Jenny Boyts leads concert company Forty5 during growth phase

A non-linear career path led Jenny Boyts to her role as CEO of concert company Forty5 Presents LLC.

Before Boyts was hired by the company that owns the Vogue concert venue in Broad Ripple, she worked with youngsters at social services organization Christamore House, served as a United Way community school coordinator, helped to found charter school Avondale Meadows Academy and became an executive at a financial institution that helps charter schools navigate financial and real estate challenges.

It’s not a resume bursting with rock ’n’ roll, but Boyts said every stop reinforced her belief that “people come first, and relationships matter.”

Boyts, who grew up in Texas, was a student-athlete at IUPUI, where she played softball. Although she lived in Colorado and Illinois after earning a bachelor’s in social work, Boyts gravitated back to Indianapolis and became a member of Indy Pride Inc.’s board—serving as president from 2022 to 2024.

Thanks to Indy Pride’s festivities, live music and Boyts finally intersected.

“What clicked for me was that I could make a career out of gathering people and building community,” she said. “How do you do that in a way that’s joyful, as opposed to just drudging along in so many other kinds of fields that I’ve been in?”

In 2023, Forty5 hired Boyts as the company’s first CEO. Beyond the Vogue, which opened as a movie theater in 1938 and became a nightclub in 1977, Forty5 organizes the Rock the Ruins summer concert season at Holliday Park and presents music events at the Tobias Theater at Newfields.

Under Boyts’ leadership, Forty5 opened a new venue in 2024: the 400-capacity Turntable next door to the Vogue. This summer, Forty5 will add Broad Ripple Park as its latest outdoor spot to catch a show. Rock bands Toad the Wet Sprocket and Semisonic will share a bill at Broad Ripple Park on Aug. 8, followed by a pairing of Drive-By Truckers and Deer Tick on Aug. 9.

Forty5 also is partnering with Indy Pride for a new two-day music series in June. “Unwritten” singer Natasha Bedingfield and R&B artist Tinashe will be the headlining attractions at downtown’s American Legion Mall.

Boyts spoke with IBJ about the legacy of the Vogue, how bands decide to visit Indianapolis and why it’s healthy for concert promoters to compete for business. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Was your tenure as board president of Indy Pride the bridge to being a logical candidate for the Forty5 CEO role?

I would say it was pivotal, because that’s how I became exposed to large-scale event planning. I can tell you the first time I stood backstage at an Indy Pride festival and watched [rock band] the Aces have thousands of people’s hands in the air, I thought, “Oh, I want to chase that feeling.” I think there’s a lot of people in the music industry who would say the same thing.

The Vogue is an icon of the Broad Ripple entertainment district, essentially a venue without peer in that neighborhood. What’s it like to be a steward of that space? And what are your goals for the Vogue’s future?

It feels like there’s an urgency to make sure that everybody around me understands the importance and value. This isn’t just a job, although it has been a very important job for a lot of people. There’s respect when you show up here. You’re not walking in these doors without some sort of preparation and recognizing the responsibility. I think my goal would be that this continues to stay as the music venue that doesn’t necessarily compare to anything else in the city. I want people to have a good experience that feels like a modern-day music experience, even though you’re in a 90-year-old theater.

An eternally popular discussion topic among music fans is, “Why didn’t band X or artist Y visit Indianapolis on tour?” What are some leading factors in your company’s process of hiring tour artists?

Our company’s strategic priorities are having trustworthy, sustainable relationships with booking agents. To do that, we needed a room like Turntable to open so we could say, “Agent X, who are you so excited about right now that is going to sell 200 tickets?” When [Eric Tobias, Scott Kraege and Andrew Davis] bought the Vogue and, quite frankly, when I took over as CEO, we only were able to have meaningful conversations with agents when their artists were selling 900 tickets. We wanted to get to them before then, so we can take them from Turntable to the Vogue to Rock the Ruins and beyond. We’ve really thought about how we pair artists with venues in our portfolio in a way that we don’t touch an artist once and never see them again.

In August, Forty5 will launch a two-night concert series at Broad Ripple Park. What prompted that venture, and what are your expectations for that series?

There are two main factors for that. One is that we continue to be really encouraged by our partnership with Indy Parks. The success of Rock the Ruins, and not only the brand but the experience that concertgoers have when they walk into a natural, beautiful setting [of Holliday Park], leads us to lean into and support so much of the mission of Indy Parks—which is to find all of the benefits and uses of the public spaces.

In the master plan of Broad Ripple Park, there’s potential for a [permanent] venue. While we want to have some of the conversations that could be informative for whoever and however that takes shape, let’s pilot it now and see what it looks like for the neighbors and what it looks like for the village. It can be an economic catalyst for the second point, which is that we’re deeply invested and committed to the survival and the vitality of Broad Ripple.

Central Indiana is expected to add more concert venues in the next year or so, including an indoor room in Fountain Square operated by independent company MOKB Presents and a downtown space that’s a partnership between Herb Simon’s family and Live Nation. Are there enough fans and touring artists to fill these spaces and deliver success to promoters?

By all accounts and the data that we have, I think, yes. We have access to a lot of data that allows us to make informed decisions. We’re at the point, especially for our outdoor spaces, where we can be thoughtful and strategic about shows that we confirm and pass on the ones we need to.

What friendly competition does is make everybody step up their game and listen a little harder. When I say “listen,” I mean listening to partners and stakeholders. What are local institutions and potential sponsors looking for and wanting? And how are they going to be supportive of those initiatives and those endeavors? I would say ticket buyers, too. You have to listen a little harder for who people want. That includes a thoughtfulness that I think is good for the city and is good for the music scene here.

It allows all of us to step up our game, as opposed to getting in a rhythm that can be, “Open the doors, flip on the lights, and make sure we’ll get home safe.” Instead, we’re saying, “How are we winning shows that people want to hear and with artists that our folks and our partners want to listen to and will show up for?” I think that’s good for everybody.•