The fundraising campaign to save Victoria’s iconic Hermann’s Jazz Club and their next door establishment View Street Social has successfully reached their $450,000 fundraising goal.
The campaign was launched in late March with a deadline of Sunday April 26 to secure the funds to effectively save the venues from closing and the Arts on View Society being dissolved.
More than $551,000 was pledged early on in the campaign, but collecting the pledges by the deadline date was necessary for it to be a success. As of the morning of April 26, the fundraiser needed about $7000 to reach the goal. By the end of the day it had collected $10,000 for a total closing total of $450,216 according to the Save Hermmann’s website with nearly 2900 donations made.
The Arts on View Society said in an news release they they will still proceed with the announced closure April 30 for three to six months to address their historical financial obligations, complete critical repairs and deferred maintenance of the venues and rebuild the organization.
“When I joined the board in 2024, I stepped into a very difficult situation — missing financial reporting, unaddressed tax obligations, and years of deferred maintenance,” said Arts on View Society Board Chair Al Smith in the news release. “What you’ve done has given us the opportunity to fix this properly and ensure it never happens again.”
The planned changes to rebuild the organization include having a transparent and expanded board of directors, a formal voting membership structure, regular financial reports and a music advisory group to help with programming.
A reopening date has not been confirmed.
Even though they have officially reached their goal, The Arts on View Society are still accepting donations. Details on how to contribute can be found at savehermannsandvss.com
Read the full news release below:
