Listen • 2:52
The State Theatre in Boyertown, Penn. photographed on Jan. 4, 2021. In April, the U.S. Small Business Administration had a troubled start to its Small Venue Operators Grant program.
Liz Tallent was by her computer, ready. She's the marketing and special events director at The Orange Peel in Asheville, N.C., a 1,050-cap venue that has hosted everyone from songwriter Nick Lowe, to Sublime cover band Badfish, to rapper Danny Brown. Like every other music venue, The Orange Peel was hit hard by the pandemic shut downs. Distanced indoor events would barely break even, and because of how the space is set up, there hasn't been a real way to do outdoor events, either.