2026 Impact 50 Honoree: Charles Attal, Amy Corbin & Charlie Walker

CHARLES ATTAL & CHARLIE WALKER
Co-Founders & Partners
C3 Presents

AMY CORBIN
Promoter, C3 Presents
S. Region Pres, U.S. Concerts, Live Nation

WORDS TO LIVE BY IN YOUR CAREER: “Honesty, integrity and quality relationships.” – Amy Corbin
YOUR BIGGEST MENTOR & WHAT THEY TAUGHT YOU: “Michael Rapino. A good partner is one who shows up in the same way whether the news is bad or good.” – Charlie Walker
BY THE NUMBER: 1996. The year Stubb’s in Austin opened with a show by The Fugees and Charles Attal “knew (he) wanted to be in the music business.” 

Golf-loving Charlie Walker — well, maybe “loving” isn’t exactly right, because he says his time on the links “keeps me insane” — says his C3 Presents co-founder Charles Attal’s advice to “tee it high and let it fly” are his words to live by.

And it’s been another year of close-to-scratch golf for the two, along with the third member of the C3 Presents triumvirate, yogi Amy Corbin.

One of the world’s top festival promoters — helming megafests Austin City Limits, Governors Ball, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo, along with beloved smaller-footprint events like Ohana, which won its third consecutive Pollstar Award for Music Festival of The Year (Global; under 30K attendance) this year — C3 is never one to rest on its well-earned laurels, always looking to expand and enhance its offerings, which now includes 33 festivals, including seven different Lollapaloozas and the return of Darker Waves to Huntington Beach, California, for the first time since 2023.

Walker noted “another successful Lollapalooza in Mumbai” with this year’s event, headlined by Linkin Park and Playboi Carti, drawing more than 65,000 to the Mahalaxmi Racecourse.

And taking one of the world’s premier festivals to one of the world’s emerging — and still largely untapped — markets is no doubt a reason to celebrate.

But of course, there’s always more coming from C3.

“We have some big brick and mortar projects that will be announced in the next few months that I’m really excited about,” Attal says, with Walker hinting at “a couple of unique events that we’ve been working on that have yet to be announced.”

For her part, Corbin is intrigued by an increasing number of schedule-friendly events that don’t require fans to mainline caffeine to enjoy.

“Matinees, day parties with earlier start times,” she says. “It provides an opportunity to do things differently, and we are seeing strong results in attendance and F&B. People appreciate not having to be out until midnight. It’s a new trend in booking events and we are having fun with it.”

The trio is universally dismissive of “blue dot fever,” but says that in an uncertain economy with consumers having to make tougher choices due to rising costs, festivals provide a strong value play.

“We have not seen flattening growth on the festival side of the business,” Walker says.

“We find that fans are prioritizing value in today’s economy, and festivals offer a strong return by delivering multiple major artists for the price of a single ticket,” Attal adds.

Of course, festivals bring a whole host of challenges, notably — and now more common than ever — with the weather. Governors Ball celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2025, and has a history marked with more challenges than most festivals could expect to face in 50 years: wildfire smoke, thunderstorms, relocation and even an earthquake. This year was no different, with Saturday cut short and set times rejiggered. After its third cancellation in five years in 2025, Bonnaroo went to the fans to find the best path forward. Ultimately, C3 kept Bonnaroo on its traditional weekend, but capacity was lowered after the most flood-prone camping areas were closed. Entry for camping was opened a day early to cut down on a Thursday rush and Thursday’s programming was limited to a single-stage “epic welcome party.” You can’t fight Mother Nature, of course, and Bonnaroo 2026 did still face delays, with a brief suspension on Sunday.

But that’s a testament to the secret of C3’s success: leaning into to what works and what makes their various festivals beloved while being willing to shift and adapt when life gives you lemons.

“Our large portfolio is able to provide balance, capitalizing on what’s popular and hedging what’s not as popular,” Walker says.

And C3 isn’t shy about using all tools available to maximize their offerings. Attal says AI has become “an extremely useful tool for research and development.”

Walker’s praise of the technology is even more fulsome.

“The overall use of AI inspires me, particularly for researching core business issues like ticket prices, market position and audience,” he says. “It’s been a really quickly moving game changer for us.”