Brisbane alternative music hub The Lab has launched a crowdfunding campaign to ensure that it can keep hosting all ages events.
In an impassioned statement via its GoFundMe page, the venue has appealed for punters to help keep them alive and kicking, at a time when live music in Brisbane is doing it tough.
“The Lab is more than an All Ages music venue, its an institution that Brisbane cannot afford to lose. But it needs your help,” the venue’s statement reads. “Times are not easy for business in the music industry, and without the revenue 18+ venues make, The Lab is in a hard place financially to keep doing what it does.”
“Booking tours, paying rent, keeping maintenance up to date all add up,” it continues. “The Lab is a labour of love. Providing a space for youth is financially taxing, but unbelievably emotionally and culturally fulfilling. What The Lab does is too important to lose, help out today so we can keep the music going tomorrow.”
The venue is aiming for a crowdfunding target of $10,000, with $1.5K already raised.
Unfortunately, times are likely set to get even tougher for Brisbane venues like The Lab, with the Queensland government this week ramming through a deal to pass the strictest lockout laws in the country.
QMusic Executive Officer Joel Edmondson says that – along with refusing to consult with the live music community before implementing the laws – government officials have also not been able to give them any assurances that what happened in Sydney (i.e. at least 16 venues, hundreds of jobs and basically a huge chunk of the city’s nightlife getting wiped out) won’t also happen in Brisbane’s musical nerve centre of Fortitude Valley, now that the state-wide lockouts are set to be rolled out over the next year.
Read more about the Queensland music community’s response to the lockout laws here and here, or donate to The Lab’s GoFundMe campaign here.
Watch: Neck Deep – Live At The Lab 2014
