2025 01 14
David Dondero was playing at my house, my house. Chicago, Illinois. September, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
Becoming an Event Space Owner in 2025
If you’ve been to my studio space, dubbed See You Soon, you’ve seen the stylish kitchen, bar, fancy office partitions, and disco bathroom. It’s a dream urban loft space, and I often tell people I live there… I just don’t sleep there. I’m there a lot. The decision to open a studio space in the waning days of Covid lockdowns is one that was life changing for myself in many ways. Looking back, it was a time of excitement and optimism! The world was reopening; my commercial photography business was thriving; and I was betting on myself in a big way. It just made a lot of sense.
The room felt so good to me that I also decided to invest a huge amount of my own money into shaping the space into something I would be proud of, in the hopes of turning it into a more public-facing business not only open to photo and video production but also dinners, events, and gatherings of all shapes and forms.
Soon after opening, we had the exciting new mayoral candidate host a campaign event in our space and it was jam packed full of people, including multiple Congresswomen and a half dozen Alderpersons. Things were looking up! Things were exciting!
Then reality struck.
It’s been about three years now since we’ve been paying rent on the studio space, and I can easily say it’s been the most challenging endeavor of my life. Almost immediately after opening, work slowed to a halt and our industry hit a downturn which still hasn’t quite managed to correct itself (and feels like it may never do so for a number of reasons we won’t get into now). On top of that, our newly-renovated building was reassessed by the city and our tax payments more than doubled, increasing our rent by far more than we had anticipated. Then, the few studio bookings we did manage to get each seemed to have disaster strike (broken elevator, mouse infestation, parking lot problems, etc), likely turning people off from renting our space again in the future. More problems occurred, such as a deteriorating wall that needed extensive repairs, and now there’s a growing homeless encampment directly out the windows with an otherwise beautiful view of The 606.
It quickly became clear to me that making the space work as a photo studio alone would be impossible and I needed to focus quite a lot more on opening up the space for other uses.
Since opening, we’ve done a huge amount of events that I’ve been proud of. Last week, we hosted the Chicago Bulls. Last year, I got married in the space! We’ve done multiple holiday markets featuring dozens of super talented artists and makers, art shows and artist talks, dozens of dinner events full of amazingly talented people, and even some live music including an all-time favorite artist of mine, David Dondero. I have no shortage of ideas on things we can host and organize, and it’s been that spark of reconnecting with something I previously loved to do which has been super fulfilling. The creative juices are flowing. Bringing people together in real life has been a breath of fresh air for me. I’ve found that even while going through the most challenging phase of my career — I’ve been the most happy. Less social media and more in-person socializing. Do I need an expensive studio space in order to make that happen? No, but it’s been very motivating for me in many ways and the new connections I’ve made as a result are worth so much to me.
In December, the studio had an ambitious schedule that was tough for me to navigate. In part, it’s a sign that I’m on the right track and it has me hopeful to be in a more sustainable place financially this year. But also, it made me realize that I either need to scale back my personal ambitious for the space or find a more sustainable path forward, specifically, involving other people. This is perhaps my strongest conviction this year — in order to make my dreams become a reality, I will need to partner with, trust, and lean on others.
During an event one night last month while the studio was packed full of people, I had a wave of happiness wash over me, thinking that I was helping provide culture to the city. I put myself in the shoes of my own self twenty years ago and imagined how cool it would’ve been to go to the place I now call my own. I want to build on this feeling and continue to shape the place into something that gives back in whatever small ways it is able to and provides a space for people to explore their own curiosities. Of course, all these dreams and ideas require time, which takes away from other creative projects I hope to focus on. As always, t’s a tradeoff, but one I think is worth serious consideration. I imagine a life in which my sole job is to plan and host various events and it sounds quite fulfilling and exciting, even when factoring in the constant floor mopping required.
All that said, if you’ve got a fun idea but need a space to make it happen, don’t hesitate to reach out. Let’s talk. Let’s make some magic happen this year! The world is crazy enough and the distraction is good.
-Clayton
This is one entry in a multi-part series of self-exploration and contemplation-out-loud in advance of the new calendar year. Some of this may happen; none of this may happen.
For the complete list of posts, see 2024 12 25.
