“We Will Be the Last to Reopen”: Chicago Music Clubs Plan for a Prolonged Pandemic

Robert Gomez, Billy Helmkamp, Katie Tuten, Joe Shanahan and Michael Johnston of CIVL/Photo: Sally Blood

Last summer, we profiled Chicago Independent Venue League (CIVL), local club owners who banded together to protect their interests in the face of Live Nation’s projected entertainment megaplex in the Lincoln Yards area. The group came to envision a role for itself beyond that conflict, and our talk ended with co-founder Katie Tuten (co-owner of The Hideout) professing, “We want to be a resource to the city of Chicago.”

Flash forward to the present moment, and the city’s independent music clubs are under siege again—this time by COVID-19. CIVL’s endeavors have shifted from outreach and advocacy to pooling resources to survive. Or, as Robert Gomez (owner of Subterranean) puts it: “There we were, starting to organize, and our world caved in—and we were like, ‘Okay, this is now our primary focus.'”

But the crisis provides validation of CIVL’s core concept. “I can’t even imagine what it would be like now if we didn’t have this team,” says Tuten. “It’s been one of the most supportive outlets for me in that misery-loves-company kind of way, but we’ve also been so supportive of each other, shared our notes, who’s applying for what, how do we collectively address the issue at hand. Even down to ‘How did you get your money out of GoFundMe?’ We talk to each other every day; and not by email, by phone. I feel very fortunate that we had this in place before the tragedy happened.

“We’re all applying for all these different resources,” she continues. “In the beginning, things were happening so fast and furious, like, ‘What’s available, what are the percentages’—so we would share that with everyone. ‘Did you apply to the city of Chicago Resiliency Fund? Do you know about this State of Illinois hospitality [emergency grant program] lottery? Have you applied for the disaster loan fund? What bank are you using?’ Some of the applications were easier than others, so again we’d talk to each other—‘Who got theirs in? Don’t forget to include this.’”

It remains a hard road for small businesses, and CIVL’s latest move is a survey, being distributed this week, to see how many of the group’s members are benefiting from the available resources. “A lot of us have received nothing, and only a small handful have received some of those funds,” Tuten says. “To the best of my knowledge, only four of us have gotten approval for PPP (Payroll Protection Program). Some people who have multiple venues might’ve only gotten it for one of their venues. So as you can see it’s very disappointing when you see in the press that Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse”—a restaurant chain with over 150 locations which received a $20 million bailout package— “and a lot of the corporate franchises got the money; the real small businesses haven’t. And we’re in competition with every other small business. We’re all going to the same elected officials for help and assistance, so how do you differentiate yourself?”

One of CIVL’s arguments is that—unlike dentists or hairdressers—live music clubs are economic drivers. “I bring twelve, fifteen hundred people a week into Wicker Park,” says Gomez, “and those people eat and drink before and after the shows. We absolutely feed our neighborhoods economically. We’re also the go-to for the neighbors. You know, ‘Hey I want to do my graduation party,’ or ‘I have this nonprofit’—we support so many groups.”

“We’re part of a complex ecosystem,” Tuten says. “Not only do we employ a lot of people within our clubs—think of all the talent, think of the sound engineers and the record labels—it’s all intertwined. And I always like to tell the story about your neighbor, Gomez.”

“What she’s referring to,” Gomez says, “is that my neighbor, Flash Taco, will not only study our calendar, but sometimes reach out to me as well, wanting to know how many people we’re having, the size of our shows, because it directly impacts him—he knows how to staff for that.”

“We’re meeting places,” Tuten adds. “We’re community centers.” But the clubs are likely to have the hardest road back to recovery. “We were among the first to be closed, along with restaurants,” Gomez says, “and we will be the absolute last to be allowed to reopen. As this unfolds, it’s not going to be like, ‘Hey, everybody go back to your normal lives,’ it’s going to be baby steps. The reason we feel we’re in a special predicament is because of that timeline. One, it takes a long time to book shows, you have to do it several months in advance; and two, people will be reluctant. We’re going to have a hesitant audience—unless there’s a vaccine for everyone. Until then, this is going to be a rough ride for us.”

But there are hopeful signs. One is the beginnings of industry financial support. “We’ve been self-funded. Our members put up a budget to help us get going,” says Gomez. “So, you know, where’s the money coming from to do these additional things?” It’s coming in part from Chicago-based Shure, the microphone manufacturer, which stepped in with a hefty donation. “Shure wanted to fund individual venues,” says Tuten, “but it was easy for them to just make a donation to CIVL, because we’re a collective. So that’ll help us with our work as we move forward.”

“Shure saved the day for us,” says Gomez. “Now instead of asking for favors, we can pay people to do things for us.”

Another hopeful development: CIVL’s formation provided inspiration for a similar organization on the more macro scale, National Independent Venue Association (NIVA). “We’ve discovered that this needs to be a national effort,” says Gomez, “and things we’ve been working on, we’ve been able to feed to that group; many of us are on their committees and helping that effort as well. So it’s incredibly significant, what we’ve done.”

“All of these relationships have already been established by the work that we did two years ago, trying to underscore the value of our venues,” says Tuten. “We’re unique as we go and lobby Congress, because we’re twofold: we are cultural institutions, alongside museums and such, and we’re also economic engines.”

The clubs remain dark. but CIVL—and now NIVA—are providing just enough light to navigate the crisis.

Robert Rodi

Robert Rodi is an author, spoken-word performer and musician who has served as Newcity’s Music Editor since 2014. He’s written more than a dozen books, including the travel memoir “Seven Seasons In Siena,” and his literary and music criticism has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Salon, The Huffington Post and many other national and regional publications.
Contact: robert@newcity.com