We’re in a pinch and facing eviction if we dont come up with some money, fast.

Our monthly bills total approximately $6,758 per month. This includes rent, insurance, electricity, sound equipment payments, internet and water bills. This doesn’t include the nearly $40,000 of renovations and improvements we’ve made to the space since signing our lease in November of 2025.

Currently we are two months behind on rent and 3 months behind on electricity.

Due to the standard 70/30 payout split for bands, we’re not making enough to cover our bills.

To date we have paid out $49,260 to 237 bands and have made $21,111 take home since our opening in January.

That’s a deficit of well over $50,000

We will never recoup our initial renovation expenses and we don’t expect to, but we could use some help to raise money to get caught up on our bills and pay for our HVAC to be fixed before winter.

We aren’t wealthy. We are a working class family and almost every part of Ante Up was funded by our hard earned money.

This week we were granted our 501c3 status as a non profit, which is incredible news! However, it will take time to apply and receive grant money. Most of which won’t come until next year. It will help, but by no means will it cover all of our bills.

Not only is Ante Up a volunteer run art space, we also donate our space to many different mutual aid groups to use for classes and gatherings. Most of our shows are donation based in order to give back to these mutual aid groups and charities that do so much for our community.

We hate to ask, but as we’re learning, Do It Yourself doesn’t mean do it by yourself. We need to lean on our community to continue our important work of not only giving bands a place to play but offering up a safe and sober space for people to congregate.

Thank you for your ongoing support. We can’t tell you how much it means to us.

-Audra & Steve