Music venues on brink as SBA delays opening portal again

Four months after it was signed into law, the SBA has not taken a single application for the $16.3B is Shutterd Venue Operating Grants leaving thousands of indie venues and agents on the brink of collapse.

After promising to reopen its troubled SVOG portal at Noon on Saturday, late Friday the US Small Business Administration again delayed taking applications until Monday.

“We heard you and we are taking action,” the SBA said in a statement. “It is our top priority to deliver on the promise and commitment to provide economic lifelines to you ASAP. Yet, we understand the challenges a weekend opening would bring and to ensure the greatest number of businesses can apply for these funds, we decided to reschedule.”

The announcement came just 24 hours after the SBA announced that it “had completed rigorous testing” and would finally begin taking applications.

16 days prior, the SBA’s new SVOG portal crashed before taking a single application. On Friday, future applicants scrambled to make sense of updated instructions and FAQs only to be disappointed again.

The SVOG grants are aimed at “operators of live venues, live performing arts organizations, museums and movie theatres, as well as live venue promoters, theatrical producers and talent representatives” to apply for grants after being shut down over a year ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic