For the past two years, Sean Watterson has helped the live music industry navigate challenges brought about by COVID-19 through his role as the vice chair of the National Independent Venue Association.
Last month, Watterson was given an avenue to bring that knowledge to Cleveland with his appointment as senior consultant of hospitality talent and strengthening workplaces The Fund for Our Economic Future, a Northeast Ohio collective of local leaders and philanthropists working to create economic growth and positive systemic, long-term change.
Watterson is no stranger to the Cleveland’s entertainment ecosystem. Along being the co-owner and president of Happy Dog in Gordon Square, he’s also served on several local commissions and boards for Cleveland’s arts community. This new position gives him the responsibility of identifying and short and long-term problems and then implementing solutions to benefit Cleveland’s hospitality industry, those who work within it and those looking for jobs in the field.
For Watterson, the role allows him to continue to be an advocate for the city’s working class by working to improve Cleveland’s entertainment, arts, and service industries by drawing people in and improving the city’s existing entertainment amenities.
“You see places where housing prices have spiked, and income inequality has led to situations where you’ve got places like San Francisco or Austin, Texas where housing has gotten so expensive that the people who work as musicians or waitstaff can’t afford to live near these places. Cleveland has an ability to address that before it happens,” Watterson says.
This doesn’t mean that Watterson isn’t focused on the present issues at hand, however, as his focus for the time being is getting the local entertainment and service industries back to pre-pandemic. “I’m not in the prediction business,” Watterson says. “Really all we can do in this environment is adapt and adjust as things progress. We’ve adjusted to a new reality of being flexible.
With Northeast Ohio looking to be on the other end of the Omicron variant, Watterson is hoping the area’s entertainment industry will return to their previous level of demand and business.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be challenges. Between juggling those goals while simultaneously overcoming the pandemic in the short-term and building better industry infrastructure in the long-term, things could get tricky for Watterson. “You can open your doors and serve food; you can’t necessarily open your doors and expect a band to show up when they canceled their tour,” he says.
Watterson’s goal at the moment is receiving funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, a bill passed by Congress last year that provides stimulus packages for businesses on a case-by-case basis, on top of providing relief for many other purposes. Receiving that funding for local businesses is his absolute first priority.
His plan for the future of Cleveland’s service and entertainment industries starts with pandemic support, where he’s trying to create a network of local business owners, collaborators the hopes they can create systemic policy solutions that make Cleveland’s industries stronger for both worker and customer. “Can Cleveland lead when it comes to issues like this,” Watterson asks rhetorically. “The door’s wide open.”
