THE GOOD NEWS: Wax Atlas’ volunteer DIY Show collective has just hit a big milestone: we’ve officially thrown more than 300 community events in under 3 years. And we’re just getting started…. Or so we hope...
THE BAD NEWS: With growth comes growing pains. Our shows are all ages and not for profit. Wax Atlas doesn’t take a cut. The problem? BGE is not an equally altruistic organization. THEY PLAN TO SHUT DOWN OUR ELECTRICITY APRIL 2ND.
BGE has started gouging more generally on prices for everyone. That said, the huge increase in our electric bill is actually the result of doubling our hours of operation to host community events (15-20 events a month adds 100+ hours to our open time).
More details below but here’s the basic breakdown of what we need to keep the lights on and shows up and running:
- Help paying a recently assessed “security deposit” fee that was essentially a shakedown
- Help clearing our current BGE balance
- Help raising enough money to pay ½ of the electric bill through the end of the year
- Cash to repair / refurbish our stage
- Cash to repair and repost our store sign which was destroyed in a recent storm
- Cash to build a permanent giveaway bin outside (the previous plastic ones were stolen / vandalized)
$1450 - Newly assessed “security deposit” added 18 months into our existing BGE agreements for no reason other than our increase in usage. We tried to appeal. They said no and issued a TURNOFF notice for APRIL 2nd.
$1650 - 1/2ish of current BGE ELECTRIC balance ($3386)
$5,400 1/2 of electric through 2026 (9 MONTHS - APRIL - DEC)
$500 - Stage / Light Repairs - After 300 shows, our stage needs patches, a new layer of plywood and a new layer of paint
$500 - Fix store sign which fell off of the building - Maybe it was the vibrational energy of the shows or just two years of insane wind, but half of our sign blew off and we need to replace it,
$500 - Build out semi permanent donation and giveaway bins for outside
ANYTHING WE RAISE ABOVE OUR GOAL WILL GO TOWARD OUR GAS FUND FOR TOURING BANDS AS WELL AS HELP US BUILD OUT OUR DIY ZONE WHICH ALLOWS ARTISTS TO CREATE THEIR OWN MERCH AT COST.
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ABOUT WAX ATLAS: Wax Atlas is a family run, not profit-driven, organization that repurposes media and electronics to reduce waste and then directs those funds to local arts programming in Baltimore, MD.