Cactus Club becomes Milwaukee's first venue to require proof of vaccination for admittance
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) --The Cactus Club has become Milwaukee’s first music venue to require proof of Covid vaccination. That’s for artists and concert goers.
They are a small venue, and with the Delta variant here and Covid cases rising slowly, the owner says they don’t want to take any chances.
Pinc Louds, with lead singer Claudi, performed to a masked audience. The Cactus Club already requires everyone who walks in the door to wear a mask. And starting Monday, you won’t get inside unless you show proof you’ve been vaccinated.
“I’ve been in Milwaukee for 15 years and Cactus Club is my favorite place to see and play live music, and I think anything to keep us safe in a small indoor space, like vaccination proof is a great idea and I am all for it,” said Chris Taylor, music lover.
“I think it’s totally fine to do that, being a smaller venue. If they don’t want unvaccinated people in there, they have every right to not allow them and I think if you’re vaccinated that might give you, might allow you more confidence to go in there, so I think it’s totally good,” said Jonathan Wollner.
Other Milwaukee venues haven’t gone this route, but say it may be a consideration depending on changes with Covid.
“It’s something we'll probably talk about, but at this point we don’t have any plans to implement that,” said Josh Depenbrok of the Milwaukee Art Museum.
The Milwaukee Art Museum requires masks.
“We do not, as a venue, currently plan to require proof of vaccination, but we do understand the world is changing daily,” said Nichole Cooper, artistic director at Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts.
It’s a case by case basis, depending on the desire of the individual vendors.
“They not only come from around the state beyond or so, so we do work within guidelines if they are asking their audiences and visitors to follow,” said Cooper.
The Pabst Theatre Group also may have enhanced safety requirements related to vaccinations, testing or masks based on artist requests, saying, “We are encouraging customers to check the individual event pages of the shows they are attending."
The Milwaukee Rep’s first performance isn’t until late October, and a spokesperson tells us they haven’t yet decided their policy.
Cactus Club also announced that all of the Cactus Club staff are currently vaccinated but are still asking guests to follow CDC guidelines and to wear masks while not actively drinking.
The post also stated to "Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions. We’re more eager to be on the other side of this than we can adequately put into words. In love and solidarity, cactus."