By Lynn Saxberg, Ottawa Citizen

In a collaboration that could be a model for live-music clubs in any city, a group of Ottawa business leaders calling themselves the Rainbow Bistro Business Amplifiers have raised $50,000 to help the Rainbow Bistro continue operating.

The funding is the first step in a four-part plan to help the live-music landmark stay in business, said Kevin Ford, CEO of Calian Group. A musician who’s also the father of musicians, Ford had fond memories of taking his sons to the Rainbow’s Sunday jam and didn’t want it to close.

After hearing the pandemic was making it impossible to make ends meet, Ford was the first business leader to reach out to Rainbow owner Danny Sivyer. In the two months since the two men first met, Ford assembled other business leaders and music-industry representatives to take part in weekly Zoom meetings, where they brainstormed strategies, both long- and short-term, to apply to the live-music sector on the club level.

Read full article from Ottawa Citizen here.