Barbès Raising Money To Avoid Shutdown

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Barbès, the Park Slope music club on the corner of Ninth Street and Sixth Avenue, has started a fundraising drive to avoid a possible shutdown brought by soaring rents and city services.

The venue needs to raise about $70,000 — $20,000 of that by the end of June — to stay in business for another five years. An Indiegogo page has already raised $27,105, enough to hit the first milestone; a benefit concert has been planned for June 9th at DROM in the East Village to help raise the rest.

"Of course, you’re probably asking yourself why you should help," the Indiegogo page says. "It’s a fair question, and we may not have a good answer.

"We do think that we’ve built a place that is different from any other - and that what we are adding to the Brooklyn cultural landscape is worth preserving. On the other hand, times are indeed changing: we may have ceased to be relevant and may deserve the slow death that seems to be awaiting us."

We've reached out to Barbès and will update this story if we hear back.

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Barbès has been open for 15 years in the neighborhood and said the economic challenges have dramatically increased in that time.

"Surviving as a small business in this new, re-branded Brooklyn has become a sometimes insurmountable challenge," the Indiegogo page reads.

"The overall price of doing business has increased tremendously (higher rent, increase in the cost of goods, services, permits, insurance etc.. ) and we have accumulated a debt that our dwindling profit margin has made nearly impossible to manage: $50,000 owed to our bank and $20,000 owed to our landlord – most of it for city services related costs that, over the past few years, have spiraled out of control."

It hopes a loyal audience can keep the club from going under.

"In any case, we do believe that for the past fifteen years, Barbès has played host to a vibrant community and acted as a laboratory for all kinds of new music," the page says. "We couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve achieved and are thankful to all of you for being a part of it. We have every intention of surviving for however long as we can - or at the very least until the end of our current lease, five years from now."

Image via Google Streetview