Artmosphere Digital Café facing financial hardship

Coffee shop, performance venue leans on community for support

‘‘We have fallen behind on our rent and we have been inconsistent in paying the rent,” Madison said. ‘‘So our landlord has asked us to give him a six-month payment in advance starting in June and paying for the rest of the year.”

In an effort to make that payment, Madison and his wife are starting to change the way they do business.

Artmosphere, at 3311 Rhode Island Ave., originally opened as a coffee shop with the anticipation of offering some live music. Recently, though, it has developed into a live performance venue and featured acts almost every night.

Madison said having live music is probably the only reason they’ve been able to stay open.

‘‘It was part of the plan to have some live music because that’s part of the coffee house [culture],” he said. ‘‘It seems to be a natural niche for us. This is an arts community and not a coffee community. People are coming out to see the shows, but they’re not coming out to buy coffee.”

For the past few Thursdays Black Alley, a local band, has been the house band for an open mic night held at Artmosphere. The band will perform again from 7 to 11 p.m. tonight at the café.

‘‘Artmosphere provides an outlet that isn’t readily available in Maryland. There are a few places in D.C., but it’s not really [found] in Maryland,” said Brandon Best of Largo, who sings with Black Alley. ‘‘It gives artists like me a platform to perform and branch out and make connections.”

Madison said transforming Artmosphere into an entertainment destination will help boost business, though it will come at a cost.

The café was built with a small kitchen area because Madison said they were not planning to serve full meals. The café will need a grill and more refrigeration space.

‘‘We only had refrigeration enough to do to the milk and cream and things that go along with coffee. Now we’ll have to store different types of food for a longer period of time,” he said. ‘‘We’re going to have to enhance our menu if we’re going to be an entertainment venue. That’s one of the suggestions we’ve heard from customers a lot.”

There are many other obstacles that Artmosphere must clear. The biggest of which might be its inconvenient location. There also is a shortage of parking close to the café.

‘‘We’re on the opposite side of the street than 90 percent of the traffic in the morning,” he said. ‘‘And people who do want to stop in have a hard time finding parking.”

But Madison and his wife are determined to give Artmosphere their best shot over the next two months. The café invites customers to use its free WiFi while they enjoy coffee and a sandwich in the afternoon.

And they received the money needed to improve the signage and the façade of the café through the Gateway Community Development Corp.’s façade improvement program in January.

The upgrades to about 15 businesses are expected to cost about $200,000, Gateway CDC Executive Director Nick Francis said, and are being paid for through grants from the Economic Development Corp. and $1,000 donations from each business.

The Artmosphere owners also have called on the community to help by submitting donations. The money will be used to enhance the kitchen and increase advertising.

‘‘Lack of support from [state, county and other entities], coupled with the recently declared recession and our own growing pains have left us in a weakened position, one that may cause us to close our doors forever,” Madison wrote in a letter to his customers that was circulated on many community list serves. ‘‘We want to be of service to you, and humbly ask that you please make a sacrificial donation to help us stay in business now.”

Artmosphere plans to hold a fundraiser in the near future, but have not yet set a date. For more information, visitwww.artmospherecafe.com.

E-mail Maya T. Prabhu at mprabhu@gazette.net.