Ben Andersen

Director of Festivals & Experiences at Tucson Foodie | Partner at DUSK Music Festival 

Ben Andersen is an executive festival producer and live entertainment strategist with nearly two decades of experience scaling major music, culinary, and cultural IPs. As Director of Festivals & Experiences at Tucson Foodie (Southern Arizona's flagship food media company) he oversees the vision, growth, and execution of signature regional gatherings including Sonoran Restaurant 

Week, the Asian Night Market, and the Tucson Craft Beer Crawl. Ben’s work centers on modernizing event operations, expanding culinary tourism, and translating local culture into large-scale, high-impact public experiences. 

Ben is also an owning partner and former Executive Festival Director of DUSK Music Festival. Brought on during the festival’s initial formation, Ben spearheaded operational architecture, brand strategy, and talent execution from day one, helping shape DUSK into one of the Southwest’s premier independent music festivals and leading it to record-breaking financial success as COO in 2024. 

A specialist in music analytics and talent acquisition, Ben engineered a custom data-science metric that leverages regional API streams and historical ticketing data to forecast artist ticket sales with better than 80% accuracy in the regional market. Originally developed while guiding the historic Rialto Theatre through its post-2020 operational reopening, his predictive buying framework continues to help promoters minimize risk, maximize attendance, and spot emerging talent trends early. 

Driven by a belief that great festivals sit at the intersection of operational precision, data intelligence, and authentic local community, Ben continues to build systems that elevate how audiences experience music, food, and culture.