Altered Stage Instructors Support Fund
Donation protected
Altered Stage is Chicago's only community of recreational musicians. We created the club to unite people through their love of music. To teach people to play music or to help them further their own musical journeys. While our Altered Stage community has grown closer in many ways through the pandemic, we've still had a significant decline in revenues. We expected membership holds as a result of the crisis, and have been fortunate that half of our members have stayed with us. But the drastic membership decline is about to have a significant impact on the instructors that have brought so much to our lives.
As musicians with an often unpredictable income, Nick, Jason, Jerry, Bree, and Vinny have all relied upon the steady source of income Altered Stage provides them. Our dedicated and talented instructors are working musicians, which means that pretty much all of their other income sources – gigs, weddings, special events, festivals, etc. – have completely evaporated. And with our drop in revenues we’ve had to tap our limited cash reserves, which will run out at the end of May. (We should note that pre-pandemic, our instructors directly received about 90 percent of our revenues, while the other 10 percent covered rent and things like beer, snacks, and equipment maintenance and repairs. Now they receive 100 percent of membership revenues. Owners have never taken profits or paid themselves back for initial and ongoing investments.) And, unfortunately, neither Altered Stage nor our instructors were able to participate in the Federal Payroll Protection Program, so the one source of steady income for our instructors is in jeopardy.
Your donation today will go directly to our team of Altered Stage instructors -- Nick, Jason, Aubrey, Jerry, and Vinny. We're asking for $12,000 for this campaign, the equivalent of one month's payroll to help our instructors supplement their lost income.
Our instructor team has done an amazing job in bringing the essence of our club – connecting through music – online with quality programming incredibly quickly. Based upon feedback from our Altered Stage community, our entire team has committed to keeping a rich offering of online programming going throughout the stay-at-home order for anyone who wants to feel a little normalcy. Frankly, they love doing it and want to provide our community with much-needed social connectivity and creative stimulation. We will continue to offer it to our members and non-members alike through the stay-at-home order.
At a time like this, words seem insufficient to express what being a part of this community has meant to our whole Altered Stage family. I know we'll come through this with your support. So let's help the folks who have brought so much to our lives.
With love and in music,
Jeff Bergau
Founder, Altered Stage
As musicians with an often unpredictable income, Nick, Jason, Jerry, Bree, and Vinny have all relied upon the steady source of income Altered Stage provides them. Our dedicated and talented instructors are working musicians, which means that pretty much all of their other income sources – gigs, weddings, special events, festivals, etc. – have completely evaporated. And with our drop in revenues we’ve had to tap our limited cash reserves, which will run out at the end of May. (We should note that pre-pandemic, our instructors directly received about 90 percent of our revenues, while the other 10 percent covered rent and things like beer, snacks, and equipment maintenance and repairs. Now they receive 100 percent of membership revenues. Owners have never taken profits or paid themselves back for initial and ongoing investments.) And, unfortunately, neither Altered Stage nor our instructors were able to participate in the Federal Payroll Protection Program, so the one source of steady income for our instructors is in jeopardy.
Your donation today will go directly to our team of Altered Stage instructors -- Nick, Jason, Aubrey, Jerry, and Vinny. We're asking for $12,000 for this campaign, the equivalent of one month's payroll to help our instructors supplement their lost income.
Our instructor team has done an amazing job in bringing the essence of our club – connecting through music – online with quality programming incredibly quickly. Based upon feedback from our Altered Stage community, our entire team has committed to keeping a rich offering of online programming going throughout the stay-at-home order for anyone who wants to feel a little normalcy. Frankly, they love doing it and want to provide our community with much-needed social connectivity and creative stimulation. We will continue to offer it to our members and non-members alike through the stay-at-home order.
At a time like this, words seem insufficient to express what being a part of this community has meant to our whole Altered Stage family. I know we'll come through this with your support. So let's help the folks who have brought so much to our lives.
With love and in music,
Jeff Bergau
Founder, Altered Stage
Fundraising team: Altered Stage Core Team (3)
Jeff Bergau
Organizer
Raised $2,775 from 21 donations
Chicago, IL
Cristina Filipescu
Team member
Raised $1,001 from 1 donation
Aubrey Aikens
Team member
Raised $250 from 2 donations
This team raised $6,600 from 35 other donations.
