By: Valerie Milano
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 7/9/23- Bryant Acosta is the founder of The Nightbreed – a lifestyle production company producing luxury events primarily serving the queer community. His primary focus is inclusivity, creating a safe space for LGBTQIA+, women of color, and other underserved communities. Nightbreed has built its name at its core by creating world-class experiences featuring renowned DJs and upscale venues.
Acosta recently put together a series of events to celebrate West Hollywood Pride Month and several pool parties for Independence Day. This past Friday, Nightbreed, and INCOGNITO brought out the legendary DJ & Producer Jimpster for an unforgettable night of pure deep house. Next is San Diego Pride weekend, which kicks off July 15th through 16th. The Nightbreed will throw another pool party with HOUSE sets by Alex Acosta, Arno Diem, and Noir D. Costas.
THT had the opportunity to catch up with The Nighbreed’s founder Bryant Acosta. Here’s what he had to say:
THT: President of The Nighbreed, right? Is that your correct title? Excellence. I have a lot of questions. I’d like to ask you but before that I’d like to talk about how you came up with the name. It reminds me of Clive Barker, does it have anything to do with his 1990’s film?
BA: Absolutely, I’m so happy that you caught that reference because I’m very much an 80’s baby and things of that nature have always fascinated me, specifically, the genres of horror and sci-fi.
I wanted to pay homage to something that resonated with me and what better name than Nightbreed because in Barker’s movie there were all of those kinds of different creatures that came together to form a family. And so, I kind of looked at nightlife like that because if you look at the different factions of LGBTQIA+, women, and people of color it’s just like a family that all just meet in a random place and end up making some really good friends.
THT: Oh yeah, I’m glad it’s about that because I’m quite a fan of Barker.
THT: So, we were supposed to do this interview last month during West Hollywood Pride, but there was a lot happening. Now that we are here can you please tell us more about your brand and what’s next?
BA: Our brand started as LGBTQIA+ focused but we have expanded into other music genres such as reggaeton, hip-hop, and alternative music. So just really bringing community together. And the great thing we’re an LGBTQIA+ owned and operated brand, we’ve been able to really normalize the unification of people across different genres. It’s been awesome!
THT: Your events attract tons of people; how much staff do you have?
BA: I have a staff of about 10 people, all LGBTQIA+ minorities and we kick butt! I personally train them all and it works out well. I have lots of experience working with brands and agencies, so I know how to train my employees to facilitate things when I’m not there. So, typically, what I’ll do, is, I have a team leader for each venue and they’ll just be a copy of me. I’ll take on a venue as well, and then we disseminate down to the doorstep. Then from that, we also work with the venue operations, and really just have a synergy down with everybody.
THT: Is most of your entertainment DJ’s?
BA: A good chunk of it. We do have live singers and bands, but I think the bulk of it is, Dj’s performing.
THT: And how do you find your DJs?
BA: We typically have somebody that has a name as our headliner and then we really try to push and strive to add people that don’t have an opportunity to be on these larger platforms. We want to give opportunity to people that just would never get these types of chances. Our main focus is to mean what we say and do what we mean.
I honestly think that’s what’s made our brand so strong and popular because a lot of people that have these platforms, they just don’t do that. They just get their friends, or they get the people that are going to sell the tickets. I’m willing to take a dive on tickets and do whatever so long as we’re producing and seeing the things, we set out to do.
THT: That’s amazing! How do patrons get their tickets? Is it an online thing? How do you promote mostly Yeah, is it an online thing?
BA: I mean, we have a really strong database of about 50 thousand people. And we’re able to communicate via email. We moved to a new CRM to do text plus. So that’s working really well for us. Our social channels are something we need to work on. I’ll admit, it’s funny like you look at our social media and you’re like a thousand people what? And then you see our parties and you’re like, how did they get almost three thousand people there for pride, you know? It’s crazy but it works! I’m only one person and can only do so many things, so I’m trying to be better at it and eventually get a social media team on it.
THT: So how can people find you? And how can they sign up to buy tickets for your events? instance?
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenightbreedla
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenightbreedla
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryantacosta/
BA: Our Instagram is a really good place to start. So, @thenightbreedla, that’s our handle and we have a website as well. And that is the, https://thenightbreed.org/ .
THT: As a founder and a creative director. What are you most proud of?
BA: Last year I went from doing one pool party a year, which was our pride party to last year, doing over 200 shows. We also did an eight thousand party event block party for pride and while doing that we also had eight other events happening that weekend, so I would have to say that this is my pride and joy, but also just being able to accomplish so many of events within one summer, it’s crazy.
It does sound like it. Well, I don’t want to keep you because it sounds like you’ve got a lot of a lot of things to accomplish and continue to accomplish. And I’ve just, I’m just so proud that we finally got to meet virtually and i know that we will get to meet in person sometimes soon.
THT: Thank you so much and you are gorgeous, and I look forward to meeting you.
BA: So are you. Thank you!
To get more information on The Nightbreed events please visit their website https://thenightbreed.org/events/ and check them out on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thenightbreedla/?hl=en