Jonathan Shank
CEO | Terrapin Station Entertainment
It’s only been five years since live entertainment industry veteran Jonathan Shank founded Terrapin Station Entertainment, named for the inspirational late 1970s Grateful Dead song and LP, “Terrapin Station.”
Since then, Terrapin, now a division of Sony Masterworks, has been producing varied live entertainment from family shows to the new “Labyrinth” production, to go along with a rapidly growing sports division that is consulting and booking concerts at major league stadiums across the country.
Finding a profitable niche that offers a huge creative outlet has been gratifying, Shank, one-time manager of Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, says. The former executive at Red Light Management carved out space where opportunities to fill emerging needs presented themselves.
Through all the projects, Shank remains music obsessive and says being part of stadium concerts at venues including AT&T Stadium in Dallas and TQL Stadium in Cincinnati have been “a major success story” for the company.
“The ethos and the mantra of the company is just be open minded about what’s out there and what’s possible, and how we might be able to contribute as producers and presenters in terms of the stadium business,” he said. He said his company’s sports division has seen rapid growth in 2024, with more than 15 teams as clients and dozens of offers out for shows. This year’s bookings included Billy Joel, Kenny Chesney and Luke Combs.
“Our goal is just to continue to keep our heads down and growing and trying to find more partners that are looking for more content in their markets,” Shank said.
As a producer himself, he’s helped fill calendars at theaters across the country, with tours based on popular intellectual property such as Disney Jr., Peppa Pig and The Fresh Beat Band.
The “Disney Jr. Live On Tour: Let’s Play” production recently crossed the 400-show mark.
“Our goal is to immerse the family in the Disney Jr. space and let them forget about everything else for that hour,” Shank said. “You can just be in the room with your favorite characters.”
In 2020, he received the T.J. Martell Trailblazer Award for his work producing The Homeward Bound Concert and A Tribute to the Music of Linda Ronstadt.
In 2024, Shank curated Hart’s “vibrational expressionism” artwork for the “Dead Forever Experience” at the Venetian/Palazzo, which was spearheaded by Red Tanner of Activist Artists Management and Vibee, during Dead & Company’s Sphere run in Las Vegas.
Disney Jr. will go global next year, representing the latest expansion of the Terrapin Station Entertainment universe, Shank said.
“It’s been terrific, the ability to work in so many different spaces and to now have really expanded our footprint,” he said. — James Zoltak
