Photo: Stefan Cohen

The San Francisco Symphony is about to wrap up the first season of Soundbox, an experimental music venue that leverages unused rehearsal space, art, video, and superb sound to deliver shows to a new audience well below their traditional 64-year-old patron. Attendees of IAVM’s 2015 Performing Arts Managers Conference experienced the space first-hand during a private tour, and the success of the new project is beginning to emerge.

“In only its third iteration, Soundbox has become a thing unto itself, and it took less than a scant four months to transform from a promising experiment into a scene of its own. Musically, last weekend’s version rivaled the opener in terms of surprising, delighting, and delivering, but while no one was looking SoundBox found an entirely new audience. I did see some familiar faces in the crowd on Saturday night, but what struck me was how quickly the demographic of the audience changed, as if with each new show the average age of those attending decreased by a number of years. Look at the picture above and try to find classical music’s ‘greying audience’ in the crowd. The place is a hit.”—John Marcher in the San Francisco culture blog, A Beast In A Jungle

The venue reverts back to rehearsal space this spring, but with every show selling out, and with a fresh audience tilting toward 20- and 30-somethings, creator Tilson Thomas is planning on its return next year.

Listen to Cy Musiker’s full story for KQED News below:

In an effort to ensure IAVM continues its path of providing excellent products and services and in conjunction with our Mission, Vision and Goals, the Board of Directors has approved a small dues increase. See the new rates below. Members whose renewal date is July 31 or greater will reflect the new pricing shown below.

• Allied – $600 to $620
• Allied Extra – $455 to $470
• Professional – $455 to $470

Faculty, Young Professional, Student, and Retired membership dues will remain the same. If you have any questions about your renewal, you may contact me, your director of membership, via email or phone: 972.906.7441. We appreciate your support.

Brian Mirakian is a smart man. He is the director of Populous Activate in the Americas, and he presented a wonderful, thoughtful session at this year’s South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. His session, “The New Cathedral: Sports Stadiums,” took a look at the past, present, and future of stadium design.

“We’re moving rapidly from a spectator culture to participant culture, and the next generation fan wants access and interaction with the athletes on the field,” Mirakian wrote in session recap on Populous.com.

In the recap, Mirakian offers 10 ways to look at what has become a cathedral to many: the sports stadium. Let’s look at the first five, along with some quotes from Mirakian.

1. The new cathedral is… the same as the old cathedral.
“In the same way that the Roman Coliseum was a symbol for the community and captured a distinct sense of place that brought people together, the future stadium will communicate the spirit of its city and its culture.”

2. The new cathedral is… designed for the experientialist.
“The next gen experientialist fan wants to participate, explore, interact with brands, socially congregate in areas connected to the action and make memories with friends beyond the seating bowl.”

3. The new cathedral is… embedded and reactive.
“Our buildings can actually become responsive to fans—whether through reactive surfaces or embedded architecture (like we saw in the London 2012 Main Stadium) or the future use of augmented reality technology.”

4. The new cathedral is… a place that interconnects fans and athletes.
“By using next generation data analytics, it’s not hard to imagine that fans will be able to capture, follow, and experience what their favorite athlete experiences in a game.”

5. The new cathedral is… home to a global audience.
“93 percent of NFL fans will never step foot in an NFL stadium … which means franchises now have to understand their fan base and brand exists everywhere and must challenge themselves to engage a global audience of fans who aren’t in the building.”

Mirakian affirmed that technology will not kill stadiums, because of our human nature.

“People will aways want to share a social experience together,” he said. “It’s what makes us human.”

Please visit Populous.com to learn about the other five ways sports stadiums are evolving.

(Image: Populous)

It’s no secret that soccer in the U.S. is popular.

“More fans are watching, and each new team brings its own authentic crew of supporters groups’ along with it, a very important improvement over 20 years ago, when the league seemed to market itself exclusively to nuclear families and soccer moms, an experiment that didn’t pan out,” Gary Singh wrote in our feature about the sport.

Soccer’s popularity was evident during a standing-room only session at the 2015 South by Southwest conference. The session—moderated by SportsCenter Anchor Max Bretos—featured three Major League Soccer owners who talked about why the sport is popular and how they’re using technology to attract more fans.

“Going after the young, hip, tech-savvy crowd has been a huge advantage for us because they’re excited and enthusiastic about the sport,” said Adrian Hanauer, owner of the Seattle Sounders FC. “We made conscious decisions to appeal to the ‘cool’ kids. Once we got them, then the families followed.”

Sporting Kansas City Owner and CEO Robb Heineman spoke about the importance of branding.

“We want fans to feel like they’re part of a brand rather than fan of the brand,” Heineman said. “We want everyone to feel like a VIP.”

Concerning technology, Portland Timbers Owner Merritt Paulson said that his club uses tech where it can help them and not just for its own sake. He noted that he’d rather have people watching the game than a phone.

Heineman had a different view.

“Our mobile goal is to find out who is in a venue and what they’re doing,” Heineman said. “I love following games on Twitter, we push team news through social media, and I do ‘flying tweet’ Q&As during long flights.”

You could tell Heineman loves the sport and everything that revolves around the game-day experience.

“Soccer is a perfect game when played in a great venue,” he said.

Judging by the applause volume, many in attendance agreed.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau approved Palcohol this week, and states and legislators are taking action to ensure the product won’t have buyers.

Palcohol is powdered alcohol. One packet mixed with six ounces of water equals the same alcohol content as one standard mixed drink. The company that makes the product claims that packets, which measure four inches by six inches, are hard to conceal. Oh, please.

“I am in total disbelief that our federal government has approved such an obviously dangerous product, and so, Congress must take matters into its own hands and make powdered alcohol illegal,” said U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) in a statement. “Underage alcohol abuse is a growing epidemic with tragic consequences, and powdered alcohol could exacerbate this. We simply can’t sit back and wait for powdered alcohol to hit store shelves across the country, potentially causing more alcohol-related hospitalizations, and God forbid, deaths. This legislation will make illegal the production and sale of this Kool-Aid for underage drinking.”

Schumer’s legislation will include language that explicitly bans the production, sale, distribution, or possession of powdered alcohol as a provision of the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Reauthorization (STOP) Act.

Some states, though, have already banned Palcohol, such as Louisiana, South Carolina, and Vermont. Other states, such as Colorado, New York, and Rhode Island, are in the process of banning it. Palcohol can’t be sold in Massachusetts because that state defines an alcoholic beverage as a liquid.

Sure, people sneak legal and illegal things into events all the time but this one could really have an adverse affect on alcohol sales. What would you, as a venue professional, do to stay one step ahead of this development?

(Image: Palcohol)