The wintertime monthly concerts we put on are held in a Lutheran church because #1, it is just about the right size for our audiences (with overflow, about 140 people), #2, it's a good price ($100.) #3. it has great acoustics- most often we don't use a sound system; #4. the church people give us a key and we go in and set up, and return it to how we found it; #5. none of the church administrators are ever there, before, during or after.

Before we started hiring this hall, we made a donation to the Episcopalian church that one of the co-founders belonged to. We always donated at least 2/3 of what we took in, and when the church burnt down (we weren't there:) we donated our entire remaining kitty to them, about $2500.

That said, I still don'[t like having the concerts in a church. It seems to me that a good portion of a potential audience won't step foot inside a church and also I've had people ask me if it's a 'religious' concert, simply because it is a church.

But this is Juneau- and the churches are very inclusive; they make noises about 'serving the community'.