www.HartfordBusiness.com • May 6, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 3
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Tyler Grill | CEO & Co-founder, GoodWorks Entertainment Group
By Sean Teehan
steehan@hartfordbusiness.com
G
oodWorks Entertainment Group's first
venue purchase was a bold one.
The three-year-old company headed by
CEO and Co-founder Tyler Grill last month bought
Infinity Music Hall's Hartford and Norfolk locations,
in what Grill called an initial
step in the company's plan to
develop a network of venues.
GoodWorks is a young
company, but it's a descen-
dant of GEG Presents, a live
entertainment company
focusing on act booking and
concert promotion that was
also co-founded and run by
Grill. With a collective 10
years experience putting on and promoting live
acts at southern Connecticut venues, Grill now
wants to take the show north.
"Over the last decade we shared on a some-
what regular basis show data and artist offers
with [Infinity Hall's] previous owner and tal-
ent buyer," Grill said. "Our programming was
very similar and the distance between Fairfield
County and the Hartford market was ideal for
routing bands through Connecticut as they
travel between Boston and New York."
How will shows at Infinity Hall change under
your leadership?
When it comes to the Hartford location we
plan to expand on the genres/types of talent that
Infinity was previously booking over the last few
years. We will significantly increase the number
of general admission shows that will attract a
younger audience. In addition to expanding the
programming, we will also make improvements to
the production, sound, lights and venue layout.
How do you think development in Hartford's
Front Street district benefits Infinity Hall?
The benefit of being on Front Street in general is
the cross pollination between all the businesses lo-
cated on Front Street; we all benefit from each other.
The more patron traffic in the Front Street area, the
greater exposure we all gain. If we draw 600 fans
to a concert, most of them will want to have dinner
prior to the show. The more people going out to
dinner that see Infinity Hall, the greater the chance
they will check out our website and purchase tickets.
You've done a fair amount of entertainment
work in Fairfield County. How do you think the
Hartford market will differ?
The markets are very similar. One of the main rea-
sons we purchased Infinity Hall was how well their
programming lined up to ours in Fairfield County.
Our larger vision is to have a national network of
GoodWorks-branded venues across which we can
book the same artists. With that said, each market
will have its own local flavor that makes it unique.
What community partnerships do you see in
store for Infinity Music Hall?
Fundraising events, family programming and
an adventure-film series are just some of the ways
we plan on working with the community.
Newsmakers
VERBATIM
Seeing green
"Regulating and taxing cannabis sales will generate significant new revenue for our
state and local governments."
Kebra Smith-Bolden , co-director of the Connecticut Coalition to Regulate
Marijuana, testifying in favor of a bill that would legalize recreational pot use
in the state and assess a 6.35 percent gross receipts tax on retail cannabis
sales, among other taxes.
Tyler Grill
