Wisconsin Center District, Madison promoter Frank Productions announce layoffs
For six months and counting, there have been nearly no tours or major events, and most venues around the country have been closed, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
That’s taken a great toll on two of the largest event producers in Wisconsin. Madison-based concert promoter Frank Productions and venue operator the Wisconsin Center District in Milwaukee have both announced layoffs and pay and hour reductions that affect a combined 106 employees.
The Wisconsin Center District — which operates the Wisconsin Center, the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and the Miller High Life Theatre, and owns the Milwaukee Bucks-operated Fiserv Forum — reported earlier this month an expected $2.6 million loss for 2020.
Pre-pandemic, the district projected $21 million in net income. Beyond planned concerts and sporting events, the WCD lost out on Northwestern Mutual’s annual meeting, and the Democratic National Convention became a largely virtual event.
On Sept. 14, the district eliminated eight positions, laid off 18 employees and furloughed 30 employees, who now work four days a week instead of five.
An additional 11 employees received a 10% pay cut. In all, 88% of the district’s full-time employees were affected by the reductions.
With the changes, the district anticipates saving $470,000 for the rest of the year.
“With over 113 cancellations, postponements or rescheduled events across our three venues, these difficult employment changes had to be made,” Wisconsin Center District CEO Marty Brooks said in a statement.
The live-music industry was booming before the pandemic, resulting in significant growth for 55-year-old Frank Productions. Its concert promotion company FPC Live was the sixth topgrossing promoter in the country last year, according to concert trade publication Pollstar, grossing $99.2 million from 1.5 million tickets sold.
In 2018, the business sold a controlling interest to Live Nation, the world’s largest promotion company.
On Sunday, Frank Productions began layoffs and reducing hours and pay. In total, 39 employees were affected.
“We have explored many options and have developed a plan to try to maintain some level of operations during this difficult time,” CEO Joel Plant wrote in a Sept. 15 letter about the personnel changes to Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway. “But, given the continued and increasing restrictions on our company’s ability to operate and the quickly evolving COVID testing data and government mandated restrictions, we have determined that we are not able to sustain full operations or full employment at all of our locations at this time.”
Plant wrote that an end date for the layoffs and reductions hasn’t been determined. The live-music industry will effectively be shut down through at least the end of the year, resulting in an $8.9 billion loss, Pollstar has estimated.
The massive drop in revenue led to the creation of the National Independent Venue Association in April, cofounded by Pabst Theater Group CEO Gary Witt in Milwaukee. The organization has been lobbying Congress for financial aid. The Wisconsin chapter of NIVA is also petitioning for Gov. Tony Evers to create a grant program for venues using money from the CARES Act, similar to a $5 million program Evers introduced this month to support cultural organizations and nonprofits.
About 90% of NIVA’s nearly 3,000 members have reported that they will be forced to close permanently by the end of the year without additional financial support.