Hamtramck — Bar owner Darren Shelton recently took to social media to share the honest truth about the future of his Ghost Light bar.
The small venue is home to shows from local bands, open mic nights and karaoke. Over the past decade, the for-profit business has served as the bar for its neighbor, the nonprofit Planet Ant hall and theater, but it’s also in the mix of a wider small venue community in Hamtramck, Detroit, Ferndale and elsewhere in Metro Detroit.
This year has been hard financially for the 10-year-old Ghost Light. In addition to rising costs and the need to replace heating and cooling systems, Shelton says customers aren’t spending like they used to. Meanwhile, Planet Ant is suffering because grants that the longstanding theater has depended on for years aren’t there.
Also in the mix, a performer-run stage in the back of Ghost Light known as the Independent Comedy Club is hosting its last show on Friday because of changes that need to happen at the main bar.
Shelton says Ghost Light is about $26,000 out of pocket for the year so far. Planet Ant is $50,000 short of its operating costs.
Earlier in July, Shelton detailed what’s happening in a social media post, which stirred up a flood of support from the community, with customers and artists asking how they can help.
“Costs have gone up. The world around us has changed. Some things that worked for years simply don’t work the way they used to,” read the post, which also pointed to a need for a new heating and cooling system.
Days later, another post followed, stating after the outpouring of messages: “We’re rethinking how we program and rebuilding how events move from inquiry to show day.”
Shelton says what Ghost Light “will be okay,” but things need to change.
“We have a place for people to donate, because people have asked. We’re not in a position to turn down money, but I’m also recognizing that this can’t be ‘give us money so we can just Band-Aid this and do the exact same thing again.'”
Shelton was executive director of Planet Ant from 2017-23. He was the technical director of Planet Ant in 2016 when it moved from its original home across the street. The Planet Ant group had no interest in the bar side, Shelton said, but the building owners wanted to sell as a package, so Ghost Light was born. (Side note: the liquor license and some physical items used at Ghost Light were transferred from 7 Brothers Bar in Hamtramck, a watering hole on Jos Campau that was home to many actors and comedians in the 1990s and 2000s, including Sam Richardson and Keegan-Michael Key.)
“We work together very well,” he said of Ghost Light and Planet Ant. “I talked to Caitlyn Shea every day this week. It’s hard when both places are struggling … our messaging isn’t identical and it isn’t done together, but we are updating each other every step of the way, and at some level it’s either feast or famine for both of us. We definitely fuel each other.”
“We’re playing catch-up and we’re exploring all of our options and trying to figure out what’s next,” said Caitlyn Shea, president of the Planet Ant board of directors. “Some of the grant money that we usually receive, like from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, we did not receive this year, and there’s a deficit in revenue estimates.”
What has changed
Shelton says he can see in the ledger books how times have changed for the bar.
“If it’s 2017 or 2018 and Duende or Carjack — or a local band at that level — fills the bar, that would have been a $4,000 to $5,000 bar night,” he said. “Today, a full bar of people having fun with a good local band translates to maybe $1,200 to $1,600 in bar sales.”
“It’s because of the relationship this generation has with alcohol is different, and I think that’s a healthy thing,” said Shelton, adding that he himself has been sober for 14 years. “The other thing (besides alcohol) that we are selling is artists being able to exist.”
He says the model of breaking even on the event costs and making a profit on the bar doesn’t work anymore.
“Until we all figure out an alternative way to approach this, or at the very least explain to people that there’s another product here. (The artists) is a much more important product to us than the bar sales,” he said. “In the time Netflix has gone from $5.99 a month to $23 a month, local show ticket prices have gone from $10 to $10.”
“We get into this conversation where people say, I won’t pay $20 for a ticket … well, art’s going to die then,” he said.
When asked if Planet Ant has been in this position before with a funding shortfall, Shea said: “Yes and no.”
“It’s also very different post-lockdown and all of that,” she said. “I think with every business, we’re kind of now starting to see the impact of the economy. It’s a lot of needing of restructuring and trying to figure out what the new normal kind of looks like.”
