In December, more than 80 people involved with all aspects of Iowa’s entertainment industry packed into the Vaudeville Mews. They enjoyed appetizers and drinks while talking about their latest filmmaking ventures, an upcoming music act or the concept of a creative class.

This was the first gathering of the Iowa Entertainment Industry Meetup Group, which IowaTIX initiated to generate dialogue among entertainment professionals. Leaders of the ticket broker hope this initial meeting will lead to more collaboration in the industry.

“IowaTIX is in a good position in the sense that we deal with entertainment professionals across genres and across the state. … We felt it was a great opportunity to start bringing some of these people together to start a dialogue with each other,” said Kathryn Dickel, co-founder of IowaTIX. “Oftentimes we’re all working on the ‘entertainment industry’ but don’t know each other and really have a lot to offer each other in terms of expertise.”

Anita Walker, director of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs and executive director of the Iowa Arts Council, said meetings like this are important because they provide a psychological boost for people in the industry. They not only show people that others might be experiencing similar situations, but also lead to solutions as people trade ideas.

“In the long run,” she said, “if we are able to put those types of gatherings together, we’ll see a lot more energy behind the entertainment industry and scene in Iowa.”

Tom Wheeler, manager of the Iowa Film Office, agrees and believes that casual social interactions will lead to new connections and bigger projects in the future. “It’s an environment where people share concepts they’re kicking around and suddenly run into people that can bring those concepts to life,” he said.

IowaTIX hosted a similar networking event with the Des Moines Art Center a couple of years ago. This year, it partnered with the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, the Des Moines Music Coalition, the Iowa Film Office, the Iowa Arts Council and the Vaudeville Mews, and it decided to keep the momentum from the event going by starting an online group on meetup.com.

Organizers of December’s event did not expect big, immediate results, Dickel said, but she already is planning more meetings and thinking about ways to expand next December’s event into an entertainment industry conference or educational seminar. As the industry becomes more cohesive, Dickel believes it also will have greater influence over state legislation and could generate more funding.

“The idea is to help all of those entertainment professionals out there start thinking of themselves as an industry, and supporting each other as an industry,” she said. “I think if we can get a core group of people together that have a vision, or are rolling with the same vision, certainly [the group] can become more formalized.”

The meetup group has allowed IowaTIX to expand upon its initial intention of bringing together organizations that are looking for ticketing solutions. Dickel said IowaTIX is becoming more of an entertainment management company, because it also provides marketing and consulting services. Although IowaTIX competes with Ticketmaster for some clients, Dickel said the goal is not to replace Ticketmaster.

“The idea isn’t to put all your eggs in one basket and just focus on beating Ticketmaster,” she said. “I don’t think that’s a wise strategy. Ours is more to broaden our service offerings.”

Walker believes IowaTIX has already filled a niche by offering organizations an online ticketing service that’s cheaper than Ticketmaster. By not charging huge fees, Walker said, groups have been able to attract more customers. She said IowaTIX also cross-markets by posting information about all its clients on its Web site and provides its clients with useful data, such as people’s seating preferences and where they live.

“When we built the company,” Dickel said, “we built it on the idea of collaboration, ways entertainment groups could come together and work with each other.”