Arena Announces Partnership With Howard Cusack

EUGENE, OR (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Eugene’s Matthew Knight Arena has announced a strategic partnership with Howard Cusack and Pretty Polly Productions, one of the industries’ college tour producing companies.

Veteran producer Cusack will assist as the arena’s concert consultant. Cusack expects to increase the visibility and use of the venue by promoting the various capacity configurations that the venue provides for artists who prefer to visit the musically sophisticated and college driven Willamette Valley on their travels between Seattle and northern California.

“If we deliver the right talent, we know the audience will come to Eugene,” explained Cusack. “I want to help fill a void in the underserved central Oregon market.”

Cusack is the president of Boston based college concert booking and tour production company Pretty Polly Productions which was established in 1972. Pretty Polly produces more than 200 concerts annually and represents more than 100 colleges and public venues nationwide.

“Howie probably has more college experience than any agent in the country,” explained Mike Duncan, Oregon’s senior associate athletic director for Matthew Knight Arena. “He has a young and savvy staff and Pretty Polly has expanded into self-produced tours playing venues on campuses nationwide. Howie maintains a residence west of Eugene in addition to Boston which makes this a nice fit.”

The 12,000 seat Matthew Knight Arena opened in January 2011 and has hosted many events including Elton John, Brad Paisley and Cirque du Soleil in addition to Oregon’s basketball and volleyball programs.

Cusack is a driving force behind the Campus Conscious Tour and has brought this tour to more than 200 campuses with emerging artists such as Drake, Passion Pit, Wiz Khlifa, Mac Miller, Janelle Monae, Fun., J Cole and others. He also was a co-founder of the Verizon Wireless Tour which featured a variety of emerging artists including All American Rejects, Brandi Carlisle and Boys Like Girls, among others.

Pretty Polly maintains offices in Boston, Cincinnati, San Francisco, and central Oregon coast. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers