SUPPORT [THE SQUARE]

magic in the air at our grand opening — November 2025

(video credit to our awesome new neighbor Natalie Conn of Portland Media Center!)

AN OPEN LETTER TO MY COMMUNITY

from Sam Monaco, Founder of [the square] / Equal Measure Arts / Monaco Studios

Sam Monaco at the square

I’ll keep it brief.

I didn’t set out to open a second music studio. As most of you know, I already own a studio that I love, attached to my home in Falmouth.

I visited 34 Preble St. over the summer in the hopes of partnering with Prism Analog so we could better serve students and communities downtown through our nonprofit Equal Measure Arts. We had just launched a new 8-week workshop for teens, in partnership with MAMM and MECA&D (Studio Recording 101) and it had more demand than we could serve — especially in Portland.

But when I heard Prism’s director was planning to close up shop, I felt compelled by a force beyond myself to do everything in my power to preserve this valuable space for our local arts community.

Maybe it was the nostalgic memories of some bygone institutions I took for granted in my youth: the vibrant, bustling Public Market across the street; the thrill of catching Alive at Five performances by my favorite local bands in Monument Square; New Years Portland parades with Shoestring Theater puppets.

I saw an opening at 34 Preble to channel my love for Portland into a tangible offering to the community: a space for music, of course, but also for community building, education, and for celebrating and supporting the arts in a broader sense. If I could make any positive impact on an arts district with far too many shuttered storefronts, and to offer the next generation of local artists some opportunities I wish I’d had myself, it will have all been worth it.

[the square] is a blank canvas ready for us to make it what we need it to be.

I said I would keep it brief, so here’s the honest truth: [the square] is a huge leap of faith for me, energetically and financially — especially amidst having our second child a month before we opened?! (shoutout my wonderfully supportive wife Melanie!) Seriously, this is truly a jump-and-the-net-will-appear moment. It’s a bet I’m placing on our community’s desire to support creative spaces that provide opportunities for inclusive collaboration and education.

Now, we’re sharing some initial offers and programs for local creatives in the hopes we can make this space a sustainable resource, one that expands upon its current purpose as a recording studio (though of course we will continue that tradition). Our goal is to provide tools and instruction for aspiring creators across disciplines, with 10% of all commercial income going to the Equal Measure Arts fund to subsidize studio programming for students and under-resourced musicians.

Prism Analog has generously agreed to share a selection of their equipment for a few months while we get some programs up and running, which we are so grateful for. We are in the process of developing offerings to support students at PATHS, Portland High School, the Boys and Girls Club, Portland Public Library, Portland Conservatory of Music, and expanded collaborations with MAMM and MECA&D.

However, we can’t do any of this without community support — so we are putting out this open call in the hopes of kickstarting our vision for [the square] with a few different ways you can help.

With much love to Portland, and to the music & arts scene that raised me and continues to inspire so many others,

-Sam Monaco

READY TO GET INVOLVED?

Here are three ways to get involved and make a meaningful impact on preserving this valuable resource for music, community, education and the arts in Portland…

MEMBERSHIP / SPONSORSHIP / DONATIONS

MEMBERSHIPS:

If you’re local and want to be part of this creative community we’re building, we’ve developed several pretty-awesome membership options based on the feedback we’ve received about the needs of our creative community. Memberships start at less than $2/day, and every little bit helps [the square] survive & thrive…

  • The Community Builder tier lets you dip your toes in with 2 hrs/mo. of studio time, plus discounts & exclusive access to events, workshops, socials, and our online community.

  • A Creative Professional membership offers working artists and freelancers a choice of 10 hrs/mo. for Creative Co-working mornings, or 4 hrs/mo. of studio time during afternoon/evening flex hours. You also get all the tier-1 perks, plus a 10% discount off additional studio time AND your own personal homepage hosted on our site — just like we all used to have in the ‘90s (check me out)!

  • A very limited supply of All-Access Passes are available (by application only) for anyone looking to make [the square] their creative home-away-from home: besides getting 8 hours of guaranteed studio time blocked out in our calendar, we'll train you on use of the space & gear, assign you a unique access code so you can use [the square] off-hours (9pm–9am), and you get all the other cool stuff too.

the square memberships

Become a founding member at [the square]…

If you’re in it for the long haul, we’re also offering even bigger discounts when you invest in one of our annual memberships.

  • 15% off Community Builder membership ($960+ value = $510!)

  • 20% off Creative Professional membership ($2400+ value = $960!?)

  • 25% off All-Access Pass membership ($3600+ value = $2700!!)

Don’t forget that 10% of all membership dues and hourly bookings directly supports the Equal Measure Arts fund to subsidize access to [the square] for students and under-resourced artists! :)

Annual memberships at the square

Annual memberships get you maximum bang-for-your-buckage

Sponsor an event to have your logo featured!

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES:

If you’re a fellow local business owner who resonates with our mission, we would love to feature you as a sponsor at one of our next events! We have one coming up at Flatbread in Portland on Tuesday, December 9th — and of course we would be happy to feature your logo in-person and online, tag your social media accounts, link to your site, and think of you fondly forevermore.

Starting in 2026, we are also going to be filming a series of live studio performances with up-and-coming local artists — think Tiny Desk vibes, or for our fellow millennials, MTV Unplugged — and we are looking for sponsors for this series of “sessions @ [the square]” too!

Check out this live studio performance we filmed with regional band Savoir Faire over the summer as a proof-of-concept… we’ll be producing more like this, and we would love to offer emerging artists the chance to reduce their production costs by collaborating with local sponsors!

SEND US AN INQUIRY

Sponsor a “session @ [the square]” video like this!

EMA at [the square]

DONATIONS AND VOLUNTEERING:

Our nonprofit Equal Measure Arts was the whole reason we ended up at 34 Preble Street in the first place. Our goal was to better support downtown communities who struggled to get to our Falmouth location, and to partner with organizations like Portland High School, the Boys and Girls Club, and the Portland Conservatory of Music (among many others).

Most schools are not equipped with anything close to a professional recording studio, and at Monaco Studios we receive more inquiries from students who want to learn about producing & engineering than we do musicians wanting to record. We’ve seen many times over how transformational it is for young, aspiring recording artists & producers to get real hands-on experience and training with the tools of the trade — we want to be able to meet that need and empower the next generation. Since we began subsidizing studio time for students, we’ve hosted almost 20 studio interns (many of whom are currently at Berklee College of Music and/or pursuing music production professionally), and we’ve helped produce over 50 songs that have generated 221,000+ streams. We want to keep that momentum going and grow it.

DONATE HERE
CONTACT US

If you have the means to support our mission with a tax-deductible donation, please visit our current fundraiser page! Our goal is ambitious, but we are in a period of rapid growth and we can only rise to the occasion with lots of community support.

There are also plenty of non-monetary ways to support our cause! We are currently looking for donations of music equipment (instruments, amps) and recording equipment (mics, speakers, computers), so that we can keep this studio operational after Prism Analog clears their equipment out next year. Drop us a note if you have any unused gear!

Or, if you’d like to help our cause by volunteering, we would welcome that too! Send us an inquiry to see how you can get involved.