SBA grants sought for live venues in Youngstown, Warren

Last year, concert-goers from 17 different states descended on Youngstown’s West Side for one of Westside Bowl’s last shows before Ohio shut down in spring.

They spread their spending out.

“They went to Dash Inn, they went to Casa Ramirez, they went to the vintage store across the street,” said Westside owner Nate Offerdahl.

Offerdahl said though performing arts venues might not be considered a “traditional” economic driver, the industry is “absolutely vital” to every city.

“From city to city, you see where there’s a music venue there’s bars and restaurants and stores that ring around it. … Those places bring 200 to 500 people into a neighborhood every time they have a show.”

This time last year, 9 in 10 independently operated venues expected to close for good due to the COVID-19 pandemic without some form of federal assistance, according to the National Independent Venue Association.

That’s why the U.S. Small Business Administration’s $16 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program could be a “lifeline” for the cold, empty stages across the U.S., Offerdahl said. Operators of live venues, performing arts organizations, movie theaters and others in the live-show industry could be eligible for grants based on their 2019 revenues, up to $10 million.

Pollstar in early April estimated the loss in ticket revenue at $9 billion for last year. NIVA, which formed in early 2020 as the Save Our Stages movement, banded nearly 2,000 venues and hundreds of performers to lobby Congress for help.

The majority of the available grant funding made its way into the last relief package passed at the end of former President Donald Trump’s term. The American Rescue Plan added to it.

“While the weight remains on our shoulders until the funds are actually distributed, seeing the light at the end of this tunnel fills me with hope for the future of our industry,” said Dayna Frank, NIVA board president. “As I’ve been saying since the beginning, ‘First we survive, then we thrive.’ As vaccination numbers continue to improve and emergency relief is on its way, we know one day soon we will.”

SVOG applications opened Thursday but demand almost immediately crashed the portal, according to NPR. The dot-gov disaster was “definitely a holdover from 2020,” Offerdahl joked.

UPDATE: We’re still determining an exact reopening date for the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant application. As soon as it’s confirmed, we’ll provide advance notice. Also, we’re updating the applicant user guide & FAQs to further clarify information. More: https://t.co/t7nOEeRl7m

— SBA (@SBAgov) April 12, 2021

SVOG grants can be put toward operating costs like payroll or rent, utility and mortgage payments, but not toward new real estate or old debts. Recipients will be prioritized by how much they lost last year, with the hardest-hit awarded in the first month, according to the SBA.

Though JAC Management Group received more than $350,000 in federal Paycheck Protection Program funding last year — which kept the Covelli Centre and Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre out of the red, according to The Vindicator — JAC is counting on the shuttered venue funding this year.

Ohio’s ongoing pandemic restrictions on capacity make large-scale events unprofitable, President Eric Ryan has said.

Ryan said JAC intends to seek SVOG funding for each of its five venues — the program limits operators to five, he said — which also includes Youngstown’s Wean Park, Warren’s Packard Music Hall and Spellman Amphitheater in Fortney, Tx.

“We’re looking for it to be a significant help for 2021,” Ryan said.

Businesses and entities that Paycheck Protection Program loans after Dec. 27 will have that loan amount deducted from their shuttered venue grant. JAC’s was awarded in April of last year.

Westside Bowl’s award, however, is still pending, Offerdahl said.

Stambaugh Auditorium’s nonprofit association was approved for a $175,000 loan in May, according to ProPublica.

At least $2 billion in SVOG funding is reserved for venues with up to 50 full-time employees. Since the shutdown, Stambaugh Auditorium downsized to just 14. It’s “slowly bringing people back” since reopening in June, said JoAnn Stock, chief development officer.

“We believe we meet the eligibility requirements,” she said. “There have been a lot of questions throughout the industry about it.”

Canfield Fairgrounds operators think the fairgrounds’ grandstands may qualify it for a shuttered venue grant, but they aren’t sure yet and are “monitoring” the program daily, said spokesperson George Roman. The program’s list of frequently asked questions and eligibility definitions is 40 pages long.

“At the moment, I think that what it is is a lifeline,” Offerdahl said — a way to shore up thousands of sinking venues across the country. “For other folks, it’s a stabilizer and for other folks, I think it’ll be a cushion.

“With a little bit of thrift … it gets them through the next six to 12 months.”

Stambaugh Auditorium’s ability to pivot to hosting live-streamed events — like Monday’s Youngstown mayoral debate — has been crucial, Stock said.

“We’ve tried to take advantage of all the resources available the government has made available … plus, changing our business model and being able to accommodate what we can do has really helped us,” she said. “We’ve done what we’ve had to do to stay viable.”

Stambaugh Auditorium can sell out 2,500 seats, but is now limited to about 600, Stock said. A Tuesday concert was one of those sell-outs, she said.

“The main thing is ensuring the safety of our patrons and our staff and our volunteers. We know that it’s been a long haul. We are prepared to do whatever we need to do to ensure everyone is safe and they feel comfortable,” she said.

For Offerdahl, bigger questions loom — like when will Americans be ready to return to their seats after a year-long intermission? Westside Bowl can entertain more than 500, meaning it must limit its indoor capacity to somewhere between 100 and 200 people, under state orders.

But operators purposefully sold fewer than 60 tickets for the venue’s first ticketed show in over a year, so groups could be properly spaced apart. They could seat 10 at a table, but chose to limit tables to four, Offerdahl said.

The state’s recent surge in new cases — which pushes Ohioans further away from the goal threshold to lift health orders — isn’t as impactful as show-goers’ comfortability in returning to their old haunts, he said.

“I think a big part of it is: If we go from where we are not to all the way open in six months — that’s going to be a recipe for trouble,” Offerdahl said. “There’s going to be a percentage of folks who don’t go to large gatherings ever again.

“The question is, ‘what percentage of people is that?’ There’s no way to know until you get back in the swing of things.”