NPR, Andrew Limbong, "Help Was On The Way For Shuttered Venues. Then The Website Crashed" (Apr. 9, 2021; Internet Archive copy)

Summary

An NPR Arts & Life article by Andrew Limbong, dated April 9, 2021, reports that the Small Business Administration launched an application portal for the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant and then suspended it after technical issues. The article quotes an SBA statement that the agency temporarily suspended the portal and will re-open it as soon as possible, and says the SBA did not accept any applications or distribute any funding. It describes the SVOG as a $16 billion grant program for qualifying live music venues, independent theaters, museums and other live-event spaces, passed as part of the coronavirus relief package signed in December. It quotes Audrey Fix Schaefer of the National Independent Venue Association and Rep. Roger Williams.

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Grant Application Portal For Pandemic-Struck Arts Venues Shuttered For Repair. The Small Business Administration launched an application portal for its $16 billion relief program for shuttered venues yesterday, but technical problems prompted deactivation for repair.

Help Was On The Way For Shuttered Venues. Then The Website Crashed.

Arts & Life

Help Was On The Way For Shuttered Venues. Then The Website Crashed.

April 9, 2021 3:23 PM ET

Andrew Limbong

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Live music venues such as The Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles were among the first businesses to close during the pandemic. The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant was supposed to be a lifeline for owners. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images hide caption

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Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Live music venues such as The Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles were among the first businesses to close during the pandemic. The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant was supposed to be a lifeline for owners.

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

The Small Business Administration yesterday launched with great fanfare a long awaited portal that would allow arts venues closed down by pandemic to apply for grant money to cover rent, utilities, insurance and other accumulated expenses. The site went live at noon, but was wracked with so many technical issues that the SBA decided to shut the portal down indefinitely.

"After working with our vendors to address them as quickly as possible, the SBA temporarily suspended the portal and will re-open it as soon as possible to ensure all applicants have fair and equal access," the agency said in a statement. "This decision was not made lightly as we understand the need to ensure critical assistance gets to you as swiftly as possible."

UPDATE: We are working closely with our vendors to fix the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant tech issues, which have been identified. — SBA (@SBAgov) April 9, 2021

Anyone who tried to log on to apply for grants when the portal first opened was met with different error messages at each step. The SBA clarified in a tweet that they did not accept any applications or distribute any funding.

Audrey Fix Schaefer is the communications director for the National Independent Venue Association, which has been lobbying for support for small venues. She says that the program is a lifeline. "We all want the SBA to be successful in providing desperately needed emergency relief ASAP."

The SVOG is a $16 billion grant program that was set up to help qualifying live music venues, independent theaters, museums and other live-event spaces hit hard by pandemic-prompted shutdowns. It was passed with a bipartisan effort as a part of the coronavirus relief package signed into law by President Trump in December. But it's taken a long time to arrive: the agency has said that it's a first-of-a-kind program for them, and they had to build it from the ground up.

Music News

Shuttered Venue Grants Are Coming In April, After A Long Wait

"Further delays for eligible business owners are unacceptable," Rep. Roger Williams said in a statement yesterday. "I urge the SBA to make the SVOG a top priority moving forward and President Biden to put qualified individuals into key leadership positions so similar failures will not occur in the future."

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