Fans of The Beehive in downtown Salt Lake City came through when the all-ages music venue asked for help, though the fundraising effort wasn’t without some snags — including a scam account funneling away some of the money.
Andrew Earley is the executive director of Alternative Arts and Music Program Utah (AAMP), the nonprofit organization that runs The Beehive event space, at 666 S. State St. He’s also the proprietor of Mark of the Beastro, a vegan coffee shop housed in the same building.
Earley said Tuesday that The Beehive’s landlords alluded that the venue could be in danger of closing, “but haven’t said anything definitive.”
The Beehive launched a fundraiser Tuesday via Instagram, asking people to donate to AAMP Utah’s Venmo account. The goal of the fundraiser was to raise at least $3,000 in the next week to cover the venue’s rent, utilities and other bills for June and July. Earley said they had a “stretch goal” of $5,000, “to make sure that that gives us about a month buffer.” The Beehive’s rent is about $4,800 a month, he said.
As of Wednesday, The Beehive had surpassed the “stretch goal,” raising more than $6,000.
“There is no easy way to say this,” the original post said. “Running two unique businesses in the heart of downtown SLC with increasing challenges has been no easy task and we have hit a wall.”
Earley said that yearlong construction on State Street “hurt us really, really badly.” People already complain about parking downtown, he said, and that with Salt Lake City’s changes to its parking policies that went into effect Tuesday, it will be difficult for people to park for late-night events at The Beehive.
The venue’s utility bills, and food costs for Mark of the Beastro, have also gone up.
“Everybody’s, I think, financially struggling,” Earley said.
He also said that summer and winter are traditionally slow seasons for The Beehive, which opened in 2016 and hosts a monthly battle of the bands and a weekly open-mic night, as well as burlesque shows, drag events, slam poetry and a variety of other programming that doesn’t have “institutional” support. AAMP Utah holds fundraisers regularly, but decided to hold this summer’s fundraiser earlier than usual.
“It’s definitely been one of the hardest summers we’ve ever had,” said Earley, who described this fundraiser as “dire.”
Earley said that between 65% and 75% of the money The Beehive gets from ticket sales goes back to the artists and contract workers, such as sound technicians and security guards at the door. Anything left over goes toward the venue’s overhead. AAMP Utah is completely volunteer-run, meaning they don’t collect a salary, he said.
Fundraisers ensure they can “keep putting the money from those concerts and from those events into the hands of the people who make it happen,” Earley said.
A scammer threw a wrench in the works on Tuesday, though. Earley said they received a message from someone asking if an account that appeared to belong to AAMP Utah was an official account. It was the same Venmo username, @AAMPUTAH, but with a hyphen at the end.
The Beehive posted on its Instagram saying that the official AAMP Utah Venmo account doesn’t have any punctuation or spaces, and that the modified username was a scammer account.
“I don’t think it was malicious, probably, but you never know,” Earley said.
The venue reported the account, and posted on Instagram saying that anyone who had donated to the fake account would need to call Venmo to get their money back.
Earley said Tuesday that at least 12 people had donated to the scammer account, but that Venmo was helping them recover the money they lost. On Wednesday, Earley said Venmo had suspended the fake account.
To help The Beehive, donate directly to @AAMPUtah in the Venmo app, or go to venmo.com/aamputah. You can also find The Beehive’s Venmo account by clicking on the link in the venue’s Instagram profile.
Earley said the venue accepts donations year-round, and also has membership plans and sponsorships available. He said the best way to support The Beehive, though, is to come to an event.
“We are incredibly grateful for all of the monetary support that people have given us, but we’d also love to see everybody’s faces,” he said.
Turning a restaurant into a cafe
Last winter, the adjoining Mark of the Beastro transitioned from a full-service vegan restaurant to a vegan coffee shop and “third place” with counter service.
Earley said the art and music fostered by The Beehive “mesh” better with a coffee shop than a restaurant. Also, he said, “having line cooks on all day in a full-service restaurant environment was just no longer sustainable.”
Earley said he tried changing prices and cutting the restaurant’s hours, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the rising prices of goods and utilities.
“It was to a point that we couldn’t pay the employees what they deserve,” he said.
With a cafe, fewer employees are needed to prepare food and drinks. “It’s pretty much me here,” Earley said, with a couple of employees available to jump in and help if necessary.
The Mark of the Beastro’s cafe menu, like that of the restaurant before it, is 100% vegan. The menu includes paninis, waffles, quinoa bowls, wraps and weekend brunch, along with beer and wine.
