Basilica Hudson’s Kickstarter campaign is nearly over (help them reach their stretch goal)

Gina Alexander

Melissa Auf der Maur of Hole and filmmaker Tony Stone founded Basilica Hudson in a warehouse space on the Hudson, NY waterfront in 2010. Since then, they've hosted a variety of experimental music events, including annual fests Basilica Soundscape and 24-Hour Drone, as well as a monthly Artist in Residence series, a Non-Fiction Screening series, and more. For the past seven months, however, they, like the vast majority of other music venues, have been closed as the coronavirus pandemic continues, without income or meaningful government aid. They launched a Kickstarter campaign to remain open, and while they've raised what they say is the "bare minimum we needed to get us into 2021," they've now raised their goal to $50,000, which they say "will help us get through the winter and strategize effectively for the coming year should our large-scale public events still be on hold."

Here's more from Basilica Hudson:

Right now, like so many other independent venues and nonprofits, Basilica Hudson is struggling to keep the lights on. The cancellation of our 10th Anniversary Season due to COVID-19 was devastating and makes our ability to recover and sustain challenging.

Our programs and general operations rely almost entirely on the revenue from ticket sales and attendance at large-scale public events. Even during a regular season of programming, we operate on a tight hand-to-mouth budget. In March, we closed our venue and cancelled our planned season to keep our community safe, creating a 70% budget shortfall.

We are busy adapting our programs - moving online and outdoors - to maintain programs that serve people and the planet for another decade. Above all, Basilica exists for the artists, makers and activists that present with us, visit us, celebrate with us and share in our passion for the emerging, the fringe, the avant-garde, the loud, the beautiful, the weird, the handmade, the health of planet, and the challenges and joys of new experiences through the transformative experience of human exchange. We want to continue supporting creatives, and we need your help to do it.

There are two days left to pledge to the Kickstarter, and lots of awards available, including playlists and signed '90s photos by Melissa Auf der Maur, Albion Records merch bundles, vintage Basilica Soundscape posters, limited Basilica Soundscape merch bundles, Sacred Bones vinyl bundles, a Pathway to Paris merch bundle, an Amanda Palmer Zoom serenade, and more.