FAQ

This will take a little explanation, and it’s a great place to get started.

Black Iris Social Club is not-for-profit (NFP). We decided to form a particular NFP called a 501(c)7. This, in tandem with our status as a venue with an ABC license, forms the basis of how the club works. According to the IRS, our NFP must be mostly funded through its own members. We also cannot sell daily memberships- it is stipulated that we must maintain a steady membership base, with each member paying monthly dues. So your membership is the straw that stirs the drink, as it were. It is a crucial element in how the whole thing operates.

BISC still does have certain performances and exhibitions open to the public, though for the most part this is a private space dedicated to its members and their guests. That way, the ideals and agenda of the club are driven by its members through their own direct input- monetary and otherwise.

We think it is a great idea and are happy to be able to build something unique around this principle.

A) The initiation fee serves several purposes. First, we’ll have full-time staff committed to making your time enjoyable. It’s important to secure good talent and your initiation fee goes in part to having that from day one.

Second, it’s important to have an earnest down payment in order to create stability. It’s an incentive to maintain consistent month-to-month commitment, and to keep the administrative aspects manageable. This would be harder if there were no up-front fee, a symbolic “I want to be a part of this” that separates serious members from those who could drop in and out.

B) The initiation fee is a one-time fee due upon signing the membership agreement. It is NOT a yearly fee. A Member is only responsible for his/her/their monthly dues beyond that.

C) We understand that someone might join and then realize this is not for them. New members will have 30 days to decide whether to stay or request a full refund. We certainly hope you love it here!

This is a very good question that we’ve been hearing a lot. First, let’s take a look at the types.

CLUB MEMBER (One Individual)

-$275 Initiation Fee

-$37 Monthly Dues

CLUB MEMBER DUAL (Two Individuals)

-$400 Initiation Fee

-$62 Monthly Dues

PREMIUM MEMBER

-$275 Initiation Fee

-$75 Monthly Dues

GRANT MEMBER (One Individual)

-No Initiation Fee

-$10 Monthly Dues

-Granted on an annual basis. Some restrictions apply.

Think of Club Member as the general membership category. Most people will identify as being a Club Member. We’re the people who want to hang out, meet new friends, enjoy some of the events, and perhaps occasionally come sit during the day with a book or a laptop. Come and go as you please.

Grant Members are people who elect to contribute their talents to the Club’s programming in lieu of paying the initiation fee and full monthly dues. This exchange will help keep an unexpected, rotating cast of performances and exhibitions active within the space. (For example: Carla is a jazz pianist. Carla proposes playing a set once every two weeks as the condition of her Grant Membership.) Candidates of all types of skills are invited to apply. Grant Members are admitted on a case-by-case basis and are admitted/extended in yearly increments.

It’s pretty simple, really. Two individuals may decide to become members of the Club together. This allows each of them to show up separately at different times, bring their own friends, etc. Each Member will have their own unique house account number. We just ask that dual members pay their dues in one single invoice. If you decide to separate your memberships, no sweat- you’ll just be invoiced separately and pay the regular monthly dues, plus the difference in the original Initiation Fee. (Please also refer to our guest policy, which is outlined below.)

This hasn’t been tested yet, though we have the benefit of building the base from the ground up. On average, our peers at other clubs have indicated that it’ll take 500 members to get 50-100 attendees, depending on the day. This number feels pretty comfortable given the amount of space we have. If it’s a regular destination for our membership, we’ll cap our membership to ensure everyone feels right at home. BISC isn’t a for-profit business, so having high membership numbers and a high public profile isn’t really a priority. Providing an enjoyable experience is a priority.

This is important to know. There are operational costs, such as: staff, rent, maintenance, utilities, etc. An obvious expense is paying artists well to bring their talents to BISC, so the first bit of net income will always go towards keeping our programming robust. Any proceeds beyond that will be allocated at the pleasure of the club’s members. The board of governors will release a questionnaire as excess funds accumulate to ask what our members desire to see. This can include new equipment, college scholarships, special performances, themed evenings, charity donations, etc. Ultimately, members will vote on how to spend the excess money. Each period in which an audit shows excess funds, new priorities can be voted upon. So there will be a variety of ways in which our funds will come back to us and go out into our community.

