Support The Fox Cabaret!
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Support Your Local Independent Venue!
The Fox Cabaret is a small independent music venue in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood of Vancouver. We are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are asking for your help to make it through this crisis. As a venue with no food service, we are among the hardest hit by the mandated shutdowns, the first to close and the last to reopen - at least for those lucky enough to make it until then. There was a brief period this summer when we were allowed to open as a lounge, but with restrictions on everything we’re known for, we found that it cost us more than we made, and put the business at even greater risk.
We know it’s a tough time for everyone and it’s not easy to ask for your help. Most businesses have taken a serious hit this year and few in our community are financially flourishing. Jobs have been lost and many are struggling to pay rent in our beautiful, but expensive, city. We get it and we wish it hadn’t come to this for the Fox, a once booming business. The live music and entertainment sector is suffering almost everywhere and, although we’ve done our best to make it on our own, to apply for aid, adapt, economize, and pivot toward filmed events, it’s not enough to cover our expenses. We were even turned down for a loan from our bank because of the government closure - the very reason we needed it!
We’re hoping to raise $30,000 to cover some of our basic and outstanding costs. We’re grateful for any and all contributions!
The Fox in Context
The Fox Cabaret is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. In making this acknowledgement, we wish to convey our respect and gratitude for their past and present contributions to protecting, preserving and sharing the land on which we're fortunate enough to live and run a business. This knowledge and our understanding of the effects of colonization informs our commitment to anti-oppressive values at the Fox and our openness to new learning about how to best put them into practice.
The club has been in business since 2014 when it took over the space formerly occupied by the last adult cinema in the city, and reputedly, even the last full-time 35mm porn theatre in North America. It was of course given a serious clean up and revamped before it reopened for a new audience (though we’ve had a few baffled former patrons at the door looking for “movies”). All that’s really left of the building’s past incarnation is the old Fox marquee now above the main bar, allowing those onstage to see their name in lights - some of them for the very first time.
With the marquee changing nightly during busy seasons, the Cabaret has hosted a variety of shows, including hundreds of live music events featuring a wide variety of local and touring acts. It has become a home for many artists, musicians, comedians, dance troupes and DJs, with an extensive team of employees, performers and guests who love it. There is also a small stage up in the old Projection Room designed for more intimate and acoustic acts. The Fox has been described as a creative hub, a neighbourhood nightclub, even a church of rock‘n’roll, where many regular revelers come to lift their collective spirits.
It’s also regarded as a haven for a diverse cross-section of locals and visitors who appreciate its fun and friendly vibes. We strive to be inclusive in all facets of the business and to create a welcoming space for everyone. We want everyone to feel safe and at home at the Fox - provided they are over 19 and don’t interfere with the well-being and enjoyment of others! We believe that this is our responsibility to the communities we serve, to our staff, performers, customers, visitors, and neighbours, to everyone we share the space and land with. It’s a role we hope to continue to play in the city post-COVID and indefinitely.
Vancouverites have known for a long time that their independent venues are an endangered species. For years, skyrocketing development in the city has put our survival on the line and the landscape has seen a dwindling of the number of small venues. We know how much work, passion, and resolve it takes to keep a live music club alive here, let alone to create the conditions for it to thrive. But we also recognize that there is an entire ecosystem of professional talent that depends on the existence of small stages. Along with other clubs in the city, we are essential economic and cultural supports for artists and industries which span the nation, continent, and world. In the last years, we were doing our small part to contribute to this network and we were beginning to see the results of our labours in a healthy business with a full calendar.
Nevertheless, the Fox has not been without its challenges. It was definitely a setback when our beloved new boss, Craig Doyle aka Mac Pontiac, died suddenly after complications from a heart procedure in early 2018. As the owner of Bang-on T-shirts, as well as a songwriter and live music performer around town for about 20 years, he brought his vast experience to running the Fox. It was a major loss to the business when he passed. Yet, we were fortunate to have a committed and loyal team of people to band together and save the place. We’ve made it a mission to keep the club going in his memory, striving to uphold his keen mind for business, eye for aesthetics and ear for music, along with his infamous generosity and stress on keeping our workers, performers and guests happy. We introduced a benefits package for employees (now sadly shelved), painted our battered floors (a repetitive task and testament to the multitudes of moving feet on them), got a new high lumen projector, and just upgraded our sound system and acoustic treatment last year. This recent investment in a Meyer PA system was transformative, a phenomenal improvement in clarity, power and warmth, and we were getting close to completing payments on it when we were shut down in March. We went from having a packed program with many bookings a year out, and record sales in February, to countless long, dark and quiet nights.
