First Coffee House of the year- tomorrow night

When we were able to open up the big middle storefront to be our neighborhood youth center; and catchall Family Resource Center, one dream I had was to open it up some nights for movies and music. Its a big old useful, versatile room, that is just plain enough, funky enough, utilitarian enough to meet lots of needs and not be too rigid in its expectations. Everybody who 'works" out of it, sort of, kind of, has to accept that its a very communal space; and so far, for 4 or so years this works. We have workspaces for our two Mid Town Family Resource Center staff, Lisa and Shauna, two workspaces for our two VISTA's, Patty and Kindra. And Mr. Apgar has his "classroom" here. It also shares: 4-H club stuff, Girl Scout stuff, monthly family nights, clothing give-aways, food pantry, meeting space, training space, foster care visitation, craft station, runaway and homeless youth program youth drop-in nights activities, after school drop in center for computer use.
I tried about 3 music documentary movie nights (I guess) two years ago, or maybe last year, and they weren't well attended. They were great movies by the way!!! And we have had a few movie nights for the Neighborhood families. Now, Lisa has been showing movies to some teens on Saturday's for a few months. So movies "work" pretty well; we have a nice white wall to project up on. You can seat 40 people!! There's a little area for refreshments.
Music nights have also been a fun experiment. I have had solo acoustic shows, bringing very fine musicians, who enjoy the acoustics; sound, and the quiet respectful, "listening room" atmosphere. We even had a rocking classic rock show in here, to a pretty decent crowd. We had a children's music show last summer; centered around Woody Guthrie's music, with about 40 people enjoying some food and music. Plenty of kazoos were distributed and honked throughout the evening.
Tomorrow night, Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart, a couple with a deep love for performing in small intimate settings, who hail from the Nashville Tennessee area, are performing at the coffee house setting. I have seen them before and love their music and the way they connect with an audience. They were in the area, so I asked if they would add another show on their way back to Tennessee, and the Folk Alliance conference in Memphis; and sure enough, they were willing!! So we're hoping for a good size crowd; even though its a Monday night, its an early show, and a great night of music is guaranteed!
These shows sort of "connect" the agency's local site, to the on-going fund raising Tribute shows we put on in the community. Many local music lovers are beginning to associate Children's Home Society with good musical entertainment in the community. This works back and forth both ways, to promote the agency's work with area children and families, and to acknowledge our needs for outreach and fund raising, with providing opportunities for enjoying live music in the area.