The board of One Longfellow Square hopes its fundraiser will help the music venue survive the coronavirus pandemic. The venue has been closed since March and doesn’t anticipate opening for shows for months. Photo courtesy Christopher McClure
One Longfellow Square, the nonprofit performing arts venue in Portland that hosts about 200 concerts and events annually, passed its $100,000 fundraising goal Tuesday afternoon in its bid to survive the pandemic. It launched the campaign on June 13 and met the goal nine days later with donations of $100,225 from 1,227 people. The campaign continues on GoFundMe.
In its fundraising plea, One Longfellow Square said the money was necessary to “stay alive until we can reopen next year.” Already it had reduced staff hours and spending. Its minimum monthly expenses are $7,000, it said.
One Longfellow Square has about 185 seats and is known among musicians and fans as a good listening room, where connections between performers and the audience are genuine and reciprocal. It began as a for-profit music club in 2007 and became a nonprofit organization in 2011. In addition to ticket sales, it relies on donations to survive and must sell, on average, 100 tickets per show and sell out several shows a year to cover its costs.
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