Eighteen months after major management changes, the Tivoli and Memorial are hitting home runs

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Staging a Comeback: One year after major management changes, the Tivoli and Memorial are hitting home runs

Though it is late morning on a Tuesday, the Tivoli Theatre is already alive with activity.

Stagehands are setting up for the evening's performance of the "Dirty Dancing" musical, and facility staff members are preparing the bars and concession kiosks scattered throughout the theater.

In the vestibule area between the lobby and the seats, Dave Holscher and Ted Heinig are ready to talk about the theater's stunning run of success over the past 18 months. Holscher is Tivoli Theatre/Memorial Auditorium general manager while Heinig is vice president of concerts with AC Entertainment, the Knoxville-based company contracted by the Tivoli Foundation to program the venue. AC also books touring acts for Chattanooga's Revelry Room and Track 29 at the Chattanooga Choo Choo, as well as the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn.

Heinig came down from Knoxville along with several other AC people to oversee opening night of the five-show Broadway Series being kicked off by "Dirty Dancing." Both of the musical's performances are sold out, further proof that it's been a good year and a half at the venue, they say.

"I would say it has gone beyond all expectations," Heinig says. "It has been amazing."

For fiscal year 2015-16, which ran from July 1, 2015 until June 30, 2016, the 3,700-seat Memorial and 1,700-seat Tivoli, both of which are owned by the city and leased to the Tivoli Foundation, have seen gross ticket-sale revenues increase by more than 87 percent, or $1,825,590. The Tivoli was the workhorse of the two, primarily because its size is more in the sweetspot of today's touring acts. Memorial only hosted seven concerts last year, but it hosts other events such as high school and college graduations and local and touring talent shows.

Last year, the two venues combined hosted 203 events - 132 at the Tivoli and 71 at Memorial - with some of those running multiple nights.

The number of concerts at the Tivoli increased from nine the previous year to 21. There are 18 confirmed concerts featuring touring acts booked for 2017, and Heinig says the total will likely be around 30 to 35 by the end of the year. The number does not include local shows such as those done by the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera. In comparison, the 1,600-seat Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville, which is also programmed by AC, does about 40 touring shows a year.

The Tivoli also hosts such events as the Broadway Series - "Dirty Dancing" (Jan. 17-18), "Chicago" (Feb. 15-17), "Rent" (March 8-9), "Riverdance" (April 18-20) and "Annie" (May 2-3).

While the smaller theater is getting most of the attention, Holscher says Memorial is still a good venue, but it needs to be the right concert or show to use it. For instance, R&B superstars Earth Wind & Fire are booked there on March 15, while jam band Widespread Panic sold out the auditorium on April 20, 2016.

"It was perfect for a show like Widespread Panic," Holscher says.

The number of concerts in the venues is limited by several factors, including staffing, other events booked in the buildings besides those by AC, and a programming formula that prevents overbooking too many similar shows in the city. There are only so many country music or comedy shows, for instance, that a market will support, Heinig says.

He has spent the past 20 years booking shows in Chattanooga with varying degrees of success, so why the recent upturn? There are several reasons, including timing and the city's downtown renaissance, which has attracted a new wave of people interested in everything from trendy restaurants, quality entertainment and the outdoors.

There also has been a concerted effort by city and community leaders to make music a key component of Chattanooga's draw.

Selling the city

Mary Howard Ade, music marketing manager for the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau, says music has become a big selling point for the city and shows at the Tivoli and Memorial are part of what she pitches to potential visitors. Music is now so big, in fact, her job didn't even exist two years ago.

The numbers would indicate some of that marketing is working. According to figures provided by AC Entertainment, in just the past six months:

- 28 percent of tickets were purchased by buyers outside of the Chattanooga area;

- 9 percent of tickets were purchased from markets outside of Tennessee;

- 18 percent of tickets were purchased from other states and Canada;

- Tickets were purchased from buyers in 43 states; the buyer living the farthest away was from Vancouver, Canada.

Being able to talk about upcoming concerts like last year's My Morning Jacket, John Prine, Bob Dylan and Widespread Panic were a plus, Ade says.

"The names they brought in were a big part of it this last year," she says. "We talk about that, but we talk about everybody. The music scene in general; we talk about [local festival] Jazzanooga just as much, for example. It all works together."

She adds that, because of the number and quality of shows at the Tivoli over the past year, people have come to look at it as a destination for good shows on a regular basis. Fans also have become more accustomed to buying tickets in advance, which makes show promoters happy and more likely to come back, she says.

In general, live music has become another ingredient, along with the city's outdoor activities and growing number of quality restaurants and bars, that make people want to live and visit Chattanooga, she says.

A new direction

Both venues were built in 1920s, with the Tivoli being funded and owned privately until the 1960s when the city took over its operation as well.

