Published
Tue, Oct 6, 2020, 20:42
- The venue is closing after ten years due to economic hardship, amid allegations of abuse against the owner.
DC's U Street Music Hall is permanently closing its doors.
After a ten-year run, the venue's management announced its closure via Twitter today. The 500-capacity venue was slated to celebrate its tenth anniversary in mid-March, an event that was put on hold on March 10th, when the pandemic shuttered businesses citywide.
Following U Hall's then-temporary closure on that date, the venue organized a GoFundMe to support its employees. Donations were also used to help launch the space's live stream series, U Hall TV.
"Our team—like so many others in this industry that has been turned upside down—worked tirelessly over the past seven months to see us through this extended closure," the venue said in an Instagram post. "But due to the pandemic, mounting operational costs that never paused even while we were closed, and no clear timeline for when clubs like our can safely reopen, we had no choice recently but to make this heartbreaking decision."
Last month, allegations of workplace abuse were made against the venue's owner, Will Eastman, by former staffer Morgan Tepper. She accused Eastman of verbal and emotional abuse, sexual harassment and inappropriate touching during her time at U Street Music Hall from 2010 through 2014.
RA has contacted Eastman and U Street Music Hall for comment.
Washington, DC, is in Phase Two of reopening, which currently permits six venues (City Winery, GALA Hispanic Theatre, The Hamilton, The Kennedy Center, Pearl Street Warehouse and Union Stage) to host live entertainment with certain restrictions through October 30th.