CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The United States Small Business Association announced going into the weekend that independent venues could begin applying for Shuttered Venue Operator Grants on Monday, April 26 through the SBA website SVOG application portal.
Chicago Independent Venue League (CIVL) founding board member Joe Shanahan said the effort is well past due with $16 billion in funding approved by the U.S. Congress back in December 2020 as part of the Save Our Stages Act.
“You can talk about $16 billion, but the most important thing is that we have been closed for over 400 days, and that means staff out of work for over 400 days”, Shanahan said.
Shanahan is in communication with other venue operators across the country through CIVL and the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) and all are eager for the portal to work this time as the SBA had failed previous attempts.
Applications for SVOG Grants were supposed to begin April 8, but did not, and then a hasty attempt was made this past week to announce a Saturday, April 24 rollout, which was then quickly changed in a late Friday night announcement by the SBA.
“So, while we have been waiting four months for the SBA to even open the portal for applications, we have been closed for 13 months. No one has ever given anyone a guide-book in any business school to say how you keep a business afloat for 13 months with no income”, Shanahan said.
Shanahan’s venues Chicago's Metro, smartbar, and The Gman Tavern along with operators of other local independent venues have benefited from small state (Business Interruption Grants) and city grants, as well as from federal Economic Injury Disaster Loans, but those have proved short lived fixes and it has now been over 400 days without revenue for an industry shutdown last year by Governor J.B. Pritzker in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Of the live music scene in the City of Chicago, Shanahan said “It’s only Rock N Roll, if by Rock N Roll you mean over 70,000 jobs and a historical generation of $2.5 billion in direct and related spending annually in the loop alone.
“We miss the entertainment and cultural aspect of it, but also the economic engine that we represent not only to the staff, but to the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois.”
A typical day for Shanahan since March of 2020 involves a lot of refreshing government resource pages for updated information and fielding communication with bill collectors.
“There are so many different levels of pressure as a businessman. Fiscal responsibility to your banks, to your insurance companies, property taxes…these things are not going away, these bills need to be paid” Shanahan said.
Other venue operators have the same daily experience, as do the 70,000-plus furloughed venue employees.
"Times that experience by over 400 days and it’s good and accurate math”, Shanahan added.
Many furloughed or laid off employees in Chicago that work in the entertainment industry have been receiving some form of unemployment compensation, but for many it is not enough and the worry among employers is whether their staff will return or if they might lose the workers permanently (some are highly technically skilled and difficult to replace) as they seek out other work.
Shanahan told WBBM Newsradio that many of those workers are reporting to CIVL that they have anxiety on whether there will be jobs to return to and that even when they apply for other types of work, the prospects are slim.
Shanahan made it a point to mention that the United States Small Business Association failure to quickly take in applications and disperse the Shuttered Venue Operator Grants is a federal misstep, with the U.S. Inspector General Michael Horowitz and Senator Chuck Schumer shutting down the portal just four hours into the first roll out on April 8 due to technical issues.
Local advocates for Save Our Stages, such as U.S. Congressmen Danny Davis and Mike Quigley, Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, along with the Chicago area SBA District Director Bo Steiner, according to Shanahan, have all been extremely cooperative.
The Chicago Independent Venue League (CIVL) is a coalition advocating for more than 50 member venues in and around Chicago, all independently owned and operated and has, since May 2020, mobilized nearly 2 million letters/calls/emails to legislators urging support for RESTART, Save Our Stages, and ENCORES acts.
CVIL is also a member of Washington, DC-based National Independent Venue Association (NIVA).
Chicago Independent Venue League Board of Directors:
• Katie Tuten, co-chair (The Hideout)
• Robert Gomez, co-chair (Subterranean, Beat Kitchen)
• Billy Helmkamp, Secretary (The Whistler, Sleeping Village)
• Michael Johnston, Treasurer (Lincoln Hall, Schubas)
• Joe Shanahan (Metro, Smartbar, GMan)
• Tim Tuten (The Hideout)
• Eric Williams (The Silver Room)
• Ray Quinn (Martyrs)
• Bruce Finkelman (Empty Bottle)
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