Workshop rental and other expenses during recovery

Hi I’m Darren Dyke.  For those of you who don’t know me I am a Steel Pan and Hand Pan tuner and musician living in Brussels.   I began tuning and building Steel Pans in 1996 and tuning has been my work and livelihood ever since. I recently broke my shoulder in an accident and as a result I will be unable to work for about 6 months. I’m very fortunate to live in Belgium where I have access to great medical care and a very good social safety net.  There is of course some financial aid coming in the form of unemployment yet it will not be sufficient to meet financial challenges that come with being self-employed. The biggest of these challenges is maintaining a suitable workspace.  When I moved to Brussels in 2015 I found such a space.  I invested a good amount of money in renovations that made it possible to do the work of tuning - with all the accompanying noise - without bothering others in neighboring workshops.  Due to the lack of income for the next several months I’m at risk of losing the workshop and my investment in the renovation which was done thinking that this would be a long term rental.  


My goal with  this campaign is to simply raise money that will allow me to cover the rent on the workshop and to pay other inevitable expenses for the period of time that I’m out of work plus the initial, inevitably slow period once I start working again.   Keeping my current space means avoiding the difficulty of having to move out now and finding a new suitable space later that could require additional renovation expenses.  Keeping the space also will give me and my family peace of mind and the security of knowing that I have a place to go back to work once my shoulder has healed.  


For those of you who are Handpan or Steel Pan players I would like to offer a way to repay some of your generosity.  If you donate you can choose to apply all or a part of your donation towards a future tuning of an instrument or instruments.   When you donate just let me know that this is what you would like to do and as I return to work I will get in touch with you to organize tuning.  I can’t guarantee exactly when the tuning will happen only that it will happen when the time is appropriate.


The doctors reassured me that my surgery went very well and that I will fully recover.  It will take some time and with your help I will be able to stay focused on that recovery.  Thank you very much for your support!