New Teachers Added to The ADAPT Conference: A Crash Course On Entertainment’s Pandemic Business Models

OCTOBER 12, 2020 – LOS ANGELES, CA – The ADAPT Conference, a one-of-a-kind teaching event geared toward students and professionals in the entertainment industry, has announced a closing conversation and additional breakout sessions for their upcoming virtual conference taking place on October 22, 2020.

Noelle Scaggs (Founder, Diversify the Stage / Fitz and The Tantrums) and Jerome Cooks (Never Famous / The Touring Professionals Alliance) will host a 30 minute conversation before breakout sessions begin titled “Diversify The Stage: Creating Collective Action For Change”

Diversify the Stage is an industry initiative led by Scaggs that is focused on increasing diverse representation and hiring practices in the live music and touring sectors of the industry. As part of the initiative, Diversify The Stage is partnering with Never Famous and online employment portal that connects recruiters looking to build their teams with qualified staff and recommended production suppliers created by touring professional Jerome Crooks.

Legendary music manager Deborah Klein (Primary Wave), who has managed Vanessa Carlton, Cypress Hill, Melissa Etheridge, Yellowcard, Five Finger Death Punch and more will be joining Randy Nichols (Force Management) to teach about how to Manage Through Rocky Waters. With the future as to when live shows will resume still being uncertain, smart managers are working to keep artist’s overhead flexible and lean as well as find creative new sources of revenue.

Mike Easterlin (President, Elektra Music Group) will be joining Eric Tobin (EVP of Business Development and A&R, Hopeless Records) for a lesson into the mind of Labels. Attendees can learn how they’re making new artists stand out in a world where touring is nonexistent, and the internet is flooded with new content daily. Find out what labels are looking for in artists and when the right time is (or is not) to sign a deal.

Michael Silva (Executive Director, VenuWorks of Cedar Rapids, LLC) and Jeff Fortier (Co-President, Mammoth) will be joining Vincenzo Giammanco (CBF Productions) in the class geared toward Socially Distant Live Shows: The Comeback of Drive-Ins. The live shows we see today vs a year ago are night and day. Social distancing, lowered capacities, increased production costs, and public health concerns have transformed how we experience live music and drive-ins have made a comeback. Concerts in Your Car in Ventura and a number of other promoter drive-in concert series have proven to be successful models to date, but it did not come easy and there is still more to learn. Gain perspective into the current challenges and successes of live events during COVID times including drive-in concerts, comedy shows, movie screenings and more.

Attendees will be able to join a variety of break out sessions at the end of the day, giving them an opportunity to learn from and communicate with a variety of industry experts including Chamie McCurry (CMO, Danny Wimmer Presents), Ari Nisman (President & CEO, Degy World LLC and Degy Entertainment), Mark Woodbridge (Manager and Founder, 921 Collective), Matt Doherty (Touring Professional, The Unusual Company and The Touring Professionals Alliance) and more.

The ADAPT Conference was created by Kevin Lyman (Founder of the Vans Warped Tour, USC Professor, CEO of the Kevin Lyman Group and Unite the United) and Trevor Swenson (Dynamic Talent International) after seeing how the COVID-19 pandemic brought the entertainment industry, live events, and much of the world’s economy to a grinding halt. The entertainment industry faces the reality of being the first to shut down and the last to reopen in any way that can result in major revenue streams. The ADAPT Conference aims to highlight professionals who have found success through these times, as well as provide resources for those searching to learn how to do it themselves, collaborate, and adapt to our new reality.

Tickets are on sale now through Eventbrite. For industry professionals, one ticket is $149, for an industry 4-pack, $400, and for students, $49.

The ADAPT team shares, “Many colleagues in the entertainment industry have seen their job opportunities disappear, been furloughed, or even laid off due to COVID-19. If you lost your job and are currently struggling financially we want to help in any way we can.” Applications for the ADAPT Unemployment Scholarship are now open here: http://bit.ly/ADAPTScholarship. Industry professionals who are currently unemployed, furloughed, or laid off due to COVID19 quality for the scholarship will receive 50% off their ADAPT Conference registration, and be added to the conference’s “Open To Work” directory.

The event will be hosted on Whova Conference App featuring attendee networking opportunities, customizable profiles, interactive chat box + video during panels, polling Q+As, community message boards, and more.

ADAPT is being produced by Dynamic Talent and KLG with generous support from Prism.fm, 3P America, Health Education Services, NACA (National Association of Campus Activities), Pure Noise Records, Flytevu and Sonic Workshops and more sponsors who will have virtual booths where they can showcase their brand, interact live with attendees and more!

A full schedule of the day’s classes can be found below. For more information on ADAPT, please head to http://www.adapt-conference.com/.

ABOUT ADAPT Conference:

In March of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the entertainment industry, live events, and much of the world’s economy to a grinding halt. The entertainment industry faces the reality of being the first to shut down and the last to reopen in any way that can result in major revenue streams. Ideas of “going back to normal” have faded, and businesses are facing tough decisions. The ADAPT Conference aims to highlight professionals who have found success through these times, as well as provide resources for those searching to learn how to do it themselves, collaborate, and adapt to our new reality.

The classes will be broken down by the following throughout the day:

For more information on ADAPT, please head to http://www.adapt-conference.com/.

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