When the New York Times quoted Zeke Emanuel, director of the Healthcare Transformation Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, as saying he didn’t believe it would be safe to hold large-scale public gatherings such as concerts, sporting events, and conferences until “fall 2021 at the earliest,” it was a gut punch for many.
Will Sartain was among them — not because, like most, he was taken aback by the proclamation, but because it confirmed his worst suspicions.
The co-owner of local music promotion company Sartain & Saunders, he discussed the economic ramifications of coronavirus-related social distancing and the resulting shutdown of nonessential businesses with The Salt Lake Tribune in early April. “My outlook is we could be closed for a year and a half,” he said. “That’s my realistic thought.”
Now, he and business partner Lance Saunders are taking steps to try to keep their business going, for however long it may be dark.
In addition to taking out some substantial loans, S&S has also recently made an appeal for public support — but with a twist. On the social media channels and websites of the venues they run (Urban Lounge, Metro Music Hall and Kilby Court), visitors are told that a $25 donation will yield $30 in future ticket use; a $50 donation will provide $60 worth of tickets plus a venue T-shirt, and so on.
“I like that we’re giving people something instead of saying, ‘Just give us money,’” Sartain said. “I see it as an opportunity to get more people involved.”
Indeed, he hopes this proves to be a way of solidifying the local music community.
Sartain said that S&S intends to send out a future monthly newsletter to people who have donated, letting them know of upcoming events that might interest them, concerts that might be worth using their ticket money on, even including songs to check out.
Which is not to say this isn’t, at its heart, a move made out of self-preservation.
Sartain and Saunders still need to make a living. They also have four other full-time employees at S&S they have to pay. And just because there aren’t any events going on at their music venues, that doesn’t mean the rent at those places has stopped.
“This was born out of, just, simply it costs us a lot of money every month to be dark,” Sartain said. “… Rent and staff is so much money. Yeah, it’s brutal. But, I mean, the loans are going to help a lot. We’re willing to go into debt to make this work. I believe in it, and I know our community believes in it. So we can go into debt and come back from this.”
And he’s seen that community belief already start to manifest itself.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) S&S co-owners Will Sartain and Lance Saunders, who operate the venues Metro Music Hall, Urban Lounge and Kilby Court, are offering a promotion in an attempt to weather the financial uncertainty caused by the coronavirus shutdown by soliciting public donations now in exchange for tickets of greater value later.
While he declined to provide specific figures, Sartain said that in the week or so since S&S first made its plea for public support, he’s been “overwhelmed” by the response.
“People have very generous and supportive and saying, ‘We want you here when things change.’ So that’s that’s kind of like an uplifting thing,” Sartain said. “… We’ve been really surprised — a lot of people are donating bigger amounts that we didn’t expect. And it’s just a relief. … We’re grateful for the people that have been able to support us.”
He’s hopeful he’ll be able to thank supporters with some kind of show sooner rather than later.
While Sartain suspects that the big, national tours and larger concerts will be off-limits until there is a COVID-19 vaccine in place (which, he noted, could mean even longer delays, perhaps as far out as May 2022), there is also the possibility that small-scale shows could be allowed much sooner.
“I bet we could do 50-capacity shows in six months or a year,” he said. “I hope in six months we get smaller shows back.”
