NIVF - National Independent Venue Foundation

Home
United States
Nashville, TN
NIVF - National Independent Venue Foundation

Directions Website

The mission of NIVF is to preserve & nurture the ecosystem of independent live performance venues & promoters in the U.S.

by supporting a transparent, competitive marketplace serving a diverse & inclusive community of artists, fans, and industry workers.

09/22/2026

Our Training Hub is more than a resource library, it’s a tool for building stronger teams. 🎶

Explore training across Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and more to:

• Develop individual staff skills
• Learn together as a team
• Support onboarding + workforce development
• Connect to additional resources, programs + toolkits

Explore the NIVF Training Hub: nivf.org/training-hub-access

09/21/2026

Ready to move up?

You don’t need a management title to start building your leadership skills.

Join us for Moving Up: Managing from Where You Are, a development session designed for individual contributors, emerging leaders, and new managers in the live entertainment industry.

Led by professional coach LJ Antonuccio, ACTP, PCC, this session will help you identify the values that shape how you communicate, make decisions, collaborate, and lead—so you can be more intentional about how you show up at work and as a leader.

📅 October 15
⏰ 3:30 PM ET
💻 Virtual + Free

Already an experienced manager or leader? Stay tuned! We’ll be back November 19 with a session created specifically for seasoned managers, directors, business owners, and founders.

🔗 RSVP: https://www.nivf.org/event-registration-moving-up

09/09/2026

Today, we’re celebrating the people who showed up, shared what they know, and helped open doors. 💙

Mentorship is an important part of our Venue Operations eXperience (VOX) workforce development program, connecting participants directly with professionals working across the live entertainment industry.

Our VOX mentors share their experience, offer guidance, answer the questions that only come up once you’re doing the work, and help participants better understand how to navigate and grow within live entertainment.

September marks the final month of the formal mentorship portion of this year’s VOX program, and we know many of these relationships have already grown beyond the required hours. Our mentors have continued conversations, made introductions, shared opportunities, and become part of our participants’ growing professional networks.

As we celebrate Workforce Development Month, we’re especially grateful for the role these mentors play. Workforce development is about more than building skills—it’s also about creating connections, sharing knowledge, and helping others find their place in the industry.

To our 2026 VOX mentors: THANK YOU for investing your time, experience, and energy in the next generation of independent live. 👏💙

09/08/2026

30 participants. 15 venues. And this is just the beginning. 🎓

We are so proud to celebrate the 30 graduates of our fifth Venue Operations eXperience (VOX) cohort!

VOX is designed to create pathways into independent live entertainment through industry-focused training, hands-on experience, mentorship, and professional network-building. This year, participants developed skills across Front of House Operations, Production, and Digital Marketing while learning alongside professionals working in the field.

At NIVF, we believe venues and festivals are living classrooms. They’re places where people can build skills, discover career paths, make meaningful connections, and gain the experience needed to grow within this industry.

And that work doesn’t end at graduation. Our graduates become part of the growing VOX alumni network, with continued access to professional development, industry connections, resources, and opportunities.

During , we’re especially proud to celebrate what these 30 graduates have accomplished—and the venues, mentors, and industry professionals who helped make those experiences possible.

Please join us in celebrating the VOX Class of 2026! 👏

09/02/2026

Shout out to the Levitt Family Foundation for supporting our VOX mentorship and training program for young adults at Levitt Pavilion Denver and Levitt Shell Sioux Falls. We are grateful for their commitment to the next generation of emerging music industry professionals!

09/01/2026

Stay in the loop on all things NIVF—click the link in our bio or visit nivf.org/newsletter to subscribe to our newsletter today!

08/31/2026

Today is National Overdose Awareness Day — a moment to honor lives lost and recommit to prevention, preparedness, and care.

Independent venues and festivals bring people together. Making sure teams have access to trusted resources that can help them recognize and respond to an overdose is an important part of caring for our communities.

Through the NIVF Training Hub, venue and festival professionals can access Overdose Prevention Training 101, a free training created and presented by Beats Overdose, with the Coalition for Overdose Solutions in the Music Industry & Community (COSMIC).

The session provides practical education on overdose recognition and response, while helping teams think about how preparedness and a culture of care can show up in their spaces.

Whether you're watching for the first time or sharing it with a new team member, this resource is available on demand through the NIVF Training Hub.

👉 Access the training: nivf.org/training-hub-access

08/27/2026

Please give a warm welcome to our final mentor for the 2026 VOX cohort, Rachel! Rachel is from Cleveland, Ohio, and is the Marketing and Operations Director at Grog Shop. She is working with her college radio station, WRUW-FM, to book Case Western Reserve University’s free, outdoor music festival, Studio-A-Rama. Case Western is Rachel’s Alma Matter, and Mr. Gnome is headlining!

Rachel enjoys learning about the long term goals of the people she is mentoring, and how their experiences relate in one way or another, finding common ground even with those who don't play music themselves or are new to the industry.

We are so thankful for all of our mentors, and for everything they have brought to our program. To meet all of the mentors for the 2026 program, check out our feed.

Mentor: Rachel Hunt (Marketing & Operations Director, Grog Shop)
Mentees: Alex Aguilar, Ingrid Marrero, and Tania Crescencio
Graphic by VOX 2025 Alumni Frankie Lander
Copy and post by VOX 2025 Alumni Devan Starkey

08/26/2026

Did you know NIVF has a FREE Training Hub for the independent live entertainment community?

Whether you work at a venue, festival, or as a promoter, the NIVF Training Hub brings together practical resources created for our industry, designed to help you build skills, strengthen your team, and tackle the challenges that come with this work.

Dive into trainings on marketing, operations & booking, safety, accessibility, wellness, production, and management & ownership.

The best part? It’s free, available on demand, and you can learn at your own pace.

👉 Take a look and see what’s waiting for you: nivf.org/training-hub-access

Address

2412 Gallatin Ave
Nashville, TN
37206

Website

https://www.nivassoc.org/foundation

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when NIVF - National Independent Venue Foundation posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your organization to be the top-listed non profit organization in Nashville?