Hal Real is the founder and president of World Cafe Live, an independent live music, restaurant, music education and community events venue located in Philadelphia, PA since 2004. In 2008, he launched LiveConnections, a nonprofit organization dedicated to music education that has reached more than 55,000 participants, mostly from Philadelphia schools. In 2020, the two organizations became one unified nonprofit under the World Cafe Live name.

Hal is a co-founder and board member of NIVA (the National Independent Venue Association) and NIVF (the National Independent Venue Foundation), serving as president of the Foundation board. He is the immediate past board chair of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, chair of People’s Light’s Honorary Board (Malvern, PA) and a board member of the Freire (Charter Schools) Foundation. Hal plays piano, loves dogs and is a graduate of Kenyon College and Temple University School of Law.