LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) – Oak View Group (OVG) announced the creation of a national theater alliance with an initial roster of 18 venues across North America that will benefit from collective buying power, routing of non-traditional content, and sponsorship opportunities.
Noël Mirhadi, a former talent representative, was named Senior Director of the Theater Alliance. She works with Joe Giordano, OVG Vice-President (VP), overseeing the group and the company’s arena and stadium alliances. Mirhadi has tremendous experience in the theater world. She’s a classically trained musician and has worked at talent agencies representing artists focusing on performing arts for over a decade. So Mirhadi said she jumped at the chance to help form the alliance when Giordano called.
“It was an easy sell coming from Joe, a longtime colleague and friend,” said Mirhadi. “He really wanted someone who had deep knowledge and relationships in the theater space to help identify these partners to formulate not only the menu of services we’re offering but also identify which we wanted to be part of our inaugural class.”
“What we’re trying to do is to meet the needs of the venues and make sure that we’re creating value for the entire ecosystem here,” said OVG360 CEO Chris Granger. ”We want to serve the industry and all stakeholders. That means how do we best serve the venue, the artists, fans and corporate partners in the communities in which we operate? All members will have access to everything, but the venues are different. They have similar challenges, but they will be different in terms of what matters most to them.”
Mainly modeled after OVG’s Arena Alliance, launched in 2015, the Theater Alliance is designed to provide similar services to a sector that may not have the resources, seating capacity or staff of the typical arena.
The National Theater Alliance membership is invite only with a mid-six-figure annual fee.
“We are going out proactively to those venues and operators that are the best of the best,” Granger said. “The value of the alliance comes not just from the OVG partnership but from the relationship with one another. We want you to participate with us for, let’s say, three or five years as a starting point. We want to make sure there is an opportunity for you to reap the benefits of the collective and for us to learn as much as we can about your venue. A one-year relationship serves nobody.”
“We are thrilled to be among the first members of Oak View Group’s Theater Alliance. OVG has proven to be an innovator in our industry,” says Pabst Theater Group Chief Operating Officer and talent buyer Matt Beringer. “With the formation of the Theater Alliance, we look forward to combining their expanded national reach and expertise with our 20 years of experience booking and operating world-class independent concert venues.”
“We’re proud to be an inaugural member of the OVG Theater Alliance,” added Howard Handler, President of 313 Presents in Detroit. “The Fox Theatre, Detroit’s crown jewel, is a destination for everyone within our community. This alliance provides opportunities for us to share and learn best practices from other iconic theatres around the country and to deliver even more to artists, tours and our guests.”
The Theater Alliance is establishing its philanthropic organization to raise funds to be shared among members, with proceeds going either directly to nonprofit members to philanthropic partners of privately-owned or for-profit members to benefit local music and art education programs.
“Many of these buildings are nonprofit in nature and are extremely expensive to run and operate, so we thought that it was important to support them at the philanthropic level as well,” Mirhadi said. In partnership with the music industry’s social responsibility program Music’s Promise, the Theater Alliance Fund will be open for donations all year with an annual benefit gala rotating cities.
OVG Theater Alliance Members
ACL Live at Moody Theater (Austin, Texas)
AT&T Performing Arts Center (Dallas, Texas
Beacon Theatre, Theater at MSG, and Radio City Music Hall (New York)
Boch Center (Boston, Massachusetts)
The Chicago Theater (Chicago)
First Interstate Center (Spokane, Washington)
Fox Theatre (Detroit, Michigan)
Kimmel Center (Philadelphia)
Loew’s Jersey Theater, opening 2025 (Jersey City, New Jersey)
Pabst Theater Group (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
Paramount Theatre (Denver, Colorado)
Paramount Theatre (Oakland, California)
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust (Pittsburgh)
Portland’5 Centers for the Arts (Portland, Oregon)
Ryman Auditorium & Grand Ole Opry House (Nashville)
Segerstrom Center for the Arts (Costa Mesa, California)
Stifel Theatre (St. Louis, Missouri)
Tulsa Performing Arts Center (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
