Meet Mia: Q&A with Scotty Monten, Event Media Technician
Meet Mia is a bimonthly series highlighting museum staff—the talented humans who help make Mia a community treasure. Watch for new Q&As in People & Culture.
By Tara Kaushik
December 3, 2025—Scotty Monten wears many hats, often layering them, three or four at a time: A.V. tech, event planner, videographer, photographer, performer, archivist—the list goes on.
As a member of Mia’s Visual Resources department, he translates his love of music and photography into running all things audiovisual at the many events happening around the museum.
Speedrun
- Role: Event Media Technician
- How long you’ve worked at Mia: Eight years
- Favorite artwork in the collection: Bob Thompson’s Homage to Nina Simone
- Go-to Eat Street lunch order: Chicken phở from Quang
How did you get into working with sound and moving images?
I started playing guitar when I was 8 and have played in multiple bands since. I’ve loved music since I was exposed to it. I started out working at Electric Fetus, a record store, doing in-store performances. I’m a member of the stage crew at First Avenue, and I’ve been doing that for decades. I also work with a company called Slamhammer, which handles the lighting and sound for the halftime shows at Vikings games and Surly Festival Field.
I’ve always had a curiosity about how to turn my interests into a profession, and I pursued it. That led me to now working with these iconic local venues and institutions that have such a rich history, Mia included.
What was your first job?
Helping my grandpa and my dad with their construction businesses. I started when I was pretty young, probably around 9 or 10. I would clean up around the job sites, get all the junk out, scrap it. It was hard work, and growing up watching my grandpa and my dad do it really taught me about discipline and dedication. I carry those lessons with me into all the different jobs I do today.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
Providing our visitors, speakers, and performers with an enjoyable experience. Whenever Mia hosts an event, my goal is for whoever is speaking or performing to have an experience that feels super easy.
When you’re running A.V. or tech for an event, a lot of the work happens ahead of time. You’re predicting what could potentially go wrong and preparing for those scenarios. During the event, you’re in the background, but you’re being attentive and staying close by, in case you’re needed.
You’ve probably had the experience of going to a talk or a show where something goes wrong with the equipment, and suddenly there’s tension in the room. The audience is thinking, “I wonder if they can fix this.” They’re watching to see what’s going to happen. That’s where I go on, and I have to figure out what’s gone wrong. And sometimes, after it’s fixed, the audience will applaud. It’s funny, it’s almost like a performance in itself. On the rare occasion something goes wrong, that’s when I’m like, showtime.
What’s a project you worked on recently that you enjoyed?
We opened the “Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room: The Alice S. Kandell Collection” in September of 2024. As part of the opening celebration, nuns from the Jangchub Choeling Nunnery in India came to Mia to assemble a sand mandala while visitors observed.
I got to document the creation of the mandala, and that really had all the ingredients of my favorite projects. It was aesthetically stunning, but we were also documenting and archiving the work of a particular community and honoring their traditions. It was an incredible process to film. They kept telling us “get closer!” so we were able to capture the intricacy of the labor that went into creating the mandala. It was an incredible reminder of the power of visual storytelling.
What would you be if you weren’t an event media technician at Mia?
I would find the highest point I could in Minnesota, buy the land, build a gigantic observatory on it, and take photos of space.
I’ve always been so fascinated by and drawn to space. I grew up watching a lot of Carl Sagan; he’s one of my heroes. I would never have been an astrophysicist—that’s not my strength—but I can take star photos. So that would be my contribution to the field. Maybe one day I could take a photo, and there’s some object flying through it, and we learn something through that.
Tell me a story about working at First Avenue.
D’Angelo passed away recently. He was one of the very first shows I worked at First Ave. He was two hours late. Questlove was the DJ. He had to DJ for like three hours because the show started so late.
It’s a real privilege to be around these kinds of massive stars; it humanizes them in a way. You see them before and after they perform, and you really get to see how hard everyone involved in the production works to put on a great show.
What do you get up to outside of work?
I really enjoy all the things I do, so they make up some of my fun outside of work. But I also love spending time in nature with my camera. I’ve been trying to get out there a bit more, go hiking, take photos. I was just in the Lutsen area this past weekend, got some incredible shots of the moon.
You wear a “uniform” of sorts. Can you share a bit about that?
I do. I wear all black every day.
It’s primarily about function, because with the work I do, every company I work with, you’re usually required to wear all black. Add to that, I’m usually running around a lot. I’m busy. So I want to save time where I can. Not having to think about what to wear every morning or what will match saves me time. I don’t have to go through the process of picking out an outfit, which I honestly don’t enjoy very much.
What are you singing at karaoke night?
I’m not. I mainly listen to instrumental jazz, and it doesn’t translate very well to karaoke. I’d love to see someone try, though. That would be fun.