UPDATE as of 6/28/2020: we met our goal!
Thank you so much to the many WOW members, alumni, and friends – who coordinated this effort, put out the word, chipped in as they could, and put on a show!

GoFundMe for WOW Cafe Theater

WOW has been doing well in the last few years because we spend very little, have no paid staff and own our performance space. This is what helped us not go under in these first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, WOW’s performances have been halted for safety reasons since mid March and we do not know when we will be able to open safely. 

Our goal is $16,000.  This would ensure that WOW would keep its theater space for at least another 12 months regardless of whether or not we can open our doors to the public. For the sake of transparency we want to share with you our annual operational budget:

$6250 annual maintenance

$5000 electricity

$2500 insurance

$400 internet

$500 taxes

$100 membership fees

$1250 miscellaneous (fixing our toilets, replacing cables and light bulbs, etc).

       TOTAL $16,000

Here’s a list of the ways we want to thank you for contributing! 

$10 Or more a shout out on social media

$25 Or more a shout out on our website

$50 Or more a shout out at our pride show

$100 A thank you video from a WOW Member

$200 2 Tickets to any show once we reopen

$300 Your Choice: One on One Tech Tutoring, OR One on One Stand Up Comedy  Workshop

COVID-19 is affecting all of us, including the artists that make-up WOW Cafe Theatre. 

Many in our community have completely lost their income, some of us are essential workers and some have families that depend on us for support. Many of us don’t qualify for governmental support and because we live in NYC where life is expensive most of us don’t have much saved up.

The artists are often truth tellers and recorders of zeitgeist, they often bring solace to the weary and strength to the needy. No change can exist without artists, and yet our society is often hesitant to support them. WOW provides women and/or trans people with a community and a space to create their art in. 

In light of this, WOW Cafe Theater needs your support now more than ever. We are committed to creating space for women and/or trans artists. For thirty years, WOW has never been a classist organization. Embracing artists of all backgrounds including people from a variety of economic statuses is a part of our mission. We do not charge membership fees and we do not exploit our artists. Help us continue to welcome women and/or trans people who want to create to work with us.

Please donate what you can.  We are in this together and we can only survive with support from our family! WOW has lived through some hard times – we lived through AIDS crisis where we saw many of our friend and family gone, we faced racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and many other kinds of prejudice, we lived through 9-11 and the market crash in 2008 – we can and will live through this but we only survived because we were supported by our community.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE INFO ABOUT OUR VIRTUAL PRIDE SHOW CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF WOW!  JUNE 27th at 8pm.

In Solidarity, 

WOW Cafe Theater Collective.