Help Farewell and Howdy Through Tax Hikes

Hi my name is Max, and I started Farewell and Howdy, two DIY venues on the east side of Kansas City.

I’ve had the joy of turning these mostly abandoned buildings into a bustling hub of music, art and community with all of the people I love over the last seven years.

The buildings are often described as “diamonds in the rough” because the neighboring buildings are mostly abandoned, meth labs, or both. We’ve spent years replumbing, rewiring, reframing, and really slowly changing every aspect of the space to more adequately represent the community that lives in its walls. And it’s largely built out of cool garbage and salvaged goods because we’ve also been consistently broke the entire time we’ve operated.

I’ve been running DIY venues for the last 13 years, and the goal with Farewell (and subsequently Howdy) has been to have a space that can be here in perpetuity. Forever. Unmoved by city or county BS. The goal was also creating a space that doesn’t undermine other communities operating in the city. I wanted to build a thing that could be home to anyone needing a home in the arts, and could do so without displacing anyone - a big insane clubhouse that wouldn’t compromise in the mission to make a safe gathering space for ALL the punks, weirdos and normies I love.

This last two weeks saw a lot of turbulence around that goal. Jackson County reappraised our “shit hole buildings” (as lovingly described on social media) at 1100% their previous value.

I immediately appealed and got the rates reduced some, closer to 4-500%, and I’m awaiting the conclusion of that process. But the increase is going to hurt a lot.

This place has been my labor of love - and a loooot of other peoples’ labor of love. This was the first year we actually made enough money to pay for our licensing renewals without me paying out of pocket, because the goal the whole time has been to get money in the pockets of the artists who perform and occupy this space. We don’t take massive door cuts, we have pay what you can entry $, we still sell Hamms cheaper than anywhere in the city, and have the best, most affordable cup of coffee for miles… all because I believe in accessibility and ensuring that people can be here even if they can’t pay.

Being in radical spaces like that as a kid saved my life and fostering a space like this in the last seven years has continued to save my life. And I hope that if you’re reading this it’s because Farewell and Howdy have left a lasting impact on your life too: a show here that you’ll never forget, the backyard garden where you met a friend or partner, the first place where you peed sitting next to your best friend at the exact same time.

Ive been deeply uncomfortable asking for help for Farewell over the years because I’ve always wanted us to be the platform FOR helping people, and for fostering benefits and mutual aid everywhere we can. But after a metric ton of people told me to ask for help.. this time I relented and I’m asking for you to consider donating to help us set aside a Fund to pay the dramatically increased property taxes. Anything above and beyond the tax fund we will be using to try to finally wrap up the unhinged back room remodels you’ve been witnessing the last 9 months, so that we can open a proper small kitchen, and work to change our licensing to allow Farewell to be ALL AGES AGAIN.

If you donate you have expressed written consent to tag anywhere in the bathrooms. Even on the toilets.

I love this community and we’ll move and shake and make it work until I’m old and dead. Thanks for reading XOXO

Max