The race to save Collingwood’s beloved venue The Tote is well and truly underway, with the crowd-funded Pozible campaign having raised more than $1.5 million at the time of writing.
The campaign was launched by the owners of Melbourne’s Last Chance Rock & Roll Bar Shane Hilton and his partner Leanne in early March, who desperately want to retain The Tote as a live music venue. “We’re giving the Tote to the bands of Melbourne forever,” Hilton and Leanne wrote in the announcement. “No fuckers gunna touch one of those posters on that tobacco-stained ceiling.”
The revered venue was put up for sale at the start of March, with the owners simply saying they were burned out after the struggles of COVID.
“We signed up to save the Tote once, not expecting to have to do it twice,” Jon Perring and Sam Crupi said in a statement. “Especially after we lost our business partner to cancer just before the COVID lockdowns started. It’s time for someone else to take it on with renewed enthusiasm and vision now COVID is behind us. We feel the timing [is] right.”
Shane and Leanne said they’d scraped together around $3 million through their own savings and other loans, and were aiming to raise another $3 million through the Pozible campaign. In a new interview with The Guardian, Hilton said the aim was to have the Tote managed by a charitable trust “for the rest of time”.
“Live music venues and pubs are on prime development land,” Hilton told the paper. “So many of them have been turned into apartments. These spaces are disappearing. We think it’s a model that can be used in other venues to protect spaces. It’s something governments could look at and fine-tune.”
As part of the Pozible campaign, Hilton promised to get inked with the names of people who’d donated $1000 (life membership donors). So far, he’s had more than 70 tattoos done – with 650 more to come. “I’ve got plenty of room, I’ve only got one whole leg, a thigh and my buttocks,” Hilton said. “Even if we fail, it’ll be a reminder of how strong the community is.”
Speaking of, Pozible CEO Alan Crabbe told The Guardian that ‘The Last Chance To Save The Tote’ campaign could be the “biggest in live music history”.
“With over 5200 supporters, I cannot think of any campaign in the music industry internationally that has garnered so much support,” Crabbe said. “Overwhelmingly, many supporters view this venue as a Melbourne institution, that must be preserved for future generations to experience – as they did.”
You can donate to the campaign here.
Further Reading
Newtown to Get New Live Music Bar with 4am Licence by August
Melbourne Venue The Curtin No Longer Closing Down, Publicans Granted 10 Year Lease