Despite the difficulties germane to operating a venue in Vancouver, including doubling rent and insurance costs, we seemed to be beating the odds, at least until COVID-19 came to town. The pandemic has only made the situation more critical for venues and introduced new obstacles for us. Unlike many closed businesses, since March, we’ve had to pay full rent with no access to the government’s CECRA program for rent relief. It doesn’t look like any new program will be retroactive before late fall and the business is still not out of danger. Some government help, a loan and grants have kept certain imminent death at bay, and we are grateful to CreativeBC and Factor for recognizing the importance of concert venues and giving us a hand. Without those emergency grants, we would have been bankrupt already by October. We are grateful to the Canadian Live Music Association and the Canadian Independent Venue Coalition for advocating for this aid. Indeed, it is largely thanks to them that there is growing recognition from the public and politicians that the entire live music industry depends on whether small independent venues can weather the challenges ahead.
It’s often felt like an uphill battle these last eight months with little hope to sustain us, especially with the mandated closures, ongoing rent and increasing insurance rates, with no end in sight. We have no idea when a vaccine may become widely available enough for it to be considered safe enough for us to open again. Our staff have suffered layoffs or severe wage cuts, offering to volunteer their time, and an extensive number of contracted employees have no work from us at all. Our performers are left without a stage on which to make a living, and the small businesses around us are suffering even more due to our closure.
We are asking you and our community of Fox friends for any donations that you may wish to make to the cause. We want to be here with our old team when the government gives the green light for clubs to open again. Our plan is to use any proceeds to pay our fixed costs, outstanding debts, and our core staff, to ensure we can take bookings - to help artists use the venue for recording and filming during the shutdown, and to give us a shot at making it if and when we can reopen. We truly hope that the Fox can stay in business and continue doing future events like our monthly 4x4s. Composed entirely of local acts, they offer four Vancouver bands a stage, payment and proceeds, often for their first time performing in public. More than anything, we want to contribute to the local arts and entertainment scene, to give back to, and grow our community. We’re grateful to everyone who has performed on our stages and come through our doors and we want to make sure we can open them for you again. Thanks for reading about our little venue and for your support!
The Fox Cabaret is a small independent music venue in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood of Vancouver. We are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are asking for your help to make it through this crisis. As a venue with no food service, we are among the hardest hit by the mandated shutdowns, the first to close and the last to reopen - at least for those lucky enough to make it until then. There was a brief period this summer when we were allowed to open as a lounge, but with restrictions on everything we’re known for, we found that it cost us more than we made, and put the business at even greater risk.
We know it’s a tough time for everyone and it’s not easy to ask for your help. Most businesses have taken a serious hit this year and few in our community are financially flourishing. Jobs have been lost and many are struggling to pay rent in our beautiful, but expensive, city. We get it and we wish it hadn’t come to this for the Fox, a once booming business. The live music and entertainment sector is suffering almost everywhere and, although we’ve done our best to make it on our own, to apply for aid, adapt, economize, and pivot toward filmed events, it’s not enough to cover our expenses. We were even turned down for a loan from our bank because of the government closure - the very reason we needed it!
We’re hoping to raise $30,000 to cover some of our basic and outstanding costs. We’re grateful for any and all contributions!
The Fox in Context
The Fox Cabaret is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. In making this acknowledgement, we wish to convey our respect and gratitude for their past and present contributions to protecting, preserving and sharing the land on which we're fortunate enough to live and run a business. This knowledge and our understanding of the effects of colonization informs our commitment to anti-oppressive values at the Fox and our openness to new learning about how to best put them into practice.
The club has been in business since 2014 when it took over the space formerly occupied by the last adult cinema in the city, and reputedly, even the last full-time 35mm porn theatre in North America. It was of course given a serious clean up and revamped before it reopened for a new audience (though we’ve had a few baffled former patrons at the door looking for “movies”). All that’s really left of the building’s past incarnation is the old Fox marquee now above the main bar, allowing those onstage to see their name in lights - some of them for the very first time.
With the marquee changing nightly during busy seasons, the Cabaret has hosted a variety of shows, including hundreds of live music events featuring a wide variety of local and touring acts. It has become a home for many artists, musicians, comedians, dance troupes and DJs, with an extensive team of employees, performers and guests who love it. There is also a small stage up in the old Projection Room designed for more intimate and acoustic acts. The Fox has been described as a creative hub, a neighbourhood nightclub, even a church of rock‘n’roll, where many regular revelers come to lift their collective spirits.
