Fletcher Hall at Carolina Theatre of Durham.
Carolina Theatre of Durham, Inc. and National Shows 2 (NS2) entered into an exclusive partnership that means the two organizations will co-promote at least 60 national touring acts at the historic North Carolina theater annually. The first two co-pros are the Wood Brothers Oct. 12 and the Mavericks, Oct. 21, both currently on sale. Going on sale this week are two more: Tower of Power Oct. 29 and Squirrel Nut Zippers, Sept. 23. All four are also playing the Charleston (S.C.) Music Hall, the other theater using NS2 exclusively.
The two-year agreement does not exclude other promoters, but gives NS2 first right of refusal, said Joe Student, director of Live Events for the Carolina Theatre. AEG Live has two shows already booked in October, contracted prior to the exclusive which was signed in late June. Beyond those two, promoters of national shows will co-promote with NS2 unless NS2 passes on it.
“I have first right of refusal, but if a promoter has a history with an artist, promoted them in a club and wanted to take the next step up, I’d co-promote with them. That’s the way I would I want to be treated. But if some random person wants to bring Tower of Power to Carolina Theatre, well no, I want to and that’s the way it goes,” explained NS2 Talent Buyer Brian Penix. He has co-promoted shows with AEG all over the country, he noted. “I’m always open to co-pros if someone is a good partner.”
Carolina Theatre of Durham, Inc. will continue to rent the city-owned building to other local arts organizations, schools, nonprofits and corporate entities as it has done since 1994, and may even bring national events to the table from booking agents with whom it has an existing relationship, Student said.
NS2’s exclusive with Charleston Music Hall, a 966-seat historic theater, has been ongoing for two and a half years, Penix said. “We tripled their content over the last two years. At that time they weren’t operating at full capacity and had a lot of rentals for local groups and nonrevenue producing events. We helped them flush out what generates revenue from what doesn’t, make it better so more artists want to play there and get creative on the advertising to make the biggest impact possible while spending the least amount of money possible. We really increased the volume of business that plays that room and we also cultivated a cool music scene around the Charleston Music Hall, which I’m proud of.”
He expects to do the same in Durham, where a similar environment exists “as far as it being a beautiful listening room, good sound and light and good location in the heart of downtown. They looked at the types of shows, genres, types of things we were doing for every age group and family and we just started talking. Before we knew it, we had a similar vision and our visions locked,” Penix said.
The 1,048-seat Fletcher Hall is the main space at Carolina Theatre, which was built in 1926. The theater’s operating budget is approximately $4 million a year. The nonprofit has historically lost money. Student said the goal with the NS2 agreement is to make an operating surplus in the coming fiscal year, July 1-June 30. The theater has only limited concessions income, having no kitchen. That service is run in-house. Ticketmaster handles ticketing. The theater has a fulltime staff of 16 and also promotes shows outside its walls, a practice that will continue, Student said.
Both defined “co-promote” as NS2 assuming all the risk and Carolina Theatre splitting any profit. Any loss goes to NS2. “We wanted to scale back on the number of bookings in-house. NS2 is a good partner,” Student said.
Carolina Theatre Interim President and CEO Dan Berman, on a European vacation this week, lauded the new booking agreement in a press release.
“This partnership allows the theatre to leverage the prestige and booking power of NS2, one of the country’s most active live event promoters,” Berman said. “It enables us to increase the number and variety of offerings at the Carolina at the same time that we dramatically reduce the economic risk of producing such a busy calendar of national touring artists.”
Student has been with Carolina Theatre for three years. He joined the organization as digital media consultant, then took over content marketing and media relations before being named director of live events in April. Theater staff has opted to forego the industry conference season this year in a message of austerity, Student said, but now NS2 will give them some presence.
“We are mission driven and budget conscious at this point,” Student said. The new regime took over Carolina Theatre when Bob Nocek and other staff resigned following concerns about growing operating losses. (VT Pulse, Feb. 22, 2016) The theater is owned by the City of Durham and operated by the nonprofit.
Formed in 2010, NS2, based in Nashville, promotes all genres of entertainment, including full-length tours. Penix said the two exclusives are a great routing option and he’d be happy to have even more. “It just really depends on the market, the venue, the location. If I’m going to put my name on something and try to sell it to an artist, I want it to be top quality, the right experience for the artist and the fan; I’ll sell that till I’m blue in the face.”
Penix sees exclusive promoters as a win for booking agents who make one call and it'sdone. “It’s a big advantage to me, too. I have a reason to call every single agent in the business and I have a way to develop relationships I maybe wouldn’t have developed doing what I normally do. Also, the markets route perfectly together. I sent in an offer last week to a performing arts artist who is a weekend warrior – here’s an offer for Thursday and Friday. He’s trying to fill the third night in Atlanta, and you’ve got yourself a weekend,” he said.
Tickets to all shows at the Carolina Theatre will continue to be sold at its box office, through the venue’s website — carolinatheatre.org — and at Ticketmaster.com. All operations, marketing, and day-to-day business involving the co-promotions will continue to be managed locally by the theatre’s existing staff.
Independent of NS2, the Carolina will continue to present mission-driven performing arts programming, its Arts Discovery Education Series for schoolchildren and its award-winning independent film programs and festivals such as the North Carolina Gay + Lesbian Film Festival, the Nevermore Film Festival and its renowned Retro Film Series.
The Carolina Theatre will also continue to host local organizations and signature Durham events, including nationally and internationally renowned happenings such as the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, the Art of Cool and Moogfest.
After two exclusive years in Charleston, “we changed it up slightly, which benefits both parties equally. We have a model that works. We try to keep all of our deals really, really, really simple; simple to understand, easy to account for. If it’s simple, it’s fun and easy,” Penix said.
Interviewed for this story: Brian Penix, (615) 777-8599; Joe Student, (919) 560-3040 X256