BRISBANE, CA — Ken Fisken, owner of Argent Event Production, LLC, a provider of staging elements, fabrication and crewing for live events, died on or around May 13. He was 67.
“Ken will be remembered most as a fair and honest person who was always willing to lend a hand to people even those not on his crew, knowing that the job just needed to get done,” noted Shevaun Gallant, who served as Administrator-Business Manager for Fisken’s company and helped coordinate a recent memorial service for Fisken.
“He was always a mentor to his crew willing to teach them anything they wanted to learn and was not afraid to push road cases and hang lights even when he was the boss,” Gallant added, of Fisken, who had a unique career trajectory into live entertainment production services — prior to joining San Francisco’s First Call in 1992, he worked as a political campaign consultant. (See Shevaun Gallant’s tribute to Fisken below).
Along with his leadership at Argent from 2015-2021 and, before that, Stage II Design & Production and First Call, Fisken faced up to the challenge of keeping the business going despite the enormous difficulties posed by the Covid-19 pandemic shutdowns starting in March 2020.
A supporter of the WeMakeEvents’ Red Alert awareness raising campaign, Fisken and others at Argent quickly pivoted and provided musicians and others with a portion of the company’s warehouse space that was converted into a livestream studio space.
Argent’s Administrator-Business Manager, Shevaun Gallant, along with Chris McGregor, penned the following tribute to the late Ken Fisken:
Ken Fisken, made the unusual move from political campaign consultant to event production when he joined the team at San Francisco based First Call in 1992. He quickly moved up the ranks from crew/stagehand to crew lead and then to project manager. He participated in many memorable projects along the way including the world premiere of “The Rock” on Alcatraz Island in 1996.
When First Call re-incorporated as Stage II, Design & Production, Ken moved into an executive role, brought in new business and managed several of his own accounts. In 2015, the original founder (Chris McGregor) moved on to start his own production management company and Ken took over the operation. Ken kept the company going and growing for the next six years under the new name Argent Event Production and even managed the incredible task of keeping the doors open throughout the National shutdown due to the Covid Pandemic.
With his work at Stage II and Argent Events he helped manage work for large Bay Area concerts, such as BFD and Outside Lands. In other aspects of production he also helped stage large events like the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco California, and the Dart For Art annual Charity auction in San Mateo.
Ken will be remembered most as a fair and honest person who was always willing to lend a hand to people even those not on his crew, knowing that the job just needed to get done. He was always a mentor to his crew willing to teach them anything they wanted to learn and was not afraid to push road cases and hang lights even when he was the boss.
— Shevaun Gallant
