM while at the Altoona campus. “My mother was the biggest advertisement for Penn State,” he said. “She went to Penn State, and we made at least one trip a year to go to a football game when I was growing up. I loved walking around the campus, seeing Old Main…in high school I wore Penn State merch.”
With the plan to do the 2+2 route to his degree (2 years at a Commonwealth Campus and 2 years at University Park), that plan was disrupted when Donovan selected RPTM as his major. “I was searching for a major and was interested in the tourism management in the title of the major,” he said. “I’m also an outdoorsy person so parks were of interest to me, too. I really like the management and teamwork and business aspects of the major.” He transferred to University Park after his first year.
Although he clicked with the classes and the curriculum, Donovan was especially taken with RPTM 370 (Arena Management) taught at the Bryce Jordan Center (BJC) by the BJC’s General Manager, Al Karosas. “I knew I wanted to impress Al and make an impression on him in class.”
His plan worked. Al invited Matt Petroff, Penn State Alum and Tour Manager for The Weeknd, to speak in RPTM 370. Behind the scenes, Donovan later learned that Al had put him to the test with Matt. “I guess he tipped off Matt and said, ‘Don’t talk to this kid first. I want to see if you see what I see,’” he said. Donovan went to class that day with a list of questions and made an impression on both Al and Matt. As a result of that interaction, Matt invited Donovan to visit the tour rehearsal at Rock Lititz Studio in Lititz, PA.
“At the time, I had applied to another internship closer to home,” said Donovan. “I ended up never hearing back from that internship. That turned out to be a good thing.”
Matt invited Donovan to join the tour in Philadelphia for another visit. “I think that was another test,” Donovan laughed. “Over lunch, Matt sat down in his office and said he was going to catch up on the Mets game. I think he wanted to see what I would do. I decided to seize the opportunity and go out to the tour and meet the production team, shake hands with as many people as I could, and introduce myself.”
Donovan was then invited to join the tour for the rest of the summer. “I’m not on my official internship, so I feel like just a member of the team. My title is Tour Management Support. On Day 1, they kind of held my hand through things. On Day 2, they said ‘Go. You know what to do.’ On Day 3, I had the confidence to start doing things on my own.”
Donovan’s role is three-pronged. He is gaining experience in tour management, tour production, and venue management. He has been given the opportunity to spend time in each department as the tour moves across the country and to meet the venue managers in each city. He is making connections. “I think I learned the most on the night I worked with lighting. That shift is overnight so they can test the lights at night. Our lighting team is among the top in the industry.”
Since starting with the tour, Donovan has been with the team at MetLife Stadium in NJ and venues in Boston and Minneapolis. There was a break in the tour so Donovan returned home to Lacey, NJ for 8 days but then it was on to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Santa Clara, Seattle, Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal, and Toronto.
“Al uses the SOFI stadium in LA for a lot of examples in class,” he said. “It is the pinnacle of live venues. When I told the crew that I was excited to go to that venue, I think they thought I was naïve,” he laughed. “We were very busy there.” Donovan was also excited about the Toronto stop because The Weeknd is from Toronto.
After Toronto, the tour returned to Philadelphia. Donovan’s family visited him and saw the concert there. He will likely finish up after the stops in Nashville so he can get back to University Park to finish his senior year. “I gave permission for my mom to have access to my apartment,” he laughed. “She will be moving me in. I think staying on for the stop in Miami on August 15-16 might be pushing it.”
“This is where I want to be,” said Donovan. “I can’t say enough about what Al has done for me. I wanted to impress Al and I’m learning that you get back what you put into things.” His networking and experience have resulted in an offer for RPTM 495A (internship) with the Bryce Jordan Center for Spring 2026. The connections he is making this summer will undoubtedly open doors for the launch of his career after graduation.