End Overdose Partners With NIVA To Give Indie Venues Tools To Prevent Overdose

End Overdose, a national nonprofit that aims to end drug-related overdose deaths, announced it has partnered with the National Independent Venue Association, or NIVA, to provide its members with the tools needed to save lives.

With the partnership, indie venues that are part of NIVA will receive opioid overdose response training on a quarterly basis, and End Overdose created an order form for all of the trade association’s venues to request free naloxone, a lifesaving overdose-reversal medication, and fentanyl test strips, a tool that alerts users if their substance is laced with the often-fatal opioid.

“We’re excited to enter into a partnership with NIVA and provide its members with our overdose response training and resources,” End Overdose founder and CEO Theo Krzywicki said in a statement. “End Overdose has created a national certification program to equip venues and individuals with the skills to save lives. It’s available online and in person, streamlining states’ education from boots on the ground training, sourcing, to distribution. We’re proud to be funded and supported by the community that shares our mission. The independent venue ecosystem is vital to the health of live entertainment across the country, making this partnership a perfect fit to ensure lifesaving tools are available where they’re needed most.”

The majority of NIVA members are independent small to mid-sized venues, promoters and festivals. The partnership with End Overdose will train venue staff, from comedy clubs to performing arts centers to dinner theaters, who collectively welcome tens of millions of attendees every year.

The partnership launches this week with the End Overdose team beginning training venue staff.

“Live shows are built on connection, and connection means looking out for one another. Through this new partnership, End Overdose is making it possible for all NIVA venues and festivals to have free naloxone on site and for staff to receive real, hands-on overdose response training,” said NIVA Executive Director Stephen Parker. “Their generosity and commitment to our live community will save lives. We’re proud to stand with End Overdose in keeping fans, artists, and neighbors safe.”