I've often thought that all the creative people in a town ought to pool their resources, lease a hall, collaborate with all the natural support niche markets like artists, musicians, caterers, flea marketers, hot dog vendors, pizza shops, video gamers, and build a reputation for having something going on 24-7. That way their marketing efforts would build momentum instead of requiring the same effort over and over for each low paying gig.

There was a guy here a few years ago who built a huge gym for a gymnastics business. Unfortunately, he couldn't pay for the building based on the limited income generated by his gymnastics customers. He eventually lost the gym and somebody else bought it.

The new guy got in touch with everybody he could think of who could use a gym on a regular basis. Now the place is booming with Gymnastics, Karate, Cheerleading, Inline Skating, Roller hockey, basketball, volleyball, private parties etc

By thinking outside the box and collaborating with others who could share the expense of a really deluxe building,everybody won. Alone none of them could have afforded the gym building... but together, they could.

I'm thinking that an artistic collaboration could draw crowds away from the other places that were too cheap to pay for live music, and they'd either have to start paying a reasonable amount or just get used to having fewer customers

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ey71h8ep047758h/AAC12jNM0Hz9Q8zsh5iDeqNHa?dl=0