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Toronto music venue Hard Luck Bar is fundraising to cover rent

A photo of Hard Luck Bar

Dundas West music venue Hard Luck Bar is attempting to fundraise $35,000 to make ends meet during the pandemic.

George Diamantouros has organized a GoFund Me campaign that has raised nearly $23,000 in six days.

He says the money will help cover “accumulating rent and other
expenses while we are closed during the COVID-19 shutdown.”

“The costs of hanging onto a business that’s essentially been shuttered for the better part of 9 months have grown too great,” he writes on the GoFundMe page description. “Every attempt to pivot to another model just forces us to incur additional costs and invariably have ended with more lock down measures making any recovery  impossible.”

Hard Luck Bar has been the place to catch rock, punk, metal and electronic music in the city. Acts that have played there include Andrew WK, Girlschool, King Tuff and Hunx & His Punx, to name just a few.

A recent survey by the city of Toronto and the Canadian Live Music Association found 96 per cent of 177 Canadian music venues are at risk of business failure during the pandemic.

Owners cited the cost of rent, utilities and insurance as three main issues. More than 70 per cent of those venues had already started laying off staff, the survey said.

At least 11 music venues have closed in Toronto during the pandemic, including the Mod Club, the Hideout, the Boat, ROUND Venue and Club 120.

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