Barn Radio, an electronic music venue at 215 SW 1st Ave. in Old Town, has welcomed more than 300 artists from over 30 countries since 2023. It holds 75 people. The bar runs out of a cooler and ice. DJs spin on an IKEA booth with speakers balanced on cinder blocks.
And the place is thriving.
In a profile first reported by OPB on Monday, Oct. 19, co-directors Jasmine Beach, 38, and Cole Johnson run the entire operation as a two-person team while both holding other jobs. Beach is also a student.
"Black and queer communities in particular did not simply contribute to electronic music," Beach told OPB. "They authored much of its musical and social language."
That ethos shapes the programming. Johnson told OPB the venue skips the dubstep-and-glow-stick circuit, focusing on underground sounds rooted in Chicago house and Detroit techno. Barn Radio sometimes offers sliding-scale tickets for queer and trans people of color, according to OPB.
But the DIY charm comes with real financial strain. Beach told OPB that speakers and lights have failed, the storefront glass needed repair and the venue had no emergency fund. She said grant funding for nightlife is scarce.
In February, Beach and Johnson launched a GoFundMe campaign seeking $50,000 for infrastructure. According to the campaign page, $30,420 had come in from 536 donors as of Oct. 19. The first $30,000 has gone toward new hardware, OPB reported. A single pair of club CDJs can cost upward of $6,000.
The campaign page breaks the $50,000 goal into tiers: $5,000 covers a security system and emergency fund; $15,000 adds sound system upgrades and a proper DJ booth; $25,000 launches an artist pay guarantee fund; and $50,000 completes a full buildout with a music studio, artist residencies and a broadcast radio launch.
Jared Dancler, a regular attendee, told OPB the venue's underground reputation doesn't match its street-level invisibility. "If you walk by First Avenue, you don't know it's here unless somebody puts you on," Dancler said.
The roughly $20,000 gap between what the GoFundMe has raised and its goal stands between Barn Radio and that full buildout, including the disco ball listed as the campaign's final line item.