It provides $1 million in capital annually to operate the two facilities, but it got out of the day-to-day operation side of things - which included programming events - in 2015 and created the Tivoli Foundation, handing over management of the Tivoli and Memorial to the nonprofit.

In turn, the foundation hired AC, giving daily operations and booking responsibilities to the company. When the city was in charge of the venues, officials were somewhat risk-averse when it came to booking shows because they were using taxpayer dollars and feared losing money if a show did poorly. But the foundation has loosened up the reins when it comes to booking shows because it trusts AC's experience in the industry, officials say.

AC receives an annual fee also has incentives that kick in depending on how well shows do money-wise on ticket sales and other revenue, plus it can earn incentives at the end of the fiscal year.. Any profits go back into repairs, improvements and maintenance to the buildings, according to Keith Sanford, president of the Tivoli Foundation.

Sanford points out that not every show makes money and half jokes that, given the conditions of the aging building, "we could make a profit every year for 150 years and not make a dime."

AC hired Holscher to be the local general manager in December. Prior to that, he'd held the same positions at the North Charleston Coliseum, the Charleston Performing Arts Center and the Charleston Area Convention Center in South Carolina.

Since coming on board, and with the money from the city, Holscher has overseen the installation of a new heating and air conditioning system and major roof repair at the Tivoli. There also have been repairs done to some of the plaster, which was flaking and crumbling. Future plans include finishing the plastering and redoing the bathrooms.

Concessions also have been improved, not just in what food and drink items are offered, but by the addition of 15 point-of-sale stands located throughout the building. In years, past, there were only two in the lobby.

"We want to make sure no one is standing in line for long," Holscher says.

Heinig gives Holscher and his staff much of the credit for the recent success. But "it has to be a team effort," he adds.

"Dave is one of the best in the business, but he can't do his job if we are not doing the programming," Heinig says. "And we can program shows, but people will not keep coming if they don't have a good experience when they come here."

Holscher says he recently gathered his regular staff of eight, the theater's sound and light guys, its security personnel and anyone else he could think of, bringing them together for a brainstorming session about what was being done right and what could be improved.

"Everyone is passionate about these facilities and wants them to be great," he says. "We want everyone who comes, whether its through the front door or the back door, to have a great experience."

Relationships

Industry folks like Heinig, Holscher, Monica Kinsey, general manager of Track 29 and Revelry Room, and Mike Dougher, who ran music club Rhythm & Brews for nearly 20 years before it closed, say that relationships are a huge part of programming any venue. And it's not just about having a lot of phone numbers on your smartphone.

Success is about making sure that, not only do the ticket buyers have a great experience, Holscher says, but the artists and crew also enjoy their stay.

"It can start with breakfast," he says. "If the band and crew get off the bus and breakfast is cold, it sets the tone. They wonder what else will go bad. We treat them like guests in our house."

That care translates to happy artists who want to come back, and who tell other artists and industry people about their experience.

"The music business is a very small circle," Heinig says. "People talk.

J. Willoughby, who created the Birmingham, Ala.-based Black Jacket Symphony, says he and the other BJS members "love playing the Tivoli."

"It's seriously probably my favorite place to play," he says. "Perfect size, and it's absolutely beautiful."

The band, which does note-for-note renditions of classic-rock albums such as the Beatles' "Abbey Road," the Eagles' "Hotel California" and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," among many others, has played the Tivoli more than a dozen times.

"And the people who run it are almost as nice as the people who come to the show," Willoughby says.

A lot of people are starting to talk about Chattanooga as a place they want to play, and it is because they have a great experience.

Holscher says he also hears from people around the country who are talking about Chattanooga as a place to mountain bike, rock climb and to play and see live music.

"Chattanooga has so much going for it right now."

Live Nation impact

Live Nation Entertainment is a global company, the 800-pound gorilla that bought a controlling interest in Bonnaroo in 2016 and AC Entertainment earlier this year. It has exclusive rights to book some of the biggest names in the entertaiment industry, including comedian Dave Chappelle, who is set to perform two sold-out shows at the Tivoli on Feb. 4. Heinig says he believes the collaboration will be a good thing for AC and Chattanooga because Live Nation gives AC a ton of buying power.

"I think it gives us some opportunities with acts that we've not had before," he says. "Live Nation has the best comedy team, [for example]. It's about more access, and it gives us more resources."

Even with the expanded abilities, Heinig doesn't foresee any personnel changes in Knoxville or Chattanooga. He says officials at Live Nation told AC founder Ashley Capps that it did not want AC to become a Knoxville branch of Live Nation.

"They said, 'We want to support you.'"

It took years for AC to build support for Knoxville's Tennessee Theatre and the Orange Peel in Asheville, N.C., which AC also programs. Heinig says it's fairly unprecedented for the Tivoli to have done as well as it has in such a short time.

"We are light years ahead of where we projected," he said.

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.