The Grow Philly series is supported by the Philadelphia Department of Commerce. Technical.ly is a free news resource thanks to financial partners like this. All stories are independently reported, with no partner review. Want to see your business featured? Fill out the entrepreneur survey here.
The future of an empty office building usually doesn’t involve a stage, live music and community fundraisers.
Serial tech founders Felicite Moorman and Ryan Buchert never expected their East Falls startup headquarters to become a hub for the arts, but embraced the opportunity when it presented itself.
“People are looking for spaces to act in a way that has impact.”
Felicite Moorman, Fallser Club
By day, Moorman and Buchert own and operate AI startup BOSS.Tech, but at night, they run the Fallser Club, a concert venue and community event space, Moorman told Technical.ly.
“[East Falls] didn’t have anything like this, and so that just resonated with the community and the music community, and that was the beginning of what, now four years ago, was a performing arts space,” Moorman said.
Rewind 10 years, the pair ran two tech companies, BuLogics and its spin-out Stratis, and needed an office space to expand into. They chose a former silent film theater in East Falls to call home.
They moved employees in, cramming desks for almost 100 employees into the space. After a few years, the company was starting to outgrow the building and Moorman and Buchert considered moving into a bigger space.
Then, the pandemic hit and everyone shifted to remote work, Moorman said. The building sat empty for two years, and during that time, Stratis and BuLogics were acquired and moved to a space in Manayunk.
Unsure of what to do with the building, Moorman and Buchert started hosting fundraisers and other community events. Their neighbor, Philly bassist Garry Lee, suggested that they take advantage of the space’s stage and host a concert.
Moorman and Buchert were excited at the idea of bringing music into the space, especially because they both have an arts background, Moorman said. They installed a sound system, Lee got his band together and hosted their first concert in 2022.
Now, the Fallser Club serves as a hub for emerging local artists — both celebrating what Philly has to offer and showcasing the city to out-of-towners.
Showcasing emerging and established musicians
Moorman and her staff often reach out to local musicians they think would be a good fit for the space, but they also receive tons of inbound requests from artists, she said. They work with booking agents to bring out-of-town bands to the space when they stop in Philly.
The club hosts an emerging artists program where multiple new musicians perform on the same night, she said. Big names like Bakithi Kumalo, Paul Simon’s bassist, have passed through the space since the venue’s first show.
They try to strike a balance between giving new artists a chance to perform while also making sure they can bring a big enough crowd, Moorman said.
The space started out only hosting four shows per month, and expanded to put on four shows per week, Moorman said.
“We’re in love with our musicians,” she said. “Now it’s just getting the word out and making sure that we have enough audience so that those musicians are rewarded.”
Community impact beyond music
In addition to putting on concerts, Moorman and her staff have also taken an interest in supporting various activist groups in the city, she said. The space recently hosted a fundraiser to support immigrant legal aid.
“People are looking for spaces to act in a way that has impact,” she said.
The Fallser Club tapped into resources through the city’s Department of Commerce, specifically securing grants to renovate the exterior of the building and to launch a community kitchen, Moorman said.
Moorman and Buchert also found ways to tie in the local tech community. For starters, the SaaS and Tech Growth Meetup hosts its monthly gatherings at the Fallser Club.
Beyond that, Ballard Spahr attorney Greg Seltzer — an advisor across the founders’ companies — is helping drive the 10th anniversary of Philly Music Fest, with the Fallser Club joining the action for its second year.
“[There’s] a lot going on here,” Moorman said. “But everything [is] really focused on how do we deliver within our community.”
