"Decimated" and seeking government help

Madison's small venues join a national effort to stay alive

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Like all small businesses in the social distancing era, Madison’s music venues face an uncertain future. Even while the county phases in a re-opening, national touring has been temporarily halted, and local and regional acts are on pause waiting for instructions on how to perform in a way that is safe for themselves and audiences. 

But while the big venues like the Barrymore and The Sylvee are likely to remain dark for a while, a few people might have the opportunity to attend a live show at a small venue, says Toffer Christensen, a local booker-promoter who owns T Presents and represents the Venue on Winnebago. 

But when we do finally feel safe venturing out to see live music again, it’s going to be different. 

Christensen says the Venue on Winnebago — which is announcing a name change soon — is planning to host its first live show in early June. The room will be limited to a capacity of 33, to allow for social distancing. He says the owners — John and Jake DeHaven — plan for the venue to be open from Thursday through Saturday in June, expanding hours into the summer. 

The small venues are exploring ways to make staff and customers feel safe returning to the bar. “We and a lot of other venues are looking at apps for phones that are contact-less ordering. So if you want a drink you order through your phone and you don’t have to exchange cash or credit cards with bartenders,” says Christensen. “There are some apps that will be able to tell the patron, ‘Hey your drink is ready, sitting at the edge of the bar by sign #3, you just go grab it.’ There is technology that will minimize interaction and make people a little more comfortable coming into a close environment.”

Clubs will be stepping up sanitation efforts and many will provide face masks for people who don’t show up with them, says Christensen, in an effort to “make people comfortable knowing that you are doing everything that is possible to help them stay safe and let them have a good time.” 

As The New York Times reports, a Travis McCready country music concert on May 18 in Fort Smith, Arkansas, sold tickets in roped off clusters the venue called “fan pods.” The 1,100-seat venue — roughly the size of the Barrymore — was allowed to sell 229 seats, 20 percent of its capacity. Traffic patterns to bathrooms and bars were taped off, temperatures were taken at the door, and staff and patrons wore masks. And the venue, Temple Live, lost money.

Any way you do the math, it’s going to be a tough recovery. And with two months of revenue lost already to shutdowns, independent venues need an economic lifeline as well. Christensen has been publicizing the work of a newly formed organization, the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA).

Local members of NIVA include Cafe Coda on Willy Street, The Barrymore Theatre, the Shitty Barn in Spring Green, and Liquid and Ruby, on the UW-Madison campus.

“Music venues were the first to close and will be the last to open,” writes Dayna Frank, NIVA board member and owner of First Avenue in Minneapolis, in a press release. “It’s just brutal right now, and the future is predictable to no one. We can’t envision a world without these music venues, so we’ve created NIVA to fight for their ability to survive this shutdown, which we hear could go into 2021. Our first order of business is to push to secure federal funding to preserve the ecosystem of live music venues and touring artists.”

The organization has hired Akin Gump, a lobbying firm, to represent the more than 1,200 independent venues that have signed on.

Gary Witt, CEO of Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater Group and founding member of NIVA, writes in the release, “Most of us have gone from our best year ever to a dead stop in revenues, but our expenses and overhead are still real, and many will not make it without help. Our employees, the artists, and the fans need us to act.”

Members of NIVA have been hard at work contacting federal politicians to seek help in their effort to find funding and spread the word on the multiplier effects that venues have. An April 22 letter drafted by NIVA and signed by a number of members of Congress, including Rep. Tammy Baldwin, called the situation an “existential crisis.” 

The letter reads: “Each year, thousands of independent venues host millions of events, staffed by hundreds of thousands of employees, and attended by hundreds of millions of concertgoers across all walks of life. These entertainment hubs are important economic multipliers for our local economies, generating millions in tax revenue and providing quality jobs. The business generated by our industry supports countless neighboring businesses such as restaurants, hotels, and retail. One Chicago impact report estimated that for every $1 spent on a ticket, a total of $12 in economic activity was generated.” 

Michael Hierl, owner of Liquid and Ruby, two venues near the corner of University Avenue and Lake Street that rely primarily upon student patrons, says his business has been “decimated.” Despite that, the two clubs announced on May 27 that they would not be reopening under the Forward Dane COVID-19 guidelines. A strongly worded statement explaining the decision reads: “We fully understand why businesses are desperate to open back up. In our case, we have been totally closed for more than two months without any revenue at all. But our prime concern is for the health and safety of our staff, customers and indeed the broader Madison/Dane County community.”

The statement goes on to say that a premature reopening of public spaces could lead to a spike in COVID-19 cases, which would jeopardize future plans to reopen more fully, and equally important, could affect UW’s plans for reopening the fall.

The 720-capacity Liquid, which hosts international electronic acts, and the more intimate 150-seat Ruby, were among the first businesses to voluntarily close on March 14, says Hierl. 

“We are obviously getting decimated financially and it's really hard to see the financial cushion we’ve spent years building get smaller and smaller,” says Hierl.

He cites NIVA estimates that 90% of this country’s independent venues would go out of business if the pandemic extends past six months and the government does not step in to assist.

Hierl says his business did receive a loan under the Paycheck Protection Plan. But the loan is not much help in his case. The PPP required that much of the money be spent within eight weeks, and there is little for workers to do while the clubs are closed. He says 90% of the revenue for the venues is generated when UW-Madison is in session, from September-May, and the business’ non-payroll costs are significantly higher with a mostly part-time and tipped staff. 

“We expect to come out of this on the other side,” adds Hierl. “But let’s just say that hanging in there is causing us all a lot of pain.”