Save the clock tower!
July 10, 2009 | Contributed by Kyle Pflug
Spokane has always been a city with a small but passionate independent music sector, which has been able to thrive due to the activism on the part of students and local establishments friendly to the arts. Many Whitworthians have fond memories of nights spent at the Empyrean, a downtown coffeehouse which serves up more culture than you’ll find at any dozen regular establishments.
Unfortunately, a recently passed state law (RCW 19.27.500) requiring automatic sprinklers in all “nightclubs” (any place with a dance floor larger than 350 square feet) has the potential to force the Empyrean to shut down.
The Empyrean, founded two years ago by sisters Chrisy and Michelle Riddle as a personal commitment to community service, has been one of Spokane’s greatest friends to independent artists, poets, and bored students.
Installing a new sprinkler system would cost more than $20,000, which is money the owners do not have.
“It will basically shut us down,” Co-Owner of the Empyrean Chrisy Riddle said.
[...]
The sisters don’t make any money here, but they rely on their day jobs for income. They say this is their community service.
“I always had this dream about owning a coffee shop that would be also a center for the arts,” Riddle said.
She may have to wake up from the dream this winter, when a new law will require any business with a performing or dancing area that has an area 350 square feet or more, to have automatic sprinklers installed.
“Unless some miracle happens, or the law changes, or somehow we find the money we need, our plan is that we may have to close on November 30,” Riddle said.
[News coverage: http://www.kxly.com/Global/story.asp?S=10667473]
The Empyrean’s closure would truly be a great loss to the community. Unfortunately, it sounds as though the amount of money in question is essentially insurmountable without what Riddle calls a “miracle.
So here’s a thought: Whitworth’s students have the capacity to make that miracle happen. $20,000 across, say, 2,000 students starts to look pretty affordable pretty fast. I’m not intimately familiar with ASWU bylaws and financial regulations (especially as an ex-student), but it seems to me that a few motivated campaigners could get a benefit concert going on-campus. With sufficient impassioned advertising, a $10-30 ticket price over the course of one or two concerts could make a serious dent in solving the Empyrean’s problem.
What sorts of creative solutions do you folks have?
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9 Responses to “Save the clock tower!”
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And who is the campus activities coordinator for next year?
That would be Conor Larkin, Kyle. Here is his email if you need to get a hold of him: tlarkin10@whitworth.edu
Here’s a story from the Inlander that trudges a little further into the firestorm that’s sweeping the music scene:
http://www.inlander.com/content/music_empyrean_and_other_music_venues_worry_about_spokanes_sprinkler_ordinance
To put the $20,000 in perspective:
$5,000 is about what the ASWU spends on retreats for itself every year.
$10,000 is what the cultural events coordinator — a relatively new position — gets to spend on events for the year.
$500,000 is what it would cost Whitworth for the required on-ramp to close Whitworth Drive.
I think an argument could be made for giving a large donation to the Empyrean through the ASWU capital account. There’s a long line of precedent for giving large sums of money to external charities, so this wouldn’t be unheard of.
And in The Inlander, Riddle only estimates it would cost $10,000.
Looking into this a little further it appears that Riddle has not had an estimate done. The figures she’s been giving have been her own estimates.
Obviously, any fundraising campaign would be irresponsible until we know exactly how much funds need to be raised.
It’s a sound point, and it’s certainly also worth pointing out that any campaign should certainly be predicated on a fuller understanding of the situation and the legitimacy of the financial situation that the Empyrean is in – I.E., just handing them a bunch of student money is irresponsible.
That said, I posted this because there is a time factor, and I think awareness of both the problem and the position students are in to help is the first step towards potentially saving something great.
Let’s also not forget that the Empyrean is just one of several venues threatened. Others include the Caterina Winery and Dempsey’s Brass Rail.
I believe the article you posted stated that they (Dempsey’s and Caterina) said they’d be able to cover the situation.
Even so, losing The Empyrean would be a big blow to local music, an even bigger blow to local poetry and a blow to the attraction downtown has for Whitworth students, convincing them to get out of their bubble. Basically, it would blow.
I’m honestly skeptical as to how far fundraising for a for-profit business would get us, but we can at least connect with the Empyrean owners and other people in the local music industry to share strategies and maybe even develop a new venue ourselves.
Last year, employees of Greater Spokane Inc started a project in an effort to nurture the all ages music community. I’ll attach a link to the proposal here: http://spovangelist.com/spokane-all-ages-music-initiative/. The design was modeled after the Vera Project, but it was lacking in grassroots support. Unfortunately it didn’t last longer than two public forums. It wasn’t that there wasn’t anyone committed to the project – there were over 30 members from the community on it – there was passion for it, but that passion needed to be directed in the most productive way possible.
We are the grassroots; we have the energy now and with the right visioners, we can round up enough people up for the cause. We could use our resources and writing talent to develop a more secure community-driven nonprofit music and arts space if we’re interested. That’s something we can even start at Whitworth before we invite business owners into it. We have the potential to start a steering committee on the project or at least start some good dialogue on the topic.
Please let me know if this interest you in any way, and I’ll be happy to write up a proposal on here to try to get us started. I’ve volunteered at the Vera Project many times (because I just can’t stop), and I must say that it offers the best educational opportunities around. We can also start a volunteer-run music and art space; just being in the process of creating it is a huge service to all involved.