Support J and Ben's Dream Music Venue in Memphis

Havenhaus began a few years ago by J Opp with a dream of providing a house music venue in Memphis, Tennessee after COVID-19 left a massive hole in our underground music scene. Ben Reese hopped on to support J and what started as an every once in a while house venue quickly expanded into a space that frequently hosted bands up to 3 times a week by the beginning of 2024. We hosted more than 150 shows at Havenhaus and saw the potential to provide a better experience for our musicians and attendees.

By May 2024, we had to leave Havenhaus behind and evolved into Warehaus, a major upgrade from a house venue to an industrial garage based out of the Young Avenue Sound Recording Studio in Historic Cooper-Young, which offered a grander experience for touring and local musicians. This year we hosted 90 shows and 380 artists at Warehaus with some shows bringing in more than 120 people. Over 150 touring bands have booked our stage including Kaonashi, Body Box, Feeble Little Horse, Sword II, No Cure, Grammy-nominated cellist Rushad Eggleston, Apes of the State, and Hong Kong F**k You!.

Recently, an opportunity fell into our lap: Expand into a real music venue. Music has been a large part of our lives. Both of us are musicians with respective bands—Spite House, Banales, and Crum. B. So when the opportunity came to move into the space next to Earnestine & Hazel's in downtown Memphis, we didn't ask if we could make it happen, we asked HOW can we make this happen.

This GFM will help with the initial costs of getting the venue ready. The space has been unused for a few years now. Here is what we need:

1. The space was unused, so it needs a deep cleaning and repairs.

2. The stage needs to be reworked.

3. We need funds to have a POS system.[a]

4. We need music equipment upgrades.

5. Initial stock of beer, sodas and other non-alcoholic options.

We are both getting older. It's time to move up and to pass on the DIY venue torch to the next generation. And the further we go up, the more we can provide and serve to our community that has graciously given us more than we could ever ask for and leave room for someone else to take our old spot.

At the moment, we are only asking for a goal of $10,000, but we are happy with even a small amount. We are both proud of what we built, and we love the Memphis community. We want to be able to serve full-time, being able to put on shows 5 nights a week versus 8-12 times a month.

Our Instagram where we publish the most is @havenhaus901

We appreciate everything from all of you!