‘Safe space’ music venue Auntie’s still being planned for Twin Cities, five years after $68K campaign

Remember Auntie’s? The proposed “safe space” Twin Cities music venue still could be a reality even after almost five years of waiting, its organizers say.

Auntie’s was pitched by a trio of prominent women in the local hip-hop scene when a wave of sexual harassment and abuse stories from the music community surfaced on social media in 2020. A GoFundMe campaign for the venue raised more than $68,000 online that year alongside other fundraising efforts, and the story garnered widespread local media attention.

Co-organizer Sophia Eris — who is slated to perform Saturday at First Avenue as part of the Current’s 20th anniversary party — answered longstanding questions about Auntie’s ahead of the high-profile gig.

“I’m looking forward to this next year and establishing and building what we wanted to do, in a way that deserved to be done and not rushed,” said Eris, aka Lauren Alford, who is best known as Lizzo’s DJ/hypewoman on tour. She is rapping and singing Saturday with a new duo called Makr An Eris with producer Mark “Makr” McGee.

Eris said she and DJ Keezy, the turntablist who’s the other driving force in the creation of Auntie’s, are now working toward having the venue open by next year. They already have scouted at least two possible locations (each in Minneapolis), she said, and have held many meetings about the venue.

What’s taken so long? For starters, Eris spent a lot of 2022 and 2023 touring with Lizzo. She said she and Keezy (Akeena Bronson) also “both went through some personal stuff” in the years since fundraising.

Plus, she said they want to be careful and get it right.

“We went through so many meetings and conversations with the community to make them feel like they could trust us,” Eris said.

“We had to sit back and listen for a second. It was really necessary to kind of take a break, just because of what the community went through and because of personal things, too.”

A third co-founder of Auntie’s, singer Lady Midnight (Adriana Rimpel), dropped out of the project soon after the GoFundMe launch, because she said she “didn’t want the idea to be permanently tied to a bar setting.”

Toward that end, Eris said there have been many conversations about what will actually make the venue “safe.” One idea is for it to work on more of an invite-only basis, she said. In one way or another, it will not operate like a traditional nightclub, she added.

Ultimately, Eris said, “We want to make good on what we promised the community, and that takes time.”

Impatience had been growing as some Auntie’s supporters on social media questioned where the funds had gone over the past year. Eris said no money was misspent, and the GoFundMe fund is still on hand to put toward the cause.

Representatives from GoFundMe said they looked over the Auntie’s campaign and did not find fault with it.

“It remains within our terms of service at this time,” the company said in a statement. “Any additional questions should be directed to the fundraiser organizer.”

Eris said all other fundraising efforts from the public are on hold for now until the venue opens. Instead, she said, they are exploring support from grants and private investors.

“We’re not looking for anything else from the community at the moment,” she said. “Our intentions were always to help and give back. We want to do that the right way.”