Robyn Williams, executive director of Portland'5 Centers for the Arts. (Courtesy Portland'5 Centers for the Arts)
Portland’5’s Keller Uuditorium got “Hamilton” this year, so it’s no wonder Executive Director Robyn Williams had a great 2018. Williams has been active in the Portland live events space for over 18 years. She’s also a former IAVM chairman and a Tony voter.
VenuesNow spoke with the queen of the Portland venue scene about the state of the live event space in one of the Pacific Northwest’s shining-star cities.
Tell us about the Portland venue scene.
From the entertainment side of things Portland is hopping. It’s a solid arts town. It’s a good sports town. It has a really good music scene from small indie clubs all the way up to the Moda Center.
How are ticket sales?
What we’re seeing is that people are buying tickets; shows are selling very well, and I’ve been hearing about a lot of sellouts all over town. People want to get out, be entertained, and see a little bit of everything.
Recent Keller Auditorium shows: David Byrne (far left) and Ben Gibbard with Death Cab for Cutie. (Getty Images X2)
Tell us about a typical Portland live eventgoer.
We’re pretty open-minded, on the left-hand side of politics, and a town that likes a good protest. People here are pretty invested in what’s going on locally. We are filled with both hipsters and families.
How competitive is the landscape from a venue perspective?
It’s not that bad because we’re not a city with three or four arenas and multiple midlevel venues. We’ve got a room for every act, from little clubs to our arena, but there’s not that many venues like Seattle might have. Here, if you’re an arena act, there’s only one arena in town. If you want 3,000 seats, right now we’re that venue. Because of the lack of real competition, the venues here all work together. We’re a cozy bunch.
What’s on the horizon for Portland?
What’s keeping me up at night is a new House of Blues that will open soon. Live Nation is building a House of Blues in a mall in a space that was a Nordstrom. I’m keeping my eye on it. I don’t know if Live Nation intends to be the sole booker of the hall or if they are going to open it up. I’m anxious to know the configuration. The more it looks like us, the more nervous I will be.