The Pit Stop Workshop Launches Fundraiser To Add Café and Reading Room

After a , organizers behind the , the Island’s only listening room, have launched a fundraising campaign to add a café and reading room.

Following in the footsteps of the Wintertide and Che’s lounge, the Pit Stop Workshop hopes to be both a successful listening room and place for people to meet and congregate. “The ability to get a cup of coffee and converse with your neighbor while enjoying some great local music is the direction we believe will make the Pit Stop a sustainable enterprise.” said Pit Stop Crew Member Don Muckerheide “That said we want to avoid closure, hence this fundraiser will let us know if the community really wants the Pit Stop to continue.”

The Pit Stop Workshop came into formal existence during the winter of 2012 following the successful album release party of Nina Violet. One weekend after another, a group of local artists organized show after show and proved that the island needed a listing room, something lost with the closure of the Wintertide and later Che’s.

“I’ve always thought the Pit Stop needed a café, I am glad to hear plans to make that happen,” said local Island Musician and Pit Stop Crew Member Rob Myers. “We have plenty of bars on the Island, but this is the only all ages venue that allows both professionals and those just starting out to perform, the Island needs this.”

After a recent performance at the Pit Stop, signer song writer Brad Tucker chimed in, “The Island’s culture has the creative arts woven into it. With the closure of listening room venues like Wintertide and Che’s, it’s places like the Pit Stop that gives local island artist access to a captive audience. The Island is my home, after having been away for six months, performing at the Pit Stop means a lot to me.”

The proceeds of the $15,000 fundraising goal will be used to build phase one of the café and reading room. While the venue could use more capital to prove sustainability, organizers wanted to make the goal achievable and purposely kept the fundraising goal low.

The Pit Stop crew is using Conception Fund, a locally focused crowd-funding platform co-founded by Oak Bluffs resident Arthur Hardy-Doubleday. “It was a pleasure working with Don and the Pit Crew to help them articulate their need and organize the campaign,” said Conception Fund co-founder Arthur Hardy-Doubleday. “I remember performing a play at the Wintertide as a kid and hanging out at Che’s as a young adult. The Pit Stop Workshop is filling huge void by trying to fill the need created when those establishments closed. Hopefully the community steps up and supports their campaign.”

Click here to view the video about the Pit Stop and their fundraising campaign for a café and reading room.