Kenneth Feld explains how this live entertainment giant is keeping audiences enthralled year after year.

The best live entertainment engages the senses and evokes emotions, and that is exactly the kind of experience Feld Entertainment is striving to create for audiences of all ages.

As the parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Disney on Ice, and Disney Live, Feld Entertainment is the world’s largest producer of live family entertainment.

When American Executive interviewed chairman and CEO Kenneth Feld for the March 2006 issue, the company was working on the 136th edition of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and acquiring new titles to appeal to today’s audiences. Today, the effort continues. This year, Feld Entertainment will launch seven new shows. “It’s the most production we’ve ever done,” said Feld, whose father, Irvin Feld, founded the company in 1967 when he acquired Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, America’s oldest entertainment attraction.

In addition to its six units of Disney on Ice and three units of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Feld Entertainment licensed the Doodlebops, a children’s rock band with a hit show on Disney Channel, from Cookie Jar Entertainment. The Doodlebops Live tour was launched in 2006 and will hit 40 cities before the end of 2007.

Kenneth Feld

Feld Entertainment is now working on the 138th edition of Ringling Bros. To appeal to today’s audiences, who often regard their own lives as juggling acts, the company eliminated the three-ring format for its “blue unit,” allowing audience members to focus their attention on one central performance area. The “red unit” performs inside three movable diamond-shaped areas, and the “gold unit” is currently receiving a head-to-toe makeover.

“We want families to come to the circus every year, so we need to provide them with different experiences. That means coming up with new story lines and enlisting our costume designers, production designers, and composers,” said Feld.

Universal appeal
To enhance the circus experience, Feld Entertainment has adopted video technology. Because circuses are held in large arenas, audiences don’t often get the benefit of seeing the expression on a performer’s face, a tiger’s snarl, or costume embellishments.

“During a high-wire act, for instance, we focus on the performer’s feet so you can see how much skill it takes. I feel that nothing can beat the experience of a live performance, but you can enhance it through the use of technology, and we do more than ever today.”

But technology is doing more than enhancing performances; it is enabling the company to capitalize on international markets that are starved for live family entertainment. Although North America will most likely continue to be Feld Entertainment’s bread and butter, the CEO believes that growth opportunities are abroad. In 2008, the company will launch a tour expected to play 22 weeks in China before heading to India and Russia.

“We think of ourselves as ambassadors of live family entertainment worldwide. Technology allows for universal communication, which means the fairytales that Disney’s stories are based on are now reaching children around the globe,” said Feld. “And it doesn’t matter what country you’re from. All children love the same stories because they touch basic human emotions.”

Beyond the big top
Feld Entertainment is taking its knack for amusing children into the classroom to promote literacy. Feld explained that the company became actively involved in Barbara Bush’s literacy campaign initiated in the early 1990s and continues its efforts today with readings in schools and public libraries across the country.

The company is also fighting childhood obesity with CircusFit, a program that teaches children and adults in schools nationwide simple yet effective habits to promote health. “We think of professional athletes as being fit, but circus performers are always in shape. They need strength, balance, and stamina to do what they do every day, yet they are people just like you and me. They key is proper eating and an exercise regimen.”

But of all of Feld Entertainment’s philanthropic work, the program that is dearest to Feld’s heart is the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC) established in 1995. With only 35,000 Asian elephants remaining, as compared to 200,000 in 1900, the Asian elephant will be extinct by 2049 without concentrated conservation and breeding programs such as the Ringling Bros. CEC, which has seen 20 successful births since the early 1990s. “The CEC is growing, not only through births but also through the worldwide acceptance of our efforts.”

Feld explained that inbreeding is one of the major causes of a species reaching the brink of extinction, so the Ringling Bros. CEC is creating a diverse gene pool for Asian elephants through a nationwide artificial insemination program. In addition, one of its males is on a breeding loan with the Fort Worth Zoo and has produced at least one offspring expected to make an appearance within the next year (the gestation period for elephants is approximately 22 months).

The artificial insemination program is critical to the survival of the species as many zoos do not have the facilities adequate for male elephants, which are generally more aggressive and territorial than females. The Ringling Bros. CEC, however, has more than 200 acres in Central Florida, allowing for a number of males to have their own habitat.

Since 2005, Feld Entertainment has donated more than $300,000 to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoological Park to support research projects on elephant herpes and tuberculosis, as well as breeding studies to increase captive populations.

“As a for-profit institution, we divert a lot of our profit dollars to the CEC,” said Feld, adding that it costs the CEC $60,000 per year to care for each elephant, and the average lifespan is 50 to 60 years. “We are committed to these animals for the long term so that one day, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will have the benefit of seeing these beautiful animals alive.”