Til We Meet Again: Support the Indiana Independent Venue Alliance!

The coronavirus response is hitting the music community especially hard. Artists are losing income from lost shows and album releases that have been thrown off, and many have also lost their safety net backup income at service industry jobs. For now audiences are left trying to support them through bandcamp sales, merch sales, go fund mes, and supporting grants like the Arts Council’s Arts and Culture Grants and Kheprw Institute’s LEAD Grants.

What of the independent venues though? They have invested years of their lives into providing spaces for audiences and artists and they are now stuck with virtually no source of income for months at best. The recently created Indiana Independent Venue Alliance hopes to address some of these issues. Building off of the work of the National Independent Venue Alliance, which focuses on lobbying and fundraising for independent venues on a national level, MOKB’s Josh Baker and others started running early to organize a local version. IIVA now consists of 39 local independent venues and organizations including: the Hi-Fi; The Melody Inn; The Hoosier Dome; White Rabbit; The Bluebird; Healer; the Bishop; The Vogue; The Moustrap… and many more. Already, this group has brought together owners of venues to support each other and collaborate in an unprecedented manner. Working off of suggestions from the Indy Music Strategy, they are putting together a platform to help them weather this storm and come out stronger than before.

How can YOU help? Tonight is the first big event for this group. Tonight you can watch “Til We Meet Again”, a virtual event and fundraiser for the organizations. The event technically starts at 6, but longtime board members and MFT legends Rob Peoni and Seth Johnson put together a playlist of all local music that starts before the event at 5, so tune in early! Tonight’s event will feature performances by amazing Indiana artists like Houndmouth, Otis Gibbs, Durand Jones, Rob Dixon, Bashiri Asad, Whiskey Wolves of the West, Chris Shaffer, a reunion of Owen & Thomas from The Elms… as well as national acts like Ruston Kelly and Chris Carraba. It will also feature guest appearances by VIPs like Dave Lindquist (Indy Star), Doug Gillard (Guided By Voices / Nada Surf / Cobra Verde), Kenny Aronoff (uh… everything), author John Green, and even Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett!

How do you tune in: The event will be streaming on a number of channels including: 92.3 WTTS; Klipsch; DO317; IIVA’s facebook and the home page.

Can’t tune in? You can support IIVA by purchasing merch off their website too!