For those of you who don't know me, my name is Indira Nanavati, I own the restaurant & live music venue, La Rev. In November we will (hopefully) be celebrating our 10th anniversary! It hasn't been easy making it to this point. This isn't the first time I've thought of reaching out for help via GoFundMe, but it is the first time I've been left with no other recourse. 
      
     As most of you know, the service industry, and artistic community, are two groups who have been hit the hardest financially, due to the forced closure of event spaces to promote social distancing. These two groups are the core of what makes La Rev the special place that it is. 

    Being a musician myself, La Rev has always been primarily about the music. We feature music 6-7 nights a week, and 3-4 of those nights will often feature more than one act. Our diverse space has allowed us to support a wide range of genres over the years, from flamenco, comedy, blues and Latin rock, to jazz, classical, punk, and folk music. This doesn't begin to cover the great times shared here at La Rev, and what it has meant to so many people. Having to close during this pandemic, has moved me to reflect over all the wonderful, and small but mighty weekly and monthly shows we support here. And my heart is breaking, for there is nothing I can currently do for the people who have made La Rev what is has become today.

    I make it a point to offer our performers a guaranteed pay, and a guaranteed meal and drink of their choice. Besides that, they depend on their weekly tips and music sales from the fans. But whether I make the sales or not, the artists get paid. On average, we spend a minimum of $815-$1000 per week paying musicians. People tend to imagine nightclub/restaurant owners as wealthy because they see packed houses on the weekends. But as my fellow venue owners/managers know, we are barely making our bills each month, or are often times bailing ourselves out with any personal savings or credit we may have access to. La Rev relies entirely on our week to week sales, which is why things seem so dire almost immediately after the shut down. 

   I want to be completely transparent on what any donated funds will be directly used for:

-$4000 will be distributed to the musicians who depend on us for weekly payment. 

-$4,477 towards our rent payment.

-$5000 will be divided among our staff of 6 to help with basic payments. I know my staff and their households like my own family, so between us we will make sure that their basic needs (food and shelter) are met.

-$700 will be for our amazing cleaning staff who has agreed to come in and deep clean/sanitize at a discounted rate until the virus passes. 

    This will cover us for a month or so. April is around the corner, and though sales have stopped, bills have not. I'm hoping the extra time this buys us will allow for brainstorming more thoughtful ways of helping our community and our staff while this crisis takes the time it needs to slow back down. 

    At the moment we are averaging 6 take out orders per day, and unfortunately our delivery app partners haven’t waived their commission fees during this time as many had hoped. We haven’t had much of a chance to focus on our take-out game yet, as we specialize in live shows + eat-in dining. With the extra support from GoFundMe, I can continue to offer and improve take-out meals, as well as continue to donate free soup and napkins for the many shelter residents and low income earners in the Junction, as I have been doing since the pandemic closures were announced. 

    We've always been proud of being a community oriented business. Our focus is on the music community, and those in need that reside in or around the Junction. If you're in the position to give back to those communities, a small amount goes a long way. 100% of what we receive will go directly into the hands of musicians out of work due to the virus, toward helping our local shelter (Evangeline's woman shelter), Junction residents in need, and towards keeping La Rev afloat during this difficult time.

    We saw so many venues having to close already this year due to escalating rent costs in Toronto, and a general lack of support for live music. I know there are still thousands of us who depend on venues like La Rev to go see their favourite local artists, and at the end of the day my main goal is to still be here for those people once we are allowed to re-open. Stay safe, and thank you so much.

Sincerely,
Indira


Collage of events.

Sketches of our open-mic participants by local artist David Crighton.
All of whom are sorely missing the opportunity given to play here every Saturday afternoon.