NIVA Rails Against Proposal To Demolish Historic Miller High Life Theatre

A proposal to demolish Milwaukee’s 117-year-old Miller High Life Theatre for a luxury high-rise hotel has drawn the ire of the National Independent Venue Association.

Last week, a report produced for the Wisconsin Center District — a city-county-state public-private partnership — called for the theater — an independent venue operated by Pabst Theater Group — to be removed in part because it will face “similarities” and “competition” from the venue Live Nation is building across the street. The study said the area — which is anchored by a newly expanded convention center — faces a lack of hotel options, which the report argues is critical for the district’s long-term success; NIVA said there are at least a dozen hotels within a 10 minute walking distance.

The Live Nation venue is being built in partnership with the ownership of the Milwaukee Bucks.

“Live Nation has spent millions on lobbyists to convince governments to give them hundreds of millions in taxpayer funding and incentives to ‘bring new shows’ to their communities,” said Stephen Parker, NIVA Executive Director. “What Live Nation calls ‘cultural infrastructure’ through expensive propaganda is actually just ‘cultural extraction’ that leads to even more industry consolidation, fewer shows for indie stages, and independent venues eventually having to close – just like what is happening in Milwaukee.”

Gary Witt, Pabst Theater Group CEO, said the 4,000-seat Miller High Life Theater and the new all-general admission Live Nation venue would actually serve different tours and markets.

“You simply cannot put Seinfeld, Dolly Parton, Nikki Glaser or Cirque du Soleil in a flat-floor, general admission, standing-room club,” he said. “If this historic 117 year old venue is demolished, those world-class tours don’t ‘migrate’ to a general admission Live Nation room; they will bypass Milwaukee and Wisconsin entirely. Replacing a cultural anchor with a hotel isn’t progress; it’s a self-inflicted wound that permanently shrinks our city’s economic and cultural footprint.”

A Live Nation spokesperson said that the company has and will continue to promote shows at the historic theater, the company’s new venue notwithstanding, and was not involved in the study calling for the Miller’s demolition.

“We have a long history of promoting shows at the Miller High Life Theatre and will continue bringing events to the venue. Any effort to link Live Nation or FPC Live to the Hunden study is misleading, as neither organization was consulted or involved in the report,” the company said.