FEED THE SCENE FOUNDATION INC is running a GOFUNDME campaign to save Baltimore’s SIDEBAR.
Hey all, we need your help once again!
These last two years have been very hard on small venues like the Sidebar and not much relief was handed down from the legislation that was supposed to aid them. To keep Sidebar open and running, Feed The Scene Foundation Inc has been offered the opportunity to BUY THE SIDEBAR! Our plan is to have the non-profit purchase the business and the liquor license and run the bar as an open source, non-profit so it will constantly endow itself for its own longevity. We would like to make a serious nod back to Mike Riley and his creation of the Charm City Art Space by making the Sidebar a place for everyone with a collective of promoters and other volunteers who care to help keep it running. All bartenders and staff will make livable wages and anything considered profit will be put back into the bar in terms of improvements or upgrades or guarantees for bands. No one on the Feed The Scene staff will be taking a salary from the bar. This is a labor of love.
Now, you might be saying, "WAIT, HOW CAN I HELP?!?!?"
HERE IS HOW!!! We need your donations. We are trying to raise $80,000 to cover the purchase, transfer of all legal property, liquor license, utilities, sound system, Etc ($50,000) and the remaining $30,000 is to cover a host of fixes the bar needs that may impede passing inspections we need for permits under new ownership. We will be keeping a public accounting of all funds that anyone can ask to see at any time. Anything raised over $80k will go to hopefully creating a usable greenroom on the lower level for bands and our drag shows. The best part is, because we are already a non-profit, all your donations are 100% tax deductible, so your giving helps you too!
This whole endeavor is solely to make sure we don't lose the the only remaining small capacity, all-ages venue with a liquor license left in the city. This venue means so much to our local and national music community and we hope that even if you can't spare a dollar, that you can amplify the signal.