Gary Witt on Building Milwaukee's Music Scene Through Pabst Theater Group

Gary Witt is president and CEO of The Pabst Theater Group. The group’s portfolio includes the Pabst Theater, a 1,339-capacity concert venue in downtown Milwaukee, the 2,450-capacity Riverside Theater, 1,000-capacity Turner Hall Ballroom and the 450-capacity Vivarium, along with The Fitzgerald wedding venue. 

The group books, markets and hosts more than 800 live performances annually at its own venues as well as others in the Milwaukee area. According to the company, the Pabst Theater Group contributes more than $250 million to Milwaukee’s economy annually.

Witt was one of the guests on “Milwaukee Made.” The following Q&A is from his chat with show host David Caruso.

Q: I want to know a little bit about why Gary Witt chose Milwaukee to live and work. What makes it so special for you? 

Witt: “Well, first and foremost, luck. I think that plays a high percentage in everyone's life. Luck, and I happened to pick the phone up one day when I got a call from a guy that I'd never heard of before named Mike Cudahy. I wasn't from Milwaukee, so I didn't have the reference understanding of Mike Cudahy. And we had talked about this show he was trying to book at his home, and he said at the end of the conversation that I bought this theater for $1 and I have no idea what to do with it. And that was the Pabst Theater. And that was back in 2002.

“From those days forward, my partner Matt Barringer and I have grown what originally started as saving the Pabst Theater into hosting over 800 shows a year in six different venues. And I think actually being a part of helping to give the city a soul and identity. I think when you come to a city like Milwaukee, you embrace the idea that the pages in the history of the city are not written yet, and that you are able to currently write in those pages through your actions and the work. And that's the reason why you come to a city like Milwaukee. You have an opportunity to change things to make a difference. And I think if you look at the shows that we do, I think we make a difference. We spend $2 million a year advertising and send out 659 million emails a year, basically sending out a love letter telling people to come to Milwaukee. So yeah, it was an interesting idea to come here, but it's blossomed into something much more than that.”

Q: What makes Milwaukee so special to you? 

Witt: I think what makes Milwaukee so special is that it invites everyone to be involved. I think it's a very participatory city, and I think it has evolved into having so much of what our sister city Chicago has. I love Chicago, two of my kids live in Chicago, but I also know that our city is so much more accessible. Our restaurant scene has grown up. It's absolutely fantastic. I think just the ability to get around in the city has improved tremendously, and I think that we also see the fact that through each individual's efforts, that you can actually play a role in trying to plan some of the improvements of the city as well.”

Q: How do you go about putting a lineup of shows together and is it one of the things that you consider to be part of your great success? 

Witt: “I think important to note that Milwaukee has 1.5 million people in its metro. So we don't have the same kind of luxury of Chicago, which has 9.9 million people. We have to work hard to be able to spread across the genres of what we do to be able to reach as many people as possible. Our business is based upon calendar dates and we've got to fill calendar dates. We're like a restaurant that has to fill seats. I think in the last 15 years or so, there's been a (lot) of changes in live entertainment. What's happened is that there's so much more that goes out on the road today than what used to be just bands who would come out and play. And now our dates are filled with comedy. We're one of the number one comedy markets in America. 

“About 30% of our business is comedy. We're loading a lot of unique and interesting things. I think Matt and I have always been open to the possibility of what can happen in the venues. We've always been cautious about not doing things that would harm the venues because of the historic nature of our venues, but also where people would harm each other at the venue. I think that along with the fact that about 30% of our buyers come from below the state line from Illinois, from Chicago.”

Q: You work with so many colleagues from all over the world, whether they're managers or performers. What are some of the things that they say to you when they come here that either impresses them or surprises them about Milwaukee? 

Witt: “A lot surprises them about Milwaukee because we haven't, as a city, actually been tremendous in extolling our virtues and explaining the beauty of what the city is about. Look, I mean, number one, the city has two identities. It's Miller and it's Harley. Those are the things that people nationally know about our city, which is actually quite beautiful because they're two amazing existing brands that still employ a tremendous amount of people in our city. But what surprises people, which I think is important, is that unlike a city like Minneapolis, we have kept our architecture or built architecture in the city. Almost every artist that comes to our city comments about the fact that on their bus drive in, they drive past all this history. You know what else they see, they notice the fact that we have a beach and a lake. 

“The other thing I think that we notice that people talk about is that we've become a city of neighborhoods. I think that's evolved over the years. I think when you start thinking about Bronzeville and Bayview and you start thinking about Riverwest and the East Side, I mean, we've become a city of neighborhoods and it's defined each of the neighborhoods kind of what their personality is, and that's incredibly attractive.” 

Q: Do you think that having this very active and successful performing art scene is critical to the success and how we move forward as a city? 

Witt: “I think that communication is important overall in a city, and I think that a lot of these things evolve around communication. I think that for many years someone else defined the soul and identity of the city. It became ‘Laverne & Shirley’ or it became cheese or whatever. And realistically, I think that there is a new feel for what the city is about, and it's more about the texture and the context and the use of the city overall by people. And that's becoming more of what we are. It's building its own identity at this point in time, especially through the online world. People are seeing and experiencing the city through those eyes, and that filter is not one that's had ad agencies or anyone else trying to define it for them.”