Regarding Metro, Habif told me something similar: “They should be able to make money.” Habif has two season passes, one at Metro and one at Ottobar.
Some nights, he switches back and forth between the two nearby venues. He told me about his habit of attending an event just to kill 45 minutes, or to see the first performer on a bill of four. He added that he’s seen bands he would never pay to see. The members aren’t the only ones taking risks. Some venues have taken advantage of their built-in audiences.
“It’s cumulative, and it’s consistent every month,” Benevento said of Current’s membership revenue. “It allows us to take chances on programming. We can book something even if we don’t think it’s going to financially support itself.”
Current Space, a nonprofit, began its membership program to continue its free programming, Benevento said. “We do so many free events,” he told me. “It’s kind of like supporting your radio station.”
“To be clear, not all art space membership programs are as active—yet. Maryland Art Place’s Executive Director Amy Cavanaugh said of their membership program, “It’s just offering VIP experiences for some, which really just means that when tickets to things go on sale or events happen, they’ll get notified about the tickets before everyone else or they’ll be invited to a free preview before anyone else.”
MAP Exhibitions Director Caitlin Gill counted only about 40 members, spread across three tiers, starting at just $30/year. “Our biggest push for membership is at the beginning of the year, and it’s tied to our silent auction in April,” Cavanaugh told me. “If anyone becomes a member, not just artists, between January and April, they get a free ticket to the event.”
For the near future, Gill foresees growth in MAP’s membership program. She and Cavanaugh have announced plans to open a members-only bar in the basement.
“We are going to be reopening the basement cabaret bar, which is going to have a hard launch at some point, maybe in 2025, with the goal being that membership would gain you access into that space,” Gill told me in October. “So that will incentivize membership a little bit more.”
Like MAP, Creative Alliance still fundraises more from grants than memberships. “A lot of them are on the $50 side, and we bring in about $30,000 from there,” Development Director Julia Keller told me on a phone call in November. “The grants are $10,000 and above. So, that’s even ten A-list memberships.”
Creative Alliance has since raised the minimum from $50 to $60. The art center offers memberships on a sliding scale up to $1,000, and it gives A-list benefits, like free tickets, to members paying $1,000 or more. “The higher tiers, the members who give $5,000, that’s philanthropic,” Keller explained.