IEBA Board Member Renee Alexander interviews Rendy Lovelady of Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam.

There's nothing on the planet quite like live events. IEBA President Wade Asher of Chippewa Valley Music Festivals is eager to kick off his comeback year with Country Fest in June and Rock Fest in July. In this edition of IEBA Interviews, he reminisces about watching his favorite bands play the songs he loves and seeing the electric connection between artists and fans at his events. Plus, with the IEBA conference on the horizon in October, IEBA Executive Director Pam Matthews and Wade share what they love about the organization - from collaborating and building relationships with respected industry leaders to bonding over shared passion for the fundamental element of our business: incredible music.

The San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo's mid-to-late-February timing means that its 2020 edition was one of the last large-scale concert events before COVID struck the US. Having just produced the adapted "Retro Rodeo" for 2021, Mallory Hines, who serves as Entertainment & Exhibits Officer, spoke with us about the lessons learned while re-inventing her show and how good it felt to bring live music back to the masses once.

Not even COVID could take down the world's longest running broadcast. The Grand Ole Opry remained on the air without a live audience for half of 2020. Then in October, the big red curtain came up for the show's 95th anniversary with a limited-capacity audience. Recently, capacity was increased to just over 1,000. The Opry's VP/Executive Director Dan Rogers joined us on a Zoom call to share how his team adapted their procedures and worked with the city to allow this crown jewel of Nashville to welcome fans back to the Grand Ole Opry House.

Last year was a time of deep reflection on issues of equity, but merely asking ourselves difficult questions is insufficient. Concrete action is the next step, and few have taken this to heart as deeply as Fitz and The Tantrums' Noelle Scaggs. Struck by the lack of diversity in her professional environment, she created Diversify the Stage in Spring 2020 with a mission to transform the live performance and concert touring industry to reflect our diverse communities.

In this edition of IEBA Interviews, Noelle discusses Diversify the Stage's programs and puts a call to action out to IEBA members for:

• Mentors
• Internship opportunities
• Contributions to fund Summer Internship Scholarships.

In this month's edition of IEBA Interviews, we are thrilled to welcome industry standout Brandon Pankey from Live Nation Urban. Our conversation explores his passion for education and documenting the contributions of Black musicians, producers, and executives, lessons learned from taking the Roots Picnic virtual (and finding 600,000+ new fans), and the simple driving principle behind LNU's resounding success.

With the concert business largely on hold, we are all looking forward to getting back to business, even if it won't be "as usual." Contract language is evolving to adapt to our post-pandemic world. Tim Epstein of Duggan Bertsch, LLC joins us to talk common law considerations of force majeure provisions, emphasizing specificity in contract language, COVID-19 riders, the effectiveness of waivers, and more in this edition of IEBA Interviews.

For many of us, the most difficult part of preparing to resume business operations is uncertainty. Jim Cressman hopped on a Zoom call to tell us what's on his mind as he juggles rescheduling, compliance with local government, and constant communication with clients and partners - all while taking time to reflect on his approach and inject some new ideas into his business model.

There are no simple solutions to complex problems, and the impact of COVID-19 is one of the most complicated situations our business has ever faced. Liz Allen Fey is the CEO of Strategy & Leadership, LLC. In this IEBA interview, Liz shares principles of leading during a time of crisis and actions we can take to create a community of care.

ASM Jacksonville's Zane Collings and Fiserv Forum's Raj Saha spoke with us about how their venues are serving the community during the fight against COVID-19 and preparing to reopen when the "back to business" signal is sent.