Struggling live music and other entertainment venues may get another crack this weekend at the big pot of money the federal government is setting aside to help them recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The online Shuttered Venue Operators Grant portal run by the U.S. Small Business Administration is scheduled to reopen Saturday (April 24).
That’s where operators of nightclubs, concert halls, film and stage theaters and other venues will go to apply for a share of the $16 billion included for them in a federal coronavirus relief bill approved by Congress in December.
It took more than three months for SBA to set up the online application process. When it finally started, on April 8, it crashed immediately and has been out of commission ever since.
But the SBA now says the portal will reopen Saturday. Potential applicants are encouraged to pre-register now to streamline the process, according the SBA.
Julie Leone, co-owner of the 443 Social Club, a small live music venue on Burnet Avenue in Syracuse, has been among the operators anxious to start the process. Her club closed in March 2020 when the pandemic hit, and reopened only briefly last fall before closing again.
She spent hours sitting by the computer April 8 trying to apply for one of the grants. In addition to the problems crated by the portal crash, she and other venue operators argue the process has been overly complicated.
“They made it unnecessarily difficult,” she said. “They want all sorts of paperwork and other things that really don’t make any sense.”
The $16 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program is supposed to award grants based on an application that includes such information as the venue’s 2019 earnings (pre-pandemic) and its losses for 2020.
Eligible venues may receive up to 45% of their gross pre-pandemic income, up to a maximum of $10 million for a single applicant.
Venues will be ranked into eligibility tiers, though the initial applications will be dealt with on a first-come, first-serve basis, the SBA said. After that they will be sorted into tiers, with the top priority to serve those who suffered losses of 90% of revenue or more.
The live entertainment industry has been among the hardest hit by the pandemic and the Covid restrictions. In many cases, even as venues reopen, it’s been hard to find touring acts to book and there is still a worry that patrons may be slow to come back.
Leone said she’s preparing to reapply Saturday, though she feels bad for some small operators who are reopened.
“Saturday is a day when they might be busy with a show or something, and so they’ll have to make a choice between that and getting in to the portal,” she said. “But I intend to clear my schedule to get this done.”
Related: Live arts venues were shut for a year. When they finally got federal aid, the system crashed
Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.
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