No problem. We’ve always given 100% of the money donated at the door to visiting artists/performers. It’s been a core value of Black Iris for years. Our thinking in coming up with the club concept was that members could be asked to chip in $5 when they want to watch a performance (we typically ask for $10). Theoretically, more members means more people experiencing an artist’s work, so the artist makes it up in volume: win-win. Some of your monthly dues work to provide a safety net for these artists in that we’ll be able to offer up guarantees, which we’ve never been able to provide before. (A guarantee is an industry term meaning that a performer makes a certain amount of money regardless of how many people attend. This is a supportive measure that helps touring artists show their work.)

On the other side of the token, it doesn’t make sense to charge monthly dues upwards of $100 to make every show free for members. It’s simply cost prohibitive for all but the most avid fans. We think that would price certain people out of becoming a member. So we’ve opted to find a happy medium that’s attractive to a wide range of potential members.

If you’re not interested in seeing a particular performance, the space is still open to you and you are not obligated to pay. We simply ask that you respect the artists as they perform. During these times, we’ll have a small service bar upstairs for guests that prefer to hang out in areas other than that evening’s designated performance space.

While our official policy is that you may bring one guest, we say the more the merrier. We ask that you check with us if you have a group because weekends and certain events may be popular. (We don’t want to be in the position of turning away a Member because of capacity issues.) Typically this will not be an issue. The club is over 5,000 square feet of awesome, so it is definitely not a problem if you want to show some friends around mid-week. And it’s not likely to be an issue on a Friday, though we ask that you check to make sure out of fairness to everyone.

Typically, the maximum amount of guests we can allow any member to bring at once is set at 4 individuals due to certain rules a 501(c)7 must follow regarding its member/guest ratio at Club events.

Guests’ checks are to be paid for through the Member.

There is one caveat to this rule, though. No individual may attend the Club as a guest more than 3 times in a single calendar month. Those individuals are encouraged to become Members.

The club is open to Basic Members from 5 pm - Midnight, Wednesday - Saturday, and to Premium Members the same, but with added hours from 9 am - close, on weekdays. We leave this up to the staff, so a particularly fun Wednesday night may end up going until 3 am. If enough members want more, the hours and days can be extended permanently, and- in fact- we anticipate this to happen. We’re waiting to hear from you on this one.

During daytime hours, for Premium Members, there will be coffee available. We do not currently have plans to open the bar during this time. Please bring $5 to donate towards additional operational costs (coffee, toiletries, etc.) during the day. Bring a lunchbox if you’d like. Lounge areas are open seating. (There is limited office space available. Please contact us directly if you’d like to reserve a space.)

Of course, there will be some exceptions to these hours. We will probably open up on a Sunday if there is an event in the area like Broad Appetit, or if enough members want to watch a World Cup match, or if there’s an artist performing on an otherwise “closed” day, etc. But we will NOT generally rent the space out to a third party without consent of the membership. We want the space to be available to members first and foremost. One exception is that we donate our space to 1708 Gallery for their yearly fundraising event in February.

Yes. We’ll often have an exhibit open in the main gallery which will be open to the public. On such occasions, we’ll have the membership services desk set up so only members are allowed past a certain point. This is one of the perks that membership provides; a space to relax and unwind, away from the crowd.

Of course not! Everyone is welcome as long as you want to be a part of this place and what it stands for. One may simply want to play billiards and meet new people, and that’s great. You do not have to be able to play an instrument or be able to talk about art to join this community.

No and yes. Since a social club is a 501(c)7, and considering a service is rendered in connection with the dues, this does not qualify specifically as a charitable contribution. However, if you own (or are responsible for sales with) a business and consider your time spent here to be networking or as an ambassador for your brand, you may consider this to be a business expense. Please contact your own tax advisor about whether your circumstances qualify as a write-off.