Expecting venues to pay full rent while making ZERO income is ridiculous. Mind you if they federally mandated mortgage relief, rent relief could be possible and most of that debt would go away. New York State alone needs 60MILLION to sustain our independent Venues. As the numbers look right now we are looking at the potential closure of 90% of independent venues nationally by 2021 if we don’t secure dedicated funding for independent arts organizations. I can give you the NIVA one sheet about the RESTART act and the federal relief that we are trying to get public and political support behind. Can you give us some more details and how can people help support it? (We see there are 2,000 charter members in all 50 states!) We saw you have joined forces with others in your industry to create NIVA (National Independent Venues Association). I’ve lived in NYC since 2009, everything I did since moving here was working towards the goal of owning my own space. I have worked in restaurants since I was 15 starting with working for my Dad in his Donut Shop, Donut Junction formerly in Needham, MA. Also was a founding member of HAWT ME$$ in BK and still perform when I can with my BatS bandmate Kyle Thompson/ Incredibly Elderly as STAB. Performed under the moniker Bridget and the Squares(BatS) from 2007-2013. Originally from Boston, graduated from Boston Arts Academy, 1st graduating class in ‘01, and ‘graduated’ from Berklee in ‘05(quotes are essential and inside joke for anyone who went to berklee). Laura in BatS (Bridget and the Squares) Photo by Lara K PhotographyĬan you give us a little backstory on who you are Laura? We have countless others to name as part of our extended community but I would have to write a novel to describe them all and their individual contributions and I have already gone on too long just about my employees who I love dearly. Madison Odom, our weekend security, is a patient, calm, ninja who loves Buffy and Angel almost as much as I do. I can’t wait to have him back behind the board playing obnoxious disco in between bands to drive me crazy. Victor Jardin is our go to weekday sound person and a magical centaur. We are so lucky to have such dedicated staff that were always willing to sit through some pretty experimental art on slow nights and bust their butts when it’s packed. ![]() Jessica Dennis & Ryan Gabel have been reliable, hard working, patient, wonderful bartenders and employees for years. Always ready with a stellar insta post or music review as well as a pep talk, hug or some sparkles to make a shitty day brighter, she’s a true ray of light and will soon be our FLTV VJ!!! Kendra L Saunders, My girl friday, my marketing and life assistant. He’s an everyman and embodies the true spirit of footlight. ![]() He has wet vacced sewage with me, he has pulled weeds, he took over bar management and ordering for me when things were getting overwhelming. He created our in house Zine the Footlighter!!! He curated a drink and draw for years that he eventually made into the zine. Tim has found so many creative ways to contribute to our artistic vision. Tim Shea the de facto Visual Artistic director, is my best friend, my life partner, my inspiration, and my cheerleader. Barry actually helped reconstruct Footlight back in 2015 and even installed the ceiling. ![]() Eric has been by my side since we opened footlight, learning the ropes together and figuring out what works. ![]() We never really had the money we needed but we had plenty of passionate people willing to get their hands dirty and help us get up and running.Įric Ryrie, the booking/house manager and Barry Marino, the FLTV Videographer are two of my oldest friends. We have/had a lot of investors along the way but the biggest impact was the community of artists, local business owners and long time friends that helped me build Footlight from the ground up. The Footlight was an idea I had that took a village of folks to bring to life. Who helped start/open The Footlight and are there any people currently playing an important role?
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