Cinqhole

03/01/2021

Hi! We had a great chat with Sarah from Nosy Mag about Cinqhole's short run and what it meant to us. Give 'em a follow and have a read!

As cabin fever finds its way into the lives of many, I constantly find myself escaping it by seeking nostalgia in the shows, community gatherings, and event spaces that I was once able to experience before COVID-19. I had the opportunity to indulge in this nostalgia when I (virtually) sat down wi

12/12/2020

Thank you to everyone who supported us through this extremely difficult year. We are so humbled by your generosity, and it's heart warming to see all of you rocking our merch.

The real legacy of Cinqhole will not be the space. A space is a space. It's the people, community, and kindness that filled it that matters. We tried to offer an inclusive, positive place for everyone to congregate, have fun, and be themselves. Although things ended sooner than we'd hoped, we're very proud of what we built and how much community support we got from all of you.

This is a story with a happy ending, and one that shows what can be accomplished when we have each other's back.

12/09/2020

A coupla sweet Cinqhole shows made it into Photogmusic's Best Shows of 2020 list! Some great memories.... Distant, distant memories... Thanks Ming!

Best of 2020 : Top 10 shows in Ottawa before the pandemic shut down everything!

12/03/2020

10/30/2020

That’s a wrap, folks. We are completely shocked at and infinitely thankful for how many people showed up to support us through our fundraiser. We have hit our target goal and are no longer in a dire spot because of you. For anyone that came to a show at Cinqhole, bought merch from a band, brought a friend out for the first time, or contributed to our campaign, know this - you have directly supported the arts community and the sum total impact really made a difference in Ottawa.

It’s going to be a difficult go for everyone for a while. But remember that we’ll get through this together, and that there will be live music and art again someday. Just be patient, kind, and supportive of local businesses and artists whenever you can.

Cinqhole was something that we only dreamed of. But we did it, and because of you we look at it as a success. Our appreciation and humility runs deep for this reason.

For anyone who contributed and is waiting on a print or shirt, we will be in touch over the next month once we have a better idea of the production schedule. We’re still expecting to have the orders out by early December.

We’re officially moved out of 5b now, and on that note we will be signing off. See you on the flip side.

Matias, Anthony, & Eric

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Photo: The Sentries playing at last year's Halloween Party

10/13/2020

Only five days to go! We are blown away by all the love and support we have gotten from the Ottawa music and arts community. Your generosity is a humble reminder of what can be accomplished when people come together in dire times. We went from feelings of helplessness and distress to comfort and optimism in under one month.

We are ALMOST at our fundraising target, and are in the process of getting our merch production under way. There's still time to donate, share, and support us as we wrap up and try to minimize the damage done since our closure on March 12.

Thank you to everyone that has donated, commented, shared, said kind words to us. You have affirmed that what we did was important and necessary in our city.

Matias, Anthony, & Eric

Cinqhole's Farewell Fundraiser is an effort to recover some big financial losses amid the pandemic in hopes to one day try again.

10/01/2020

Remember all those books on our shelves that you couldn't reach? Black Squirrel Books & Espresso Bar is packing up around 3000 books into boxes and you can grab an entire box for $10! The only catch is that you don't know what you're gonna get. Worth it!

They are kind enough to donate all proceeds to our Farewell Fundraiser, which is helping us recoup our investment into making Cinqhole a reality. Please join us this Sunday at 11am until 3pm, we'll be there selling out the garage door.

09/28/2020

Woah! We are just floored by the response and outpouring of support for this fundraiser. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed, bought some merch, or shared the page around so far! We really didn’t know what to expect from this and we set a more modest goal in hopes of making back part of our initial investments.

With the way this is going, we’re going to try and go the distance, bump up the goal and shoot for a full $12k. That’s our break-even point. We never thought we’d recover after six months of no income, but the support from all of you in the community is making all the difference. We know that many folks are struggling financially these days, and that just makes your generosity all the more mind-blowing and heart-warming. We will not increase the goal again after this.

So please, keep sharing this around and helping as you can.

From the bottoms of our full, full hearts—thank you.

Matias, Tony, & Eric

Link -

Cinqhole's Farewell Fundraiser is an effort to recover some big financial losses amid the pandemic in hopes to one day try again.

09/21/2020

We are so humbled by all the messages of love and support following our closure announcement. We've set up a fundraiser for those who are able to help us recover financially from the position we're in. Any and all donations are appreciated, and we have some exclusive Cinqhole merch for donors to snag. Any help to reach our goal and spread the word goes a long way, and we cannot express how much the community's support has been to softening this blow for us.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Matias, Anthony, & Eric

Fundraiser Link: https://bit.ly/3ck9HEc

Cinqhole's Farewell Fundraiser is an effort to recover some big financial losses amid the pandemic in hopes to one day try again.

09/10/2020

Dear Ottawa friends,

It is with a heavy heart that we must announce our imminent closure at the end of this month. We have explored any and all solutions on how to survive the peril and uncertainty of this pandemic, but the reality is that small live music venues and gathering spaces for the arts are last on the list to open safely.

We went all in with Cinqhole. We strove to provide an inclusive, artistically-driven space for people to congregate, meet other like-minded folks, and feel welcome regardless of who walked through our doors. We believed that art inspires people and enriches lives. We believed that bringing people together through common interests strengthens our community and makes Ottawa a better place to live.

We still believe in these things.

Opening a non-profit space like Cinqhole has been a dream of ours for a long time. We held dozens upon dozens of shows and art events since we opened our doors last year, and had a packed spring and summer season on deck for 2020. We were in it for the long haul, and we even began some renovations to bring things up to code and ensure some sustainability in the longer term. But after our final show on March 11, everything changed with the imminent lockdown spurred by COVID-19.

The truth is we’ve been put in a difficult financial position since closing, with no income at all to recoup the expenses incurred from overheads and renovation costs. We’ll be setting up a fundraiser with some sweet Cinqhole items you can take home which will help us recover some of those losses, and make the possibility of a future endeavour more realistic when the time comes. Keep an eye out for a crowdfunding announcement in the near future, as we’ll be looking for help from our community in this dire time.

While it saddens us to wave goodbye to this chapter, we’re optimistic that live music will return with force one day. We see how much artists, venues, and other music industry people are suffering right now. But if you share our optimism, even in this time of stagnation and hardship, you’ll see that light at the end of the tunnel.

We want to show appreciation to General Assembly who occupied this space before us, and to Black Squirrel Books who went in on this with us initially. We want to sincerely thank every single person who played a show, displayed artwork, booked an event, attended an event, supported an artist, told a friend, brought a friend, and anyone who gives a heck about art and community. You helped make this what it was and it was an honour to share in it with you all.


With love,

Matías, Anthony, & Eric

08/06/2020

We're models now. Thanks Ottawa Life Magazine and Luke for the article!

https://www.ottawalife.com/article/surveying-the-playing-field