Collaboration & Creativity Drive Day One of VenuesNow Conference in Seattle

Day one at VenuesNow conference at the Sheraton Grand in Seattle largely hit on themes of collaboration and creativity, from authentic marketing efforts to forming new organizations by finding common ground. It’s more fun than it sounds.

For example, “When we announced Bad Bunny’s global stadium tour, there’s two plastic backyard chairs that are on the album cover, from his roots in Puerto Rico and we sent those chairs around the world to every single venue and put them out in front of the building over a weekend and just let the virality and almost mystery of that (take over),” said Eddie Clemens, global head of tour marketing at United Talent Agency, during a marketing-focused panel discussion.

“We went the other extreme and when we announced Guns N’ Roses tour last November, we did a drone show over the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in LA and Hudson River in New York, and it got picked up by a lot of national news, a lot of local news and really gave us another piece of content that the artist didn’t even have to participate in on both of those scenarios,” Clemens added. “So, manufacturing things on that that are also very authentic and can break through is really important.”

That also means not going into auto-pilot for every market.

“What’s going on culturally, what’s going on geopolitically, what’s going on with the artist?” said Janice Jimenez, senior director of marketing at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. She gave an example of scaling back the imagery when announcing the Jonas Brothers’ “Burning Up All Over Again” tour date in Seattle. “The state was literally on fire. And all I wrote back was, ‘No,'” Jimenez said jokingly, adding that the wise decision to dial it back surely prevented some blowback.

Big ideas were on display at the “making space for non-music events that win” panel discussion, where global arena treks are plotted five years in advance in the case of Feld Entertainment, to needing to produce a broadcast-level wrestling event every Wednesday, which means moving and adapting quickly in the case of All Elite Wrestling.

For a venue like Movistar Arena in Madrid, Spain, one of the busiest arenas in the world, when asked what was on the top of her wish list, general manager Paz Aparicio said was “only that I had more dates on the calendar.” And it’s not just one date, with family shows like Disney On Ice taking up a full week on the calendar with multiple dates and extensive load-in. Denis Sullivan, VP of International Routing & Tours at Feld Entertainment said the company has dates at Movistar Arena being held into 2031.

On the smaller-venue side, both agent (Craig Newman of Paladin Artists) and booker (Josh Meagher of First Interstate Center for the Arts in Spokane) said it’s important that ticket buyers know what they are getting and that the marketing and advertising materials accurately reflect what to expect  — especially when the particular show or attraction may not have the intellectual property or household recognition of the longer-established productions.

“But sometimes you just have to take the risk” when booking a new show, said Meagher, whose venue has upcoming shows with varied types of performances ranging from Beck to kids show “Bluey.” To which Newman acknowledged often being able to work out risk-averse deals for a first-time booking in the hopes of long-term success together. The agent, who represents varied types of touring shows from “Jim Henson’s Labyrinth” to celebrity chefs as well as music clients, also has an idea about a pinball-themed touring show that he’d love to tell you about.

A subsequent International-themed mixer was hosted by Pollstar’s Brij Gosai, bringing together major venue execs from the UK, France, Spain, Puerto Rico and more.

One discussion focused on security saw Pink Bows Foundation’s Mark Hamilton stress the importance of industry standards and certifications to prevent tragedy, while a Latin discussion highlighted the formation of the Asociación Hispanohablante de Arenas del Espectáculo, which translates to Spanish-Speaking Association of Entertainment Arenas.

Movistar Arena’s Paz Aparicio was credited with driving the formation of the association, bringing together venues such as her own and the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, which recently announced eight sold-out shows by breakout Dominican artist Dalvin La Melodia.

The current concert calendar for both venues suggests that Spanish-language music is leading the charge worldwide in many ways, with Movistar Arena estimating about 70% of all concerts being performed by Spanish-speaking artists. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico, the epicenter of the Reggaeton musical movement exemplified by the dominance of Bad Bunny – and artists no longer needing to perform in English for Western success –  is hosting music of all kinds despite its relatively small and isolated island locale.

“It’s not only about Bad Bunny, it’s about the little places, the restaurants, the music, and it’s going worldwide,” says Melanie Garcia, booking manager for the Coliseo de Puerto Rico. “I went to Madrid last week for the first time, to Movistar Arena. I have to copy everything. I love the arena. It’s amazing. We are eight hours from Puerto Rico and we are listening to the same music, and we speak Spanish, but it wasn’t like that before. So right now, we have a lot of things to talk about.”

For example, Garcia has already learned a new trick from Apararico.

“I’m telling everyone that Monday is the new Friday,” Aparacio says with a laugh, explaining one way to get more weekend dates into a packed schedule.

_Originally reported by [Pollstar](https://news.pollstar.com/2026/09/30/thinking-outside-the-box-but-together-at-vnc/)._