Mere hours before the crowd arrives, Olivia Martin ’26 and Ava Daugherty ’27 dash across campus to gather mic stands and mixers while Bella White ’27 and Emily Brooks ’27 untangle cords and test the amps.

These four students make up the Coffeehouse Committee, the group responsible for transforming the basement of Rea House into one of Chatham’s most popular and beloved music venues.

“It’s a little bit stressful until everyone gets there,” said Martin, who serves as the club’s co-president with Daugherty. “The bands arrive, and then it’s time for sound checks. And after sound checks, of course, comes setting up the paint” for guests to paint the walls. “That’s a pretty good time.”

“Sometimes it's problem-solving and damage controlling, but on a good day, it's dancing during soundcheck and playing stupid games waiting for bands to arrive,” Daugherty said.

Hallmarked by its graffiti-covered walls, the Coffeehouse, located in the basement of one of Chatham’s residence halls, welcomes students from Chatham and beyond to enjoy live music from local indie bands for free. The walls themselves tell the story, capturing colorful years of signatures, quotes, and doodles from Coffeehouse-goers.

“Being down there always makes me emotional to see all of the students who have come before us,” Daugherty said.

“My freshman year, I wrote a Boygenius quote on the wall, and now someone else has written next to it, and like, written over it a little bit,” White shared. “It’s really cool to go down there and see all of the people who have lived and loved and experienced this coffeehouse space.”

White is the committee’s treasurer and newest official member. After talking to their roommate—who just so happens to be Daugherty—White learned of the club’s growing struggles with funding and lack of treasurer.

“I am, I’d say, to some extent, familiar with the innerworkings of CSG—Chatham student government—and CSG ultimately funds the clubs,” White shared. “So, I begged Ava, and I said, ‘Please, talk to Olivia, I want to help out, I want to join!’”

Since then, White has been able to share their prowess with the Committee, submitting budget requests and assessing the club’s needs. Their first order of business? Hopefully securing long-awaited funding for a drum kit, which would spare attending bands the headache of lugging their own drum sets up Woodland Hill. Meanwhile, Brooks takes on the marketing side of things.

“I’ve been going to the coffeehouse shows since my first semester at Chatham,” Brooks said. “I loved the atmosphere and the fun environment it provided for students, and I would always have a ton of fun at the shows.” She joined officially last year and is responsible for creating promotional flyers and Instagram posts. Using her digital marketing expertise, she caters each poster to the vibes of each Coffeehouse show.

It is Martin and Daugherty who curate these vibes, picking perfect weekends and scouting out local indie bands to play at the shows.

“Wizards is Crazy played at our last show, and I’ve wanted to get them on for a long time,” Martin said. “I was so excited they could come.”

“I love especially too when a band has come back year after year,” White said. “Watching the progression of their music, hearing songs that I’ve heard for years—it’s really, really exciting.”

It is Martin’s fourth year being a part of the Coffeehouse Committee, having learned of it while perusing Chatham’s available clubs page back in her first semester. “Me and my friend Sunny saw the Coffeehouse Committee and thought that was so cool, and wanted to get involved,” Martin shared. “I started out doing their graphic design stuff—all their flyers and stuff for the shows.”

Daugherty, a rising junior, climbed aboard after discovering a sheer love for the events themselves. “I joined the Coffeehouse Committee last year when former co-president Benjamin Keeler appointed me,” Daugherty said. “He knew how much I genuinely loved the Coffeehouse, the university, and live music, and he knew I wouldn’t let the club die after the original committee graduated.”

“My favorite event is always Halloween,” Martin said. “It’s our biggest turnout, and I like that everyone commits to it and wears costumes.” This year, the Halloween show will take place on October 24.

Another big-hitting event is Chatham Palooza, where the Coffeehouse Committee collaborates with other on-campus organizations for a night of fundraising fun and, of course, live music. This past April, Coffeehouse collaborated with Chatham’s Asian Student Association to raise money for Casa San Jose, a local charity supporting the Latino community here in Pittsburgh. The event raised a total of $518. This fall, the event is called Open Mic for Palestine, and it happens October 11th.

“In my three years at Chatham, Chatham Palooza in the Coffeehouse is definitely one of my favorite events that happens on campus,” Daugherty shared. “Last semester, I performed with Benji at Chatham Palooza, and my best friend and fellow committee member, Emily Brooks, dressed up as Bob Dylan to help me with a surprise performance of, ‘It Ain’t Me, Babe.’ I never tell my friends what I’m performing when I do it, so it's always really fun for me to see everyone's reactions.”

What draws in students is simply a love for the Coffeehouse and the space it provides for music-loving creatives and basement-show lovers, right here on campus. With the zeal of Chatham’s students, the space has been transformed from a dusty, unused basement to a beloved one, and one adored for its grime and punk spirit. And it is the Committee that embodies the spirit of the Coffeehouse itself, creating a feeling that lingers long after the last song ends.

Lyn Bigley ’26 is currently pursuing her BFA in creative writing alongside a BA in psychology. She currently works as a library aide and a digital content creator for Chatham University. In her downtime, she enjoys looking at pictures of animals, playing video games, impulse buying, and watching reality TV.

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