SILENT

BARN

Financial Review

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What is Silent Barn? 2013 - 2016 Programs & Rent pg5 Programs Actuals pg6 Programs notes pg8 Rent Actuals pg9 Rent notes pg11 Programs & Rent summary pg12 Programs & Rent feelings

2011 - 2016 Fundraising & Loans pg14 Fundraising Actuals pg15 Fundraising notes pg16 Fundraising feelings pg17 Loans pg18 Loans notes

The Past and the Future All At Once pg20 2013 - 2016 Actuals & 2017 - 2022 Budgets pg21 Actuals & Budgets notes pg22 Actuals & Budget feelings pg25 Which directions can Silent Barn grow? pg26 How can you help?

WHAT IS

Silent Barn’s accounting is broken into 3 different classes that are get reviewed independently before we review our books as a whole. The 3 classes are defined by our 3 sources of income: Rent, Programs and Fundraising. Rent is the apartments and the studios (or stewdios as we call them). Programs are shows and bar income, and all income related to the venue so it also includes things like Event Rentals. Fundraising is all money we raise from our community, and as I will explain later, how and when and why people contribute money is very interesting.

SILENT BARN

Silent Barn is a non hierarchical collective art space in Brooklyn dedicated to immersion in art through affordable housing, community driven studios and performances of multiple disciplines for all ages available every night of the week while being compliant to the standards set by the city. We have been in New York for over a decade, originally in the building that is now called Trans-Pecos. In July 2011 we were shut down by the MARCH program and burglarized the following day. After a successful Kickstarter campaign we realized that it would be impossible to legally operate in our former location while still being committed to the idea that you live, make, perform and experience art holistically. By January 2013 we had reopened in our new location at 603 Bushwick Avenue with the signing of a ten-year lease on the building.

2013 - 2016 Programs & Rent

2013 to 2016 Programs Actuals

2013 to 2016 Programs notes

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We keep 25% of the Admission for most of our shows and pay artists the remaining 75%, but in some instances our 25% is replaced with a $75 minimum. We do cash payouts for most of our shows, and until we hired our Financial Manager the cash payouts to artists were not entered into our books or the corresponding admission income. Bar & Cafe is largely alcohol and almost no food. Costs of Goods Sold or COGS is the cost of our inventory, so it is largely alcohol purchases, but also includes straw, napkins, ice and other bar supplies. Event Rentals are mostly music video and television shoots. Program Funding is when we are given money to do a show that has matching expenses, so it is special income that is balanced by specialty expenses. We hired a full-time Operations Manager in 2014, a part-time Bar Manager and a Financial Manager in 2016, and starting in 2017 a team of part-time workers who book our calendar. This is our Administration. Event Staff started off as largely volunteer-based and expanded to tipped minimum wage workers in 2014. Insurance is Liability Insurance, Worker’s Comp and Disability Insurance. Renovations is cost of tools, supplies and laborers to fix our venue and bar. Sales Tax Payable is the Sales Tax we pay on bar sales. Supplies are small pieces of sound equipment and miscellaneous things need to run the bar and do administrative work. Utilities is largely our electric and water bill.

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Q1 2013 We didn’t have a beer and wine license for the first 3 months. (INCOME) Q2 2013 We had to buy all our starting inventory at once. (COGS) Q3 2013 We raised what we pay Event Staff. (EXPENSES) Q3 2014 We got air conditioning and hired our first full-time Admin staffer. (EXPENSES) Q4 2014 We saw the effects of a hired staff person. (INCOME) Q4 2014 We started a food program that proved to be ultimately unprofitable. (COGS) Q4 2015 Was the effects of our volunteer bookers taking the summer off. (INCOME) Q4 2015 Additionally, this is when we were closed for 3 weeks due to the fire. (INCOME)

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Q4 2015 Ramps down because of the fire and we are slowly letting go of food. (COGS) Q2 had purchaes that had inventory leftover for Q3 2016. (COGS) Q4 2016 Our Bar and Financial Managers are hired. (EXPENSES) 2016 is burnout effect. Our long term volunteers who were essentially doing a job other venues hire people to do for free and became less engaged. Shows could no longer perform at the same level they once had on collective energy alone. (INCOME)

2013 to 2016 Rent Actuals

2013 to 2016 Rent notes ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

In 2013 we weren’t distinguishing residential and stewdio rents in our books. In 2014 we lowered the rate of rent, but began to charge for utilities separately. In 2015 we raised the rate of rent, but had 3 months where nobody was living in the apartments because of the fire. After the September 2015 fire we discontinued charging late fees. In 2016 we hired a Financial Manager who is charged with rent collection among other things. Insurance is half of the liability insurance for running the space. Interest is from start-up and general overhead loans. Rent and Property Tax is 81% of our total rent and tax bills since we rent 81% of our total square footage. What we are charged in Rent increases 2.5% each November. Uncollected Rent is rent we billed (our accounting is accrual) but was never collected. The utilities expense is mostly our electric and Internet bills.

This is a line graph that shows the rate of a 2 bedroom apartment at Silent Barn compared to the rates of a 2 bedroom apartment in Bushwick according to MNS reports. MNS collects its data from local real estate developers and brokers, so this isn’t the true market rate in Bushwick, but rather the market rate set by the people building 3 huge condo complexes around our block. The total difference between the rents show on the graph is $13,624. I am going to times that by four because we have four 2 bedroom apartments and then times 3 because this data set is only one out of every three months. This leaves us with a total difference of $163,488 that Silent Barn would have in additional income had we kept up with the market set by real estate developers in our neighborhood.

