The campaign is to help raise money for dozens of crucial, small live music venues across Aotearoa this New Zealand Music Month…
Dozens of campaigns over music month will go ahead, and each with a $1000 koha from Arts Foundation Future Fund, plus 5% of their Boosted campaign target, donated back to them. Starting with the campaigns from Whammy & Wine Cellar (Auckland), Darkroom (Christchurch) and San Fran (Wellington), each venue will nominate another venue to kick off their very own Boosted campaign, with their very own seed fund to get them started.
Pay it forward...
Starting on Monday, May 4th at 12pm:
Wine Cellar nominates Cassels Blue Smoke (Christchurch)
San Fran nominates The Cabana (Napier)
Darkroom nominates Dog With Two Tails (Dunedin)
Whammy nominates Neck Of The Woods (Auckland)
If planning her album release tour amidst a global pandemic wasn’t enough, all of a sudden the future looked even bleaker for musician Reb Fountain when she realised there might not be any venues for her to perform at once the lockdown was lifted.
Spurred on by the desire to save her 'second home’ and secure both audience entertainment and artist growth in Aotearoa, she gathered together a stalwart team to create a Boosted campaign to raise funds for, and showcase the plight of two iconic Auckland venues - Whammy Bar and The Wine Cellar.
Alongside Reb Fountain, artists such as Marlon Williams, Aldous Harding, Ladi6, Nadia Reid, Tiny Ruins, Tami Nielson, Soaked Oats and The Beths stepped up to support what would be the beginning of a movement. This was an artist-led project aimed at a viral response to support these community spaces to survive and thrive.
And true to form; artists, reviewers, photographers and punters alike have been sharing their memories and support for these beloved venues, and the need for live music to survive the lockdown.
Within 8 hours the #welovewhammywinecellar Boosted campaign had surpassed its initial goal of $50,000. “Our initial goal was somewhat reserved,” Reb says, “We knew that these venues weren’t going to make it with our funding alone - they needed a comprehensive national funding strategy - but $50,000 seemed like a good place to start. We never could have imagined the campaign would explode as it did, tripling the number of donors recorded for any one Boosted campaign .. and we’ve only just begun.”
With such an incredible start it was clear the community at large were invested in their ‘home away from homes’ and genuinely cared about the fate of our local music scene. Reb and team stretched the goal to $100,000, but again were aware that this would only touch the sides of what is needed. “You run a music venue for the love of it; because you are passionate about live music and want to provide a space where your community can congregate to hear it .. not for the money."
Funds have continued to roll in as the #saveourvenues campaign shine a much-needed light on the plight of our nations venues, artists, and our creative industry as a whole. And others started: Darkroom in Christchurch hit their $10k target within two days; San Fran (in Wellington) kicked off with almost $20k support in 24 hours.
Excited that these campaigns could become a movement to support venues around the country, this blossoming & dedicated committee (including Reb, Matthew Crawley (Golden Dawn / Strange News), Lucy Macrae & Tom Anderson (Whammy Bar), Rohan Evans (The Wine Cellar) and Reuben Bonner (Banished Music)) started working behind the scenes.
Under the banner of #saveourvenues the team seek to unite in support of Aotearoa's live music venues and music scene, to raise awareness and funds, and trigger a national response strategy in support of a thriving musical culture in New Zealand. #saveourvenues have been working to create a national Boosted fund-raising strategy to stand in solidarity with small, live music venues around the country who are on the brink.
If the record-breaking Boosted campaign for Whammy Bar and The Wine Cellar has shown us anything, it’s how a cause can transcend the divide and unite music fans, artists, and industry professionals alike to create positive change.
#saveourvenues aim is to get to crucial, original, small live music venues right across New Zealand, in cities and towns. And we are calling on everyone to help. Anyone can do it – artists, audience members, reviewers, techies, promoters – all of us.
First up – please donate now – chip in what you can to make a difference.
Next - using the hashtags
#saveourvenues and #welove(venuename),
post your own video or photo with your memory of the venue as a response and share this with your community along with the link to this page, so that your friends can donate too.
Whammy/Wine Cellar
https://www.boosted.org.nz/projects/we-love-whammy-wine-cellar
#welovewhammywinecellar
#saveourvenues / #saveourvenuesnz
Darkroom
https://www.boosted.org.nz/projects/darkroom-christchurch
#welovedarkroom
#saveourvenues / #saveourvenuesnz
San Fran
https://www.boosted.org.nz/projects/we-love-san-fran
#welovesanfran
#saveourvenues / #saveourvenuesnz
Blue Smoke
https://www.boosted.org.nz/projects/we-love-blue-smoke
#welovebluesmoke
#saveourvenues / #saveourvenuesnz
The Cabana
https://www.boosted.org.nz/projects/we-love-the-cabana#welovethecabana
#saveourvenues / #saveourvenuesnz
Neck Of The Woods
https://boosted.org.nz/projects/we-love-neck-of-the-woods
#weloveneckofthewoods
#saveourvenues / #saveourvenuesnz
Dog With Two Tails
https://www.boosted.org.nz/projects/we-love-dog-with-two-tails
#welovedogwithtwotails
#saveourvenues / #saveourvenuesnz
Let's build a movement.
#saveourvenues #saveourvenuesnz
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