save our stages A
fter 44 years on Commonwealth Ave, local music
club Great Scott announced on May 1 that they would be closing due to the pandemic. For Tufts students and Boston locals alike, Great Scott was a mainstay of the Allston neighborhood—a place where communities came together to watch local and national acts perform on the same stage. In an interview
with NPR, Great Scott’s General Manager, Tim Philbin, said, “I think we’ve also lost a space that was open to all, a space that was welcoming and genuine. This was a place for art and culture. Where does that go?” Philbin isn’t the only one who is feeling Great Scott’s loss. Following the announcement, the club received over 25,000 signatures on a petition to “Save Great Scott” and $300,000 in crowdsourced investment dollars. Although Great Scott were still unable to reach an agreement with their landlord, the outpour of support from the community enabled the club to sign a letter of intent to relocate to a new location on Harvard Ave. But with the pandemic still raging, nothing is set in stone. Great Scott was the first of many independent music venues across the country who have been forced to
COVID-19 and Boston’s Music Venues BY JULIA BERNICKER shut their doors because of COVID-19 and who might not ever open them again. According to a survey by the recently founded National Independent Venues Association (NIVA), 90% of arts spaces are expected not to survive after COVID-19. These spaces were the first to close and will be the last to reopen, even as restaurants and other indoor businesses are resuming operations at reduced capacity around the country. For context, indoors performance venues will only be allowed to reopen in Massachusetts during phase 3 and 4 of the state’s reopening plan, and will likely be forced to operate at reduced capacity. Should ticket sales not resume until 2021, an estimated $9 billion in losses are expected, according to the same survey. While venues attached to large corporations like Live Nation or AEG might survive, it is the small, indie spots that are hit the hardest. These losses also hit closest to home, as Somerville spots Bull McCabe’s Pub and Thunder Road Music Club have also announced their closures. Bull McCabe’s Pub owner Brian Manning said to Wicked Local, “Legal battles, construction, an ever-changing neighborhood, and many other causes have made it increasingly difficult for us over the past few years.”
