2025 Women Of Live: Rebecca Kane Burton

Rebecca Kane Burton
EVP, Venue Management | OVG International

BIZ ADVICE | “Make sure you talk to everyone – women and men – to get advice when you need it. You need to find your passion, be true to yourself, and have confidence that you can achieve your goals.”

Rebecca Kane Burton joined OVG International by stepping in as interim general manager of Manchester’s Co-op Live in April 2024 to get Europe’s biggest and most sustainable arena over the finish line. She was appointed executive vice president of venue management at OVG International the following September. 

Now that the 23,500-capacity building has been operating successfully for a year, it’s clear, she says, that “the venue’s design, acoustics, artist spaces, food and drink, and premium experiences have taken the arena experience to a whole new level. It gives my team an outstanding blueprint for venue services that we can take to other venues and partners across the world.” OVG is Pollstar’s parent company. 

Case in point: Lauryn Hill & The Fugees last October, a concert that showed the venue at its best. “I’ve never heard the acoustics of an arena show sound that good. Even the sound from the audience singing back the songs was incredible,” Kane Burton recalls. The coming months will be all about “expanding OVG’s venue services offering into Europe and the UK, building on the momentum following the opening of Co-op Live, growing our team, and bringing OVG’s unique, world-class model to lots of brilliant client venues.”

As somebody working for a company with strong female representation – “Francesca Bodie is our COO, and Jessica Koravos is OVG International President, and my boss” – Kane Burton is aware of the big strides this biz has been making, but knows there’s still work to do. “I’d love to see more companies in live adopt a similar approach. I really believe that confidence breeds confidence, success breeds success, and it is the responsibility of everyone – women and men – to help support the next generation of female talent across the whole industry.”

And, speaking about female artists, who’ve had success on every level of the business over the past 12 months, she says, “female artists are taking control of their own careers. Taylor Swift and Adele are standout examples but we’re starting to see more and more women adopt that approach. Young people definitely want to see individuality and authenticity from women artists, which is hopefully inspiring a whole new generation of female talent.”