Saving Slabtown—and Portland’s Artistic Future

Portland’s all-ages scene is poised to take another brutal hit: Over the weekend, Slabtown announced it would be closing its doors after November 1. The venue struggled with financial difficulties even as it flourished, artistically, as an all-ages venue, one of the few remaining in the city. Owner Doug Rogers released this statement on Saturday, which details the closure and the venue’s recent history, which saw the introduction of the Church of Rock ‘n’ Roll, a volunteer group dedicated to all-ages activities.

We are sad to announce that Slabtown will be closing its doors permanently as of November 1.We have encountered financial difficulties from which we do not believe we can recover and have decided we would like to conclude our time here with the strong bill of shows we have scheduled for the end of October and our “Day of the Dead” show on November 1.

Although we never achieved financial success, we are proud of what we have done. From the time we took over in February of 2012, we began working to make our space as inclusive as possible. We strove to make Slabtown a welcoming place for traditionally marginalized people from all walks of life—youth, members of the LGBTQ community, women, persons of color, persons with developmental disabilities or mental health issues, and the working class—in both our general culture and booking policy.

In November of that 2012, we received the okay from the OLCC to begin hosting all-ages events and formed an all volunteer group—The Church of RocknRoll—to staff the shows, develop policies to make Slabtown a “safer space,” and bring in more acts featuring members not yet of drinking age. We brought in The Falafel House at Slabtown, a separate business, and owner Mike Warm instituted a fully vegan menu. We were home to the first Grrrl Front Women’s music festival in 2013, the 2014 Not Enough! queer arts and music fest, and numerous benefits for organizations promoting diversity. We welcomed Portland Antifa, an organization working locally against racism and the neo-Nazi fascist movement, and instituted a booking policy where bands and other performers who promoted racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other ideologies targeting traditionally marginalized populations were not welcome on our stage. Since summer of 2012, we collected donations of bottled water to distribute to the homeless on the hottest day of the year, and behind the scenes for a time we hosted a weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meeting as a means of supporting the recovery community. In support of our own workers, we instituted the twice-a-year “May Day Uprising” and “Labor Day Uprising” events in which net bar sales for the day went to staff as a bonus and sign of our appreciation. Even as we near the end of our tenure as a venue and neighborhood bar, we are continuing in our attempts to give back to the local music community by hosting a series of DIY workshops aimed at helping musicians and bands go from the hobby stage to becoming more self-supporting.

We would like to apologize to all of the bands, musicians, comedians, promoters, and others with events already scheduled here after November 1. Our Live Events Manager is working overtime to place as many of those events as possible at other locations.

Since that announcement, however, an ambitious GoFundMe campaign was initiated that seeks to raise the funds needed to clear the venue’s back debts and finance some much-needed repairs, including faulty heating and a leaky roof. This is not a small undertaking—the campaign, kicked off by Slabtown’s head of security JC Karrantza, is asking for $50,000. It’s a large sum, and considering that Slabtown’s “Clean Slate” campaign from earlier this year did not meet its $15,000 goal, a lot more people are going to have to step up if Slabtown is going to survive. The good news is that the campaign raised $1,000 in its first seven hours, so perhaps all is not lost. Additionally, local musician Maxwell William William posted a note to Facebook that suggests the Church of Rock ‘n’ Roll has a future in the hands of dedicated volunteers. His post is a persuasive call to action to consolidate and strengthen Portland’s all-ages music scene.

Whether or not all-ages shows continue at Slabtown, it is crucial that the underage scene is given a place to thrive. With Laughing Horse Books’ shutting its doors and the imminent Slabtown closure, Portland’s all-ages scene is in as dire straits as I’ve ever seen it—these coming on the heels of Backspace’s demise last year. I don’t know if you’re the type to donate money to Slabtown’s current GoFundMe campaign (if you are, by all means, go here to do so), but hopefully you can agree that those under the age of 21 need more places in the city to congregate and see live music, readings, performances, and so on and so on. It’s time to stake a claim in Portland’s artistic future.