Rolling Stone
Save Our Stages: How an Industry Hail Mary Became Live Music’s $15 Billion Lifeline
“There’s been a lot of hard work that’s been put into this to make sure that everyone who the bill was really intended for will be able to get what they need,” says venue owner and NIVA member Kerri Park
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For Dayna Frank, owner of First Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the feeling was completely indescribable. For Kerri Park, general manager at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, there was a palpable shift towards positivity. For Christine Karayan, owner of the Troubadour in Los Angeles, there was still some understandable hesitancy. It was Monday evening and Congressional leaders had only agreed on a Covid-19 relief package that included much-needed funding for independent music venues around the country, but no votes had actually been cast. “What these nine, ten months have taught me,” Karayan says with a laugh, “is don’t assume anything.”