After announcing their closure via social media last month, music venue Neck Of The Woods was met with an outpouring of support from their community, raising over $15,000 within just 5 hours, quickly reaching their goal of $150,000 just days after the fundraiser was launched. Reflecting on the history of the venue, its cultural impact + the power of collective action, we hear from Rebekah Bristow, as she shares her hopes for the future + the change she hopes it sparks for venues across Aotearoa…
Whammy Bar will be hosting a Sounds to Save Neck of the Woods event tonight, Thursday, 2nd of July from 5pm- late, where all proceeds go to Neck Of The Woods. You can find more info here.
You can also purchase SAVE NECK OF THE WOODS, a compilation album curated by NYMPHO, where all proceeds raised will support the ongoing collective mission to preserve Neck Of The Woods here.
"When our community refused to accept our closure, it wasn’t because of our in-house Ghost Soundsystem or the world class calibre of artists and DJs that play here (although those things help), it was because they didn’t want to lose each other and this third space where they feel safe. "
There’s been a lot of talk recently about the loss of third spaces - those communal spaces between home and work or school.
If a third space is a home away from home, then the club is a third space. If community centres are third spaces, places where different communities can come together as one to celebrate, to support each other, and to pursue common interests, then the club is a third space. If a church is a third space, a place of communion, finding the divine, and elevating above our earthly prisons for a few hours, then the club is a third space too.
When we announced the sudden closure of Neck of the Woods, we were completely unprepared and overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and grief. The resounding message was how vital this space was to so many people.
When Neck of the Woods first opened in 2015, it was in the wake of the closure of many of our favourite music venues - Rakinos, Khuja Lounge, Fu Bar, Zen. Tāmaki Makaurau institutes that felt like they’d always be there until they were suddenly gone. A lot of our community are too young to have ever experienced those places, but they left a big hole and even bigger shoes to fill.
We never dreamt we’d have the same kind of legacy those music venues had. But we could at least continue the same culture of manaakitanga, whānau energy, and of course, good music guaranteed no matter what night you came down these stairs. And maybe we could even improve on some things.
We created our Safe & Sound Policy when we realised people wanted assurance that their safety would be taken seriously. It was a new concept for clubs in Aotearoa, but our community adopted it so quickly we barely have to enforce it now. The official TLDR of our safety policy has always been “leave the bad vibes at the door and bring nothing but good energy to the floor”. It sounds like some hippy cliche until you’ve experienced 350 people moving together to a heavy bass line and actually looking out for each other on the dance floor.
When our community refused to accept our closure, it wasn’t because of our in-house Ghost Soundsystem or the world class calibre of artists and DJs that play here (although those things help), it was because they didn’t want to lose each other and this third space where they feel safe.
We decided that if we were going out, we’d go out with a bang. So many places have just put a notice on the door saying they’re not opening tomorrow but we wanted to give everyone a chance to say goodbye over one last big weekend.
But before that last weekend was even half way through, the queer club night collective Nympho had launched a fundraiser. They set a goal of $150K to stop the club from closing. We just hoped it would make enough to pay our staff and the small businesses we rely on.
The fundraiser made $15,000 in just 5 hours. It hit that $150K goal in five days and kept growing. In one week, our community had raised nearly $160K. Even now the fundraising efforts to help us reopen continue. There’s a massive fundraiser on tonight at our neighbouring venue Whammy. Nympho put out a compilation album. Tattoo artists are inking our door stamp on people and donating the proceeds.
It’s been an incredibly humbling experience. We weren’t rescued by a wealthy investor or a big corporation. We were saved by 3000 donations, all from a community that believes this place is worth protecting.
We owe a great debt to those people. We now have a responsibility to our community to change how we operate. The business model for music venues is broken. We’re completely reliant on alcohol sales and that isn’t sustainable in this economic climate or in line with our values.
Detractors will tell you people don’t want to go out anymore but that’s not true. We’re often hosting sold out nights but people are not drinking as much anymore. Drinking habits are changing, and people have less money to spend but they still want to come together in these spaces. The local music and nightlife scene is thriving and full of invention; we just have to find a way to give it space to grow.
We’re holding a community hui at the club this Saturday so we can hear everyone’s ideas and make plans for a more sustainable future. We need a radical new vision for running music venues in Aotearoa and we need it urgently because we are by far the only one struggling. We’re the canary in the coal mine and if we don’t act now, we’ll end up losing all our music venues, all our third spaces and eventually community.
Our hope is that everyone who’s participated in fundraising for Neck of the Woods realises they’ve sparked a movement. Our hope is that you all see we can change the outcome when we come together.
$100 away from FREE shipping
