The Right Productions’ Shahida Mausi on 25 Years of Independent Promotion

In July, the National Independent Venue Association elected two new members to its board of directors including longtime independent promoter and venue operator Shahida Mausi of The Right Productions and The Aretha Franklin Ampitheatre in Detroit. Mausi, who has run her promotion company The Right Productions for more than 25 years, says the new position is giving her the opportunity “to bring my unique perspective from backgrounds in cultural affairs, government, non-profit and entrepreneurship” to the organization that is looking to take on unfair ticketing practices on a national level, in addition to continuing to advocate for independent venues from local to federal government.

Mausi’s expertise goes beyond the promotion company she founded in 1996. Prior to her independent business, Mausi worked in the non-profit sector and was the head of the Arts Council for the City of Detroit for 10 years. Her family’s roots in Detroit go back more than a century and Mausi’s commitment to bringing art to her hometown through the family-owned Right Productions (her four sons work throughout the company) and her stewardship of The Aretha since its opening.

“What you can do in Detroit with a vision or as an entrepreneur, you can’t necessarily do as easily in other markets. I’m not saying it’s easy,” says Mausi, adding “it’s because of the factory background and the strength of unions in Detroit and the role unions play in politics. You could be working on the factory floor impacting the union, which impacts who gets elected and therefore it gives you access to people that make things happen.”

Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Mausi and her sons have wielded their expertise and community building into helping found the Black Promoters Collective (which promoted Mary J. Blige’s 23-city Good Morning Gorgeous arena tour in 2022) and joined forces with NIVA, where BPC won the 2023 NIVA Idea award at the association’s annual conference. Mausi sat down with Billboard to discuss surviving economic downturns as an independent promoter and what comes next.

How do you get an independent production company off the ground?

With the cheekiness of youth, I called the general manager of the Nederlander Theater here in Detroit. Detroit is home to the Nederlanders. This is where the family came from. I called the general manager and said, ‘I don’t think you’re doing enough programming to serve the African American population of the city.’ They said, ‘well, I disagree,’ and there started a conversation and a friendship that has lasted 30 years.

[Nederlander’s Alan Lichtenstein] gave me the opportunity to help launch Broadway shows on their Detroit leg of national tours and whatnot. Early in the business, it served me well that I had spoken up and put my shoulder to the wheel when he did do more to serve this community.

When did you get involved with the Aretha Franklin Amphitheater?

When the building was first built, I was the director of the Detroit Council of the Arts. It was built by the city and I was running the department and, in that role, I did the first three years of programming. Between the time that I left, after those first three years, different entities have managed it for brief periods of time. Then there was an RFP [request for proposal] put out in 2004 and we won the bid. We’ve been managing it ever since.

Was that a difficult time to take over operations of the venue in Detroit?

Yeah. It was 2008 when the housing crisis shut down the economy with subprime mortgages, and Lehman Brothers and all those folks were crashing. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed that year, so we already had shows contracted and up on sale when the disposable income of people completely dried up and stopped. Nobody was buying anything. Nobody knew what was going to happen next. We had to honor those contracts regardless. General Motors – a mile from us – went bankrupt. [The Right Productions] could not afford to go bankrupt. If we had gone bankrupt, it would have been game over.

We had to negotiate our way through that crisis. We were able to weather that storm because we had a good reputation. If I tell you I’m going to pay you on such and such date or that I don’t know when I am going to be able to pay you but I’m gonna pay you, people took me at my word and I honored my word. I didn’t know if we were going to survive, but we pulled on our strength which was our reputation of honoring our word and our commitment to people.

You operated the amphitheater during another crisis, the pandemic. How did you get through that?

If we could only serve 100 people a night, then that’s what we were going to do. We were all shut ins for a year or more, and if you could give people just that, it was worth doing. It was crazy, but I am glad we were able to serve people. That’s what this is, ultimately. It’s facilitating a means of connecting people with things that lift them. It’s a stewardship of a stage and we’re honored to be able to do it.

Did being a family business help get you through the tough times?

I have four sons. All four of them function in different capacities here at The Right Productions and around the country. They all followed paths that were appropriate for their own personalities. They all went to college and brought back those skills. If it was not for family, we would not have been able to pull it through. Because family works when there’s not a dime on the table. I have grandchildren now and they are pulling and pushing and loading and unloading. In 2021, it was truly a family affair because we couldn’t hire people. I had cousins that flew in from New York, sleeping in my living room to help.

Can you describe how The Right Productions was instrumental in founding the Black Promoters Collective?

The pandemic was a good thing and a horrible thing mostly. When everything stopped, there was time to look and think of what could be planned and what could be better. My son, Sulaiman [Mausi] and the vice president of The Right Productions, reached out to other promoters that have a good reputation across the country and we began meeting on a weekly basis to talk about what we could do differently, what could do better in this industry, as opposed to being in our silos. So, we formed the Black Promoters Collective in 2020. That has been a game changer.

Last year, BPC scored a $60 million quarter on Billboard Boxscore before the Mary J. Blige tour. What has the reception been since those numbers came in?

It demonstrates that we have the chops. We have the skills to manage business on that level and that we can execute what is needed to deliver a major tour and to care of a major artist in the way they should be cared for. Let’s just say the business climate has been impacted by our success.

Are there plans to go beyond the U.S. and Canada?

We’ve had conversations. There are some things under discussion. That’s my goal. I’m always looking for growth. I’m always looking for the next opportunity and international touring is something that I want.