One Year In

Celebrating our first year in business and all that came with it

Orem, Utah

Our first year in business as The Rise was quite the ride, full of ups, a few downs, and a whole lot of braving the unknown.

When we bought the assets of the business formerly known as Audio West last summer, we started with nothing but an Instagram account with a few hundred followers. Well … and a great facility with a professional recording studio and a 300-capacity venue designed by audio pros for amazing sound and lighting. That definitely helped. And starting out with one of the elite audio engineers in Utah on our team didn’t hurt either.

But we still started out with one event booked, and nothing else but hope and a willingness to put in the work.

And that got us through year one.

There were events we threw that completely bombed. Where literally one person came. There were a couple concerts with more performers than audience members. There were days we asked ourselves what the hell we were doing.

But there was a whole lot more good than bad.

In the 365 days since we started The Rise we’ve met thousands of people who have enriched our lives in one way or another, many of whom have become good friends. Really, that’s been the best part. The people.

A year ago The Rise was an empty building with a temporary banner acting as a storefront sign.

Tearing down the For Lease sign

But little by little The Rise has become so much more than that. And not only because we now have a slick LED storefront sign.

Since our grand opening event we’ve held well over a hundred events — concerts, dance parties, comedy shows, corporate banquets, birthday parties, fundraisers, seminars, and even a few theatre performances. We’ve hosted hundreds of hours in recording sessions in the studio, dozens of video shoots, and even some piano lessons.

We’ve hosted celebrities with hundreds of millions of video views, artists just getting started, and dozens somewhere in between.

In the last year we’ve had tens of thousands of people through our doors.

We’re gaining a reputation for quality, professionalism, and versatility one day at a time, one interaction at a time.

We’re building a powerful team.

We’re booking events further and further out into the future.

We’ve built an email list with over a thousand subscribers and even started a Snapchat account!

We have sponsors like Pepsi, Rockstar, Castle Creek Inn, and others.

Every month we have more event and party producers hitting us up because they’ve heard about what a great venue and value The Rise is.

We can’t wait to show you the things we have planned for year two!

This doesn’t mean we’ve made it. We don’t even know what “made it” looks like. We don’t plan on ever getting there. We plan on always working harder, pushing the envelope further, innovating more creatively, and serving our community better.

The first year at The Rise has been a wild ride. We’ve come a long way.

But the truth is … we’re just getting started.