2013 to 2016 Programs & Rent summary ●

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An increasing chunk of Silent Barn’s overhead expenses get attributed to Programs as Programs is the largest variable in the project and requires the most administrative maintenance. We are investing in people to do jobs because that is the only way we can feasibly stay compliant to our legal demands and meet our financial goals in the long term. Rent Income is fixed while expenses slowly grow, leaving a hole that needs to be filled by Programs which is still in the process of recovering from growing pains.

PROGRAMS & RENT FEELINGS Programs Income is shrinking while Expenses continue to outpace due to the fact that running our booking on volunteer labor showed diminishing returns and trended toward being socially exploitative.

Rent Income is consistent but the turnover rate of tenants is higher, and this needs to be shored up. Rent Expenses is consistent as long as the Uncollected Rent expense is managed.

2011 - 2016 Fundraising & Loans

Fundraising Actuals

Fundraising notes

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Fundraising is made up of 3 sub-categories, and it is easier to look at our fundraising history by category than by year. Start-Up is the money raised to relocating and re-open. Fire is the money raised after the fire in September 2015. General is donations that go to the space for keeping the lights on and making sure everyone who needs to get paid. Start-Up donations come from our Kickstarter and were to reopen the space after our 2011 closure. We had $40,595 in Kickstarter pledges, but $2,069 of those pledges were not collected. In total our Kickstarter campaign was 730 donors with an average pledge of $53. Start-Up Benefit Shows were 13 shows averaging $389 each all organized by third parties. Start-Up expenses are not including the several thousand of dollars in assets that do not show up on Profit & Loss statements. Fire donations total $37,904 from over 200 donors. Fire benefit shows were 13 shows averaging $726 each, also organized by third parties Part of the Fire expenses include the estimated loss we had due to not renting apartments for 3 months and no shows for 3 weeks. General Overhead donations are largely small donations. Only 7 people have donated more than $1000 for non-emergency (Start-Up & Fire) related causes. Our Membership Program is $300 for one year or $25 a month for free admission to shows. 52 people have bought memberships, but only 29 have reached the $300 benchmark generally considered to be a “full” membership.

Fundraising feelings One of the things proven reliable is that if Silent Barn needs help our community will give it to us. Even though it cost more and took longer than we estimated to re-open, we can trust that in moments of emergency people will be there for us.

Sadly, we have done a bad job at explaining our constant need for fundraising efforts, and while people are generous during moments of immediate need few people take it upon themselves to give us support.

Loans

Loans notes ●

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Silent Barn’s assets and liabilities is in the name of a 5 member LLC made up of the 4 roommates and the booker of the old location. 36% of Silent Barn’s loans have come from LLC members or people who are only lending us money because they are family or friends-of-family of LLC members. 39% of Silent Barn’s loans come from the work we do, either internally when a tenant lends us money or externally when a musician who frequents our stage lends us money. 25% of our loans have come from our bank, and various start-ups like Square and BlueVine.

The Past & the Future All At Once

2013 - 2016 Actuals & 2017 - 2022 Budgets

Actuals & Budgets notes ●

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With the exception of Utilities Income being raised slightly there is a planned rent freeze with bedrooms at $800 and stewdio space at $4 a square foot. Fundraising is projected to grow to the point where annually we raise $50,000 in both Grants and Donations, $15,000 from Benefit Shows and $45,000 from Memberships. Programs is currently budgeted with the assumption that we we will gross $13-per-person-paid-in once we have full liquor with a Bar Gross to Costs of Goods Sold ratio of 7-to-1. We are also expecting that we will have 22400 people pay in in 2017, 24000 in 2018 and in 2019 it will raise to 25800 annually where it will remain until we close. While most expenses are expected to remain static we have calculated increases for Rent, Property Tax, Liability Insurance and Artist Payments. There is also the possibility that Repair & Maintenance Subcontractors will raise along with Event Staff, Salary and Payroll Tax, although that is not currently budgeted.

Actuals & Budget feelings 2013 - 2015 Riding high off the energy of our re-opening.

2016 The big wake-up call.

2017 Dusting ourselves off and planning for the future.

2018 Slowly building towards profitability.

2019 - onward Figuring out what directions we want to grow in.

Which directions can Silent Barn grow?

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Investing in human resources. Right now we have no formalized orientation or conflict resolution, leading to new collective members feeling lost and a very dense and intricate social climate filled with people who started off lost and ended up overworked.

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More rent or artist subsidization.

Silent Barn running in the black could feed back

into the project and lead to cheaper apartments, cheaper studios and better door deals for artists. Silent Barn could profit apartments entirely for free. Silent Barn could not take any money from the door. We could even get to the point where Silent Barn contributes money towards every show on top of a 100% door deal.

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Physical improvements to the space.

Silent Barn can work towards fixing

things less by fixing them better and investing in our future through projects such as soundproofing the venue and raising the living conditions of the apartments.

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Saving for a new space. Our lease is up at the end of 2022 and with the price of Bushwick real estate skyrocketing the way it is it would be best for Silent Barn to start considering where we are going to be located in 2023.

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Saving for a second space. We could open Silent Barn in a remote location and run a duel residency program with artists spending half of their time at a Silent Barn retreat and half of their time in the city. This could serve as a creative means of circumventing New York’s distracting nature and high living costs.

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Whatever you can imagine! Seriously. Come hang out with us. Get Silly.

How can

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Support our bar and tip your bartender. silentbarn.org/events/upcoming Buy a $300 membership for free for 1 year. [email protected] Give a large scale tax-deductible donation. [email protected] Play or organize a benefit concert. [email protected] Rent one of our stewdios. [email protected] Help maintain our space. [email protected] Volunteer and make some friends! cookbook.better.space

The Silent Barn 603 Bushwick Ave Brooklyn, NY 11206 silentbarn.org 929.234.6060

you help?

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