“We do need more butts in seats, for sure,” said Shea, who is also a performer. “The Hall is a big space and when you have shows in there you want to hit certain numbers to keep things comfortable.” She added that there’s a delicate balance of over-sharing and over-promoting and wanting to make sure their events are reaching people. Hiring a social media manager or marketing person is out of their reach right now, and it’s all being done by the small group of employees, volunteers and board members.
Shea said there are many ways to help. People who are seeking theater classes can get them in trade for work with Planet Ant, and the nonprofit also accepts recurring donations.
“You can be a monthly donor, like NPR,” she said. “If you can pay for Netflix for $20 a month … if we can get several people doing that, it does help.”
Comedians lose a stage
In the wake of Ghost Light’s need to retool, it severed a lease it had with Planet Ant for a small back room space on the Ghost Light side of the building. Shelton said he had been renting the 65-seat space for years to Planet Ant for $100 a month. Along with classes and rehearsals for Planet Ant productions, it has served as a home to the performer-driven group called the Independent Comedy Club since 2018.
“I’m not in a position where I can do that moving forward,” said Shelton, adding that he talked to Planet Ant about ending the rental agreement sometime soon as part of the retooling of Ghost Light. He said they agreed to do it at the end of July.
“Either I’m going to have to sell this building and close or I am going to have to make big changes and look at everything,” said Shelton. “I can’t afford to rent half of my building for $100 a month.”
Shelton wasn’t ready to talk publicly about his future plans for that space.
It marks the end of a good run for the Independent Comedy Club’s stage in Hamtramck, which offered local and up-and-coming touring comedians a place to play with lower overhead, no drink minimums and a DIY ethic. Several comedians have recorded stand-up specials in the space, including Detroit comic Brad Wenzel, whose independently released show filmed there has north of 77,000 views on YouTube.
One of the founders of the Independent Comedy Club group, stand-up comic Bart Dangus, said there was no opportunity for any sort of negotiation or conversation with Ghost Light, and he’s sad.
“That place is such a magical space with the three rooms. You’ve got the (Ant) Hall having self-produced plays, some burlesque, weirdo stuff going on. You’ve got Ghost Light with bands, and then us in the back. Being able to interact with all these different sub-genres of weirdos. It’s (expletive) beautiful,” Dangus said.
“Before the Indie, comedians did not have a spot,” he said. “When I first moved here, the only options at the time were like, Mark Ridley’s (Comedy Castle), which is great, but it’s not a place for comics to hang out and develop or try weird, wacky new ideas.”
This doesn’t mark the end, though. Producers say they plan to have the Independent Comedy Club pop-up at Clawson’s Weiss Distilling Co. bar twice a month going forward.
“People should go out more,” said Dangus. “The new generation that’s not drinking and not … going out, like, go have some fun and see something silly or say something silly. I don’t know … we’ll find our way.”
mbaetens@detroitnews.com
Coming up this weekend
Ghost Light
2314 Caniff, Hamtramck
Karaoke, 8 p.m. Thursday
Wetbody, Voidtheory and Rose St. Germaine, 7 p.m. Friday
Burlesque Karaoke, 7 p.m. Sunday
Tickets: eventbrite.com/o/ghost-light-74808145903
Planet Ant
2320 Caniff, Hamtramck
Thursday Show with the Planet Ant Farm Team, 8 p.m. Thursday (Black Box stage)
Tiny Idea Live, 8 p.m. Friday
“The Hours Between,” 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. And 3 p.m. Sun. (Black Box stage)
“The Wallop: On the Road,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Tickets: planetant.com
The Independent Comedy Club
2320 Caniff, Hamtramck
Josh Adams, 8 p.m. Thursday
Last Show Ever, 9 p.m. Friday, sold out
Open mic, 11 p.m. Friday, free
More info: facebook.com/TheIndependentCC
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Ghost Light ‘will be okay,’ but Hamtramck arts hub is struggling
Reporting by Melody Baetens, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Melody Baetens, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
