Former Webster Hall EVP Richard Pawelczyk Joins The Arc as COO

The Arc, a New 20,000-Square-Foot NYC Concert Hall and Recording Studio Will Open Early 2019 as Major Live and Streaming Music Performance Venue

The Arc, a new, live concert performance and audio/video recording venue in New York City set to open early next year, today announced that former Webster Hall EVP/COO Rich Pawelczyk will join the management team as COO to oversee concert promotions, strategic brand partnerships, business affairs, and business development, working to bring the world’s top talent emerging artists and leading brands to The Arc in Queens.

The Arc is a 20,000-square-foot, custom-built facility located in the Kaufman Arts District in Long Island City, considered New York’s fastest-growing neighborhood. A 1931 vintage building, The Arc has a unique arched, wooden cathedral-like ceiling with Douglas Fir bowstring trusses that imbue the space with spectacular acoustics.  Featuring both large and small performance spaces along with a full 21st century recording studio and a total capacity of 2,000, The Arc will have a sound stage, full sound and video recording capabilities, and state-of-the-art acoustics that will rank among the finest in the world.

 “During Rich's tenure, Webster Hall became one of the leading concert venues of its size in the world. His unparalleled ability to attract the most relevant talent in music—both established artists and emerging talent—coupled with our attention to acoustical excellence—will make The Arc a world-class performance hall and incubator for talent, and create unforgettable experiences for fans,” said John Belitsky, Founder and President of DMDNR at The Arc. 

“I’m thrilled to join the team as the The Arc is taking shape as a world-class concert venue that can accommodate not just live performances with unsurpassed acoustics, but also with state-of-the-art digital recording and streaming technology that will enable us to create unique experiences for fans--and the brands that want to reach them—in New York City around the world,” said Rich Pawelczyk. “We're already seeing a flood of initial interest among artists and sponsors because, with incredible design, location, and technology, The Arc is poised to fill a void in both the New York music scene and in the industry as a whole.”

The Arc is named for its mission to showcase musical talent at every stage in the arc of an artist’s career—from emerging talent to well-established artists.  The Arc is a full city block-through of event space in Long Island City—New York’s fastest growing neighborhood only minutes from Midtown Manhattan—that will feature a state-of-the- art recording studio, media center for streaming live videos, a 24/hour café featuring cuisine of 600+ local food vendors, and spaces for local talent and community collaborations. Corporate branding partnerships are in development. 

Grammy award-winning producer/engineer Adam Abeshouse has joined the Arc leadership team to help oversee the acoustics of the venue to ensure it is built from the ground up to accommodate all music genres with the purest sound environment available anywhere--a major solution for an age-old industry problem of creating pristine sound for different instruments that’s challenged by amplification and also frequently by older concert halls where the latest sound technology can only be retrofitted onto aging infrastructures.

To date The Arc has held small, well-received performances and sessions including LoveHoney, Madison McFerrin, Jackie Venson, Jon Fratelli (of the Fratellis), Oxymorrons, Mosie, and many more. Current performances are by invitation only and occur weekly. 

As COO, Pawelczyk will oversee the upcoming calendar of concerts, live events, and performances as well as brand sponsorship programs, strategic media partnerships, and business affairs. He brings a strong background in successful concert promotion and marketing, entertainment law, and brand partnerships to his new role at The Arc as the venue prepares for its Grand Opening in early 2019 and major performances and events thereafter.   

Some of the most significant events Rich and his team produced at Webster Hall included: the first-ever ticketed shows for artists including Lindsay Stirling and Wiz Khalifa; programming D’ussepalooza; the broadcast competition launch for The Drone Racing League; and numerous concert series programmed with SiriusXM, Spotify, Univision, MTV, and other major media partners.