Beloved Toronto live music venue asking community to invest in its future

Opening in 2001, Hugh’s Room has been fostering local musical talent and hosting big names for more than 20 years.

Originally on Dundas Street West, the venue has faced some massive challenges and almost closed its doors twice – first in 2017 as the bills piled up.

A successful fundraising effort and reinventing themselves as a non-profit venue renamed Hugh’s Room Live saw it survive another three years. The lease became unaffordable in 2020 and they ultimately had to give up the space as the pandemic took hold.

Through a massive community effort, they were able to buy a former church property on Broadview Avenue in 2023, with four mortgages from friends and supporters as well as numerous individual donations.

“Our vendor gave us some money as a loan. The congregation that used to worship here gave us some money,” explains Hugh’s Room Live chair, Brian Iler.

“We had one individual who said, ‘I love what you do. I want to support you. I’ll get you through this bridge period by loaning you $1.3 million and you have to repay it though, by the end of September, 2024.”

It’s now time to pay that loan back and management has been unable to secure funding from banks, finding themselves in a fight for survival once again.

“Banks aren’t interested in funding our kind of organization. It’s too precarious for them. It’s like lending money to a church. You don’t want to foreclose on a church. Banks don’t like the prospect or the risk of having to foreclose on a valued music venue like this one. So they said ‘no too much risk,'” explains Iler.

Instead, Iler says they’re once again turning to the community for a helping hand, but this time those who chip in can also have a stake in the venue.

“We are asking our community, our supporters, our friends, those who want to support live music to buy a community bond and help us pay off that 1.3 million,” he says.

The venue started offering community bonds in April and initially, uptake did not look promising.

“These things take a while to get going … it was very slow for the first couple months. It’s really since the beginning of August that the pace of bond sales has really sped up,” says Iler.

One investor who has worked in the performing arts for decades says being able to support an essential musical hub in the city while also getting a return on that investment was too good an opportunity to pass up.

“The way the community bond is structured, it actually means I get more interest potentially than my current bank savings account. So it’s a win-win all round. It’s us feeling committed to the music sector and music industry, but it also gives us a better return than many of the more traditional investment vehicles,” says Julian Sleath.

He adds that it’s a chance to contribute to the preservation of the live music scene in the city.

“Many music venues, particularly smaller music venues have been subsumed by other investments as it were, or condominium projects and more. So it’s really vital, I think, to keep grassroots music venues alive,” he says.

“It’s about investing in the musical future of both the people who perform and write music for us, all the technicians, the producers, and also the growth of an audience across the city.”

Amanda Walther, who has been performing at the venue since 2006, says it’s an important incubator for talent that the city can’t afford to lose.

“After the pandemic it’s just been even more challenging for arts organizations and venues to stay alive and for artists to have a space to share their music. We have so many incredible talented artists here in Toronto and we just need spaces for them to share their work. So it’s essential that we keep as many venues open as we can. ” she says.

“I feel like now’s the time to step up because there isn’t the support there used to be for venues. And this is kind of a way that the community can come together and make their mark on the city, really hold onto this building. It’s a really special place and Hugh’s Room is a really special community. I feel like there’s so much potential for community making in this space … I really want it to stay alive.”

Iler says they are very close to reaching their goal and just need one more big push of support from the community to secure their future.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to put your money to good work. You get a nice return and you make sure that Hugh’s Room prospers and has a permanent home in this gorgeous space.”