The Josephine, once a hub of underground music and unconventional performance arts in Ballard, shut down in February after it received numerous noise complaints. But now lease holders and show bookers Malaki Stahl and Olivia Mendez have started a GoFundMe campaign to raise $9,000 necessary to pay off debts and to not only return the Josephine to all-ages-venue status, but also to expand its functionality. They plan to add a record shop (Jigsaw Records), a recording studio, and an electronics repair shop.

"[The Josephine] is undergoing major changes and still trying to circle back around and eventually become a venue again, this time legitimately," Stahl says in an email interview. The process is in its early stages, he adds, so it's difficult to pinpoint when the Josephine will re-open.

Stahl, Mendez, and their child moved to Tacoma, but their lease at the Josephine is still good, he says. "And the landlord loves us, so we are trying to pull off a miracle." While the couple has been struggling financially since the Josephine closed, they are starting to rebound and have been filling most of the building's vacancies. "Fingers crossed for our GoFundMe," Stahl says, "and even more fingers crossed for the longevity of the music/arts community in Ballard and Seattle, in general."

You can donate to the Josephine's cause here.