It’s also regarded as a haven for a diverse cross-section of locals and visitors who appreciate its fun and friendly vibes. We strive to be inclusive in all facets of the business and to create a welcoming space for everyone. We want everyone to feel safe and at home at the Fox - provided they are over 19 and don’t interfere with the well-being and enjoyment of others! We believe that this is our responsibility to the communities we serve, to our staff, performers, customers, visitors, and neighbours, to everyone we share the space and land with. It’s a role we hope to continue to play in the city post-COVID and indefinitely.
Vancouverites have known for a long time that their independent venues are an endangered species. For years, skyrocketing development in the city has put our survival on the line and the landscape has seen a dwindling of the number of small venues. We know how much work, passion, and resolve it takes to keep a live music club alive here, let alone to create the conditions for it to thrive. But we also recognize that there is an entire ecosystem of professional talent that depends on the existence of small stages. Along with other clubs in the city, we are essential economic and cultural supports for artists and industries which span the nation, continent, and world. In the last years, we were doing our small part to contribute to this network and we were beginning to see the results of our labours in a healthy business with a full calendar.
Nevertheless, the Fox has not been without its challenges. It was definitely a setback when our beloved new boss, Craig Doyle aka Mac Pontiac, died suddenly after complications from a heart procedure in early 2018. As the owner of Bang-on T-shirts, as well as a songwriter and live music performer around town for about 20 years, he brought his vast experience to running the Fox. It was a major loss to the business when he passed. Yet, we were fortunate to have a committed and loyal team of people to band together and save the place. We’ve made it a mission to keep the club going in his memory, striving to uphold his keen mind for business, eye for aesthetics and ear for music, along with his infamous generosity and stress on keeping our workers, performers and guests happy. We introduced a benefits package for employees (now sadly shelved), painted our battered floors (a repetitive task and testament to the multitudes of moving feet on them), got a new high lumen projector, and just upgraded our sound system and acoustic treatment last year. This recent investment in a Meyer PA system was transformative, a phenomenal improvement in clarity, power and warmth, and we were getting close to completing payments on it when we were shut down in March. We went from having a packed program with many bookings a year out, and record sales in February, to countless long, dark and quiet nights.
Despite the difficulties germane to operating a venue in Vancouver, including doubling rent and insurance costs, we seemed to be beating the odds, at least until COVID-19 came to town. The pandemic has only made the situation more critical for venues and introduced new obstacles for us. Unlike many closed businesses, since March, we’ve had to pay full rent with no access to the government’s CECRA program for rent relief. It doesn’t look like any new program will be retroactive before late fall and the business is still not out of danger. Some government help, a loan and grants have kept certain imminent death at bay, and we are grateful to CreativeBC and Factor for recognizing the importance of concert venues and giving us a hand. Without those emergency grants, we would have been bankrupt already by October. We are grateful to the Canadian Live Music Association and the Canadian Independent Venue Coalition for advocating for this aid. Indeed, it is largely thanks to them that there is growing recognition from the public and politicians that the entire live music industry depends on whether small independent venues can weather the challenges ahead.
It’s often felt like an uphill battle these last eight months with little hope to sustain us, especially with the mandated closures, ongoing rent and increasing insurance rates, with no end in sight. We have no idea when a vaccine may become widely available enough for it to be considered safe enough for us to open again. Our staff have suffered layoffs or severe wage cuts, offering to volunteer their time, and an extensive number of contracted employees have no work from us at all. Our performers are left without a stage on which to make a living, and the small businesses around us are suffering even more due to our closure.
We are asking you and our community of Fox friends for any donations that you may wish to make to the cause. We want to be here with our old team when the government gives the green light for clubs to open again. Our plan is to use any proceeds to pay our fixed costs, outstanding debts, and our core staff, to ensure we can take bookings - to help artists use the venue for recording and filming during the shutdown, and to give us a shot at making it if and when we can reopen. We truly hope that the Fox can stay in business and continue doing future events like our monthly 4x4s. Composed entirely of local acts, they offer four Vancouver bands a stage, payment and proceeds, often for their first time performing in public. More than anything, we want to contribute to the local arts and entertainment scene, to give back to, and grow our community. We’re grateful to everyone who has performed on our stages and come through our doors and we want to make sure we can open them for you again. Thanks for reading about our little venue and for your support!
Fundraising team (3)
Christine Bortolin
Organizer
Vancouver, BC
Adam Fink
Team member
Darlene Rigo
Team member
