Keep Independent Venues in business

Independent performance venues around the country are really hurting since the responsible ones have been closed and are struggling with the concept of re-opening. The arts are a part of our lives just like anything else we do, and when we are in a position to start going out again, I want to have some choices and was reminded this morning in a post from The Plus, asking for people to sign at Save Our Stages and ask their legislators to support stimulus funding for independent venues. A lot of these will not survive the ever-lengthening shutdown without some help. If you're tired of sitting at home, think how frustrating it will be to have things open up again, and not have anywhere left to go because everything has gone out of business.

If you go to the Save Our Stages site you'll see a lot of familiar Wisconsin venues, including many in the Chippewa Valley. Entertainment spots are doing a lot of interesting things to try to open up and to do it safely. I was amused today to see that The Grand in Oshkosh  (reputed to be haunted by multiple ghosts) is selling ghost tickets to fill in the seats required for social distancing.

If your local venues are important to them, consider leaping over to the Save Our Stages website and ask your legislators to send a little of that stimulus money to your local venues.