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Fizzled crowdfunding campaign pulls the plug on proposed live music venue

Three businessmen who wanted to build new live entertainment space in Edmonton with crowdfunding dollars have abandoned the project after too few supporters opened their pockets.

Marvins Garden, a new live music and performing arts venue, was originally slated to open this month in Holland Plaza at 109th Avenue and 120th Street, a former garment factory which is now home to some of Edmonton's hippest businesses.

Instead, the space has been leased out to a new Italian pizzeria.

"In this city, you don't come around looking for a whole bunch of cash and I think the crowdfunder reinforced that for me. This is a do or do not town," business partner Mark Bellows said in an interview with CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.

"There was the support — the outreach and the emotional support — but the financial support was not there."

The venue was the brainchild of Bellows, along with Ryan Brodziak of the restaurant The Local Omnivore and Steve Derpack of JCL Productions, an Edmonton-based concert promoter.

The partners launched a 45-day online fundraising drive for the venue in April. The campaign amassed around $9,000 in donations, a fraction of its $190,000 goal.

Like so many start-ups before them, Bellows and his partners were hoping public backing would give them the nest egg they needed to get their venture off the ground. In their case, the money was needed to cover everything from permits, leases, construction and other operational and capital costs.

The crowdfunding model has worked for other projects in Edmonton, notably the recent campaigns which commissioned a pair of new murals in the city; one in by Okuda San Miguel near Whyte Avenue and another in downtown by Spanish street artist duo PichiAvo.

But the campaign for Marvins Garden didn't get the traction it needed.

It was clear Edmontonians wanted the partners to pay for their own venue, Bellows said.

"We weren't anywhere close to where we needed to be, so I've decided to shelve it for the time being," he said.

"I mean, we can't just Peter Pan and jump on a unicorn and do something with no money."

As live music venues across the city continue to close, the entertainment scene needs more spaces that can accommodate smaller events, Bellows said.

The venue would have been a lot more than a bar, said Bellows, who envisioned a family-friendly space that could serve all the performing arts, including stand-up comedy, DJ dance parties and poetry slams.

"That business model became very challenging but we're still proud of the fact that we entertained it," Bellows said.

"We still know it's viable but there just wasn't enough capital to get it off the ground."