The Grad Club, described by its Board as a “home for music” and a “sanctuary for graduate students,” has closed its doors permanently.
The closure was announced during The Club’s Annual General Meeting on April 24th after being in financial review.
READ MORE: Grad Club suspends operations amid financial review
The closure follows years of financial and operational challenges for The Club, including the near destruction of its building in 2005 due to disputes tied to Union Street redevelopment plans, rent increase by the University in 2024, and a 2024 fundraising campaign that raised $100,000 to keep the space operating.
“The Board of Directors has now officially made a formal assignment into bankruptcy,” said The Grad Club’s Closure Memo. “This necessary legal step follows an exhaustive review of the organization’s financial standing, which confirmed the organization is insolvent and unable to meet its accumulated financial obligations.”
A formal assignment into bankruptcy is a legal process where an organization transfers control of its financial affairs to a Licensed Insolvency Trustee, a professional responsible for administering bankruptcies in Canada.
The Board explored every possible avenue to avoid the closure, but the scale of the liabilities made operations impossible, according to the memo.
The notice also described The Club as “much more than just a venue,” calling it “a cornerstone of the Queen’s University experience for generations.”
It remains unclear what will happen to the building or whether any future effort could revive the Grad Club in another form. The organization did not respond to The Journal’s questions about next steps before publication.
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Bankruptcy, closure, Grad Club, Kingston, Student life, the Grad Club
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