Photo Credit: Allen Halas
Cactus Club Exterior
While live music venues around the country are faced with difficult times ahead, Bay View music staple Cactus Club is in an especially tough predicament. With that in mind, the club announced on Thursday that they will begin a series of digital programming, broadcasting from the venue and elsewhere online, as well as a crowd-funding Patreon campaign to help support the artist-run initiatives that they host.
After nearly a decade of working at the club, former director of programming Kelsey Kaufmann purchased the venue in February of this year. However, that transition included creating a new parent company, technically making Cactus Club a new business once again, despite operating as a bar and music venue under the same name since the '50s. Because of that change, the club was ineligible to meet the criteria for federal Payroll Protection Program funding, leaving Kaufmann and her close-knit staff in a tough position. Fortunately, a GoFundMe campaign and several other fundraising efforts, including the recent FM 1021 “Save Our Stages” Radiothon, have kept the lights on. Kaufmann hopes that this shift in focus will be the next step for the club’s long-term success.
“In this time of great uncertainty, Cactus Club continues to extend our platform with many community partners, including filmmakers, artists, and local organizations” said Kaufmann. “It’s also a time for experimenting with different mediums, for both us and the artists on our lineup.”
In addition to regular carry-out hours from Thursday thru Sunday and utilizing the club’s limited outdoor seating going forward, the venue has created a pay-what-you-can campaign on Patreon, accepting regular donations beginning at $5 monthly donations upward. This will provide access to digital programming for patrons via Vimeo, including live streams, concerts, workshops, and films from the Cactus Club Video Series, among a variety of other content options.
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The club has already begun their test run of shows this past weekend, with a DJ set, as well as a backyard concert from Johanna Rose and Nikki Morgan. Digital Live programming is currently scheduled through the month of August.
