Chris Sheppard launches live agency Curate Connect

Chris Sheppard is stepping on out with a new venue and festival bookings business, Curate Connect.

Based in Sydney, Sheppard unveils his new venture Thursday (Feb. 24) with a range of venue and festival clients, including Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory and The Vanguard, the three-day King Street Carnival, Festival Of The Sun, Party In The Apocalypse and sister festival The Basin Concert, Boots & Beach, and Meatstock.

“The aim is to generate synergy between Curate Connect’s venue and festival clients, working in a way where they complement each other, and providing dedicated space for emerging talent all the way through to festival headliners,” says Sheppard in a statement, presenting his new company.

Sheppard boasts 15 years’ experience in the live sector, the last seven of those as Head of Bookings at Sydney’s The Music & Booze Company.

“I’ve always had a passion for curating live performance and connecting the dots between artists and audiences, and I feel privileged to be working on a shared vision with likeminded venues and festivals in different parts of the country.”

Curate Connect opens for business as the state of New South Wales winds-back a string of COVID-19 restrictions.

The widely-derided “no singing, no dancing” rules have been scrapped, clubbing and gigging is back, and from tomorrow (Feb. 25), masks will no longer be required in indoor venues.

The Great Southern Nights live program returns next month, and, in recent weeks, the Perrottet Government unveiled its long-overdue disruption scheme, a statewide support network for festivals and events whose plans are squashed by the health crisis.

Visit curateconnect.com.au for more.