2022 Impact 50: Shawn Gee

President
Live Nation Urban

As the President of Live Nation Urban, Shawn Gee has been a longtime proponent of inclusivity in the live business. The influential leader has served as the co-manager for The Roots and Jill Scott throughout his career, in addition to his work as a promoter.

With the return to live continuing to make headway, Live Nation Urban has had its hands full with numerous festivals.

“The return of live in 2021, combined with the addition of new brands to our festival portfolio in 2022 has made this a very exciting time for Live Nation Urban,” Shawn Gee says. “Our festival portfolio includes our annual brands, Broccoli City Festival in Washington, D.C.; Roots Picnic in Philadelphia; Lights On Fest in the Bay Area; and Exodus Gospel Festival in Dallas. However, over the last year we have added One Music Fest in Atlanta, Miami Jazz In the Gardens, and we launched a partnership with Mary J. Blige for the Strength of A Woman festival on Mother’s Day Weekend.”

Inclusivity is perhaps one of the most important – if not, the most important – aspects of Live Nation Urban. With the department aiming to highlight Black and Brown promoters and creators, Shawn Gee’s influence is helping to pave the path towards better inclusivity.
“Inclusivity is one of the pillars on which LNU was formed,” Gee says. “One of our recently announced initiatives was a meaningful partnership we formed with the Black Woman Photographers (BWP) organization to help provide more opportunities for Black women to officially photograph concerts and festivals worldwide.”

Looking ahead to the rest of the year, Gee remains confident that consumer demand for live shows is back and perhaps even better than ever.

“I feel like consumers have shown that the demand for live events
is at an all-time high, and hopefully will continue to grow as new
tours and festival brands are introduced in 2023 and beyond,”
he says.