Music venue Parish announced plans to move from 501 Brushy St. in East Austin by the end of the year on social media on Wednesday. However, the club will continue to host shows at their current location for the upcoming summer and fall season.
An explanation for the move posted to the venue’s website said that despite having a “fantastic landlord” and fair rent for the space and location, the cost to operate is still too high for a venue of their size to break even.
“This is a city-wide problem: The cost to access high-quality, creative spaces for performing arts is too high for a community that depends on them to make art and music for a living,” the post on the club’s website said. “This is the second time Parish has had to move in the past five years, and many other spaces in town are facing the same challenges we are.”
Parish, once for sale on eBay, struggled with real estate costs
Parish was previously owned by ATX Brands owner Doug Guller when it lived in the historic 6th Street district since its 2003 opening. He put the club up for sale on eBay. The venue was then taken over by Heard Entertainment Managing Partner and Empire Control Room and Garage owner Stephen Sternschein in January 2018.
After a legal dispute with ownership at the venue at 214 E. 6th St., Parish moved across I-35 to the space formerly occupied by music venue the North Door in 2022.
The website post detailed the club’s battle with Austin’s rising real estate costs and changing consumer behavior. The post said that pay and benefits aren’t what they should be, and the club is unable provide fair wages for staff while keeping ticket and drink prices accessible for patrons at the current location.
“Independent venues matter. They are the coral reef of the creative ecosystem that nurtures every artist at the beginning of their professional careers,” the post said. “They are also what makes Austin the Live Music Capital of the World. They are a platform for all the alt, weird, new, and interesting culture that isn’t supported by the mainstream, or at least not yet.”
Rally Austin saved Empire Control Room and Garage
In October 2024, Parish’s sister venue Empire Control Room and Garage was successfully purchased with help of the City of Austin’s Rally Austin Program, which loaned the company $2.2 million to buy and expand the property. The deal wasn’t a grant, rather a standard interest-rate mortgage that is profitable for the city and beneficial for the business. Parish wrote that city programs like Rally Austin can save independent venues and the communities they serve.
“Since ancient times, opera houses and amphitheaters have been the heart of the city,” the post said. “We still do it for some kinds of traditional or corporate music. But we need to do it for the kind of music most of us listen to, and we need to have spaces for the next generation (of) artists to thrive.”
This story has been updated to add a photo.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: ‘Independent venues matter.’ Austin’s rising real estate costs force Parish to move
Reporting by Mars Salazar, Austin American-Statesman / Austin American-Statesman
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
