World Cafe Live CEO Joe Callahan vows venue will stay open even as shows cancel and employees quit
Pub Choir from Australia is still scheduled to play Wednesday, but Voices in Power, Japa System, the Taxpayers, and more have cancelled their shows at the venue.
The World Cafe Live calendar is getting thin.
Several shows scheduled for the University City venue — which has faced ongoing labor tensions since workers walked out during a Suzanne Vega concert on June 11 — were canceled this week.
Jillith Fair, a tribute to singer-songwriter Jill Sobule, who died in a house fire in May, was scheduled for the Lounge at WCL on Saturday but will move to another venue at a later date, according to her management team, which said, “Jill would not cross a picket line.”
Shows that were scheduled with Voices in Power and Japa System for this week are also off, as is a scheduled Saturday night show with Saturday Night Live comedians Devon Walker and Michael Longfellow, though that show and the Jillith Fair tribute are still listed on the WCL website.
That’s also the case for a show by the Portland, Oregon, band the Taxpayers, who were scheduled to play June 27 but canceled their show on Tuesday night and moved it to the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia that same night.
Some shows are still going on at the WCL, whose COO and general manager, programming director, and ticketing and guest services manager have all resigned. Many employees who have been protesting “unfair treatment” outside the venue, have been fired, with management threatening legal action.
» READ MORE: World Cafe Live protests continue as staffers are fired and threatened with legal action
Multiple members of the board of the World Cafe Live, which is a 501(c)3 nonprofit operating under the charitable organization Live Connections.org, have reportedly left the board.
Wednesday night’s sold-out show in the Music Hall with Australian band Pub Choir was scheduled to go ahead at the time of publishing. Also confirmed to still be on schedule, is a Friday night show at the Lounge with Philly blues band the Dukes of Destiny with Two Johns: Johnny Never and John Colgan-Davis.
A free daytime Family Bridge Session show at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday exploring the rhythms and history of the Son Jarocho and Cumbia traditions is also going forward.
In a statement released Tuesday, World Cafe Live CEO Joseph Callahan, who succeeded WCL founder Hal Real this spring, said that despite the current turmoil, the future of the venue is bright after “a critical financial restructuring.”
“World Café Live represents more than just an entertainment venue; it’s a cornerstone of Philadelphia’s cultural ecosystem and a vital platform for artistic expression,” Callahan said in the statement.
“Our intervention was motivated by a simple conviction: This institution is too important to lose. Through strategic investment, governance reform, and community partnership, we’ve preserved World Café Live and positioned it for unprecedented growth and impact.”
He reaffirmed that statement in a LinkedIn post Tuesday night.
“The path we’re on is not easy, and it was never meant to be. But I believe in it … Every challenge we face is shaping something stronger, something more honest, something that lasts.”
The post concluded: “We’re just getting started.”