Save Elsewhere

Right now

Our beloved grassroots music venue and community arts space is currently facing a severe threat of permanent closure following successive months of diminishing advance ticket and bar sales since April 2022.

These tenuous circumstances for our culture and livelihoods have arisen and are owing to what has been witnessed as a steep, industry-wide downturn in event attendances; a result of the cost of living crisis that has impacted everybody’s spending decisions as we all very understandably choose between buying that gig ticket, record or drink at the bar or keeping on top of our electricity bills - ours have tripled since the beginning of April of this year.

Saving Elsewhere

Success in meeting our crowdfunder target will mean that we can secure the future of Elsewhere with the donated funds being allocated accordingly:

• Pay off outstanding energy, rent, insurance and business rates bills.
• Retaining our lease and core staffing costs for the foreseeable, during a period in which we will operate the space to a reduced programme.
• Setting up a CIC (Community Interest Company) to take over the operations of the music venue and arts space. This will allow us access to more funding opportunities than ever before.
• Use the fallow time afforded from lease and staff retention; to further develop a financially sustainable, people driven, operating model and programme to ensure that Elsewhere's status as a grassroots music venue and arts space at the core of its community is safeguarded into the future.

About Elsewhere

Elsewhere is an inclusive and welcoming grassroots music venue and community arts space with a total capacity of 200, spread over two stages, based in Margate. The venue focuses on programming a wide range of events, primarily music but also comedy, poetry and workshops.

We have hosted shows with the likes of Self Esteem, Squid, Wet Leg, Hailu Mergia, Sports Team, Black Country, New Road, Porridge Radio, Yard Act, Jockstrap, Alabaster dePlume and Nova Twins all of whom now sell out larger venues, appear at major festivals and some who have gone on to become Mercury Award nominees.

Prior to running Elsewhere, our in-house production team have produced music events around Kent for nine years, building trust and links within the local community, and worked with Dreamland on By The Sea Festival. 

The venue is a respected community hub, holding events for Prince’s Trust, Open School East and Pie Factory Music, as well as community events like Margate Bookie’s Bookie Slam.

There is a shortage of dedicated music venues in East Kent, much less opportunities for artists to develop in a professionally equipped setting. Elsewhere aims to incubate talent, and provide connections to other music businesses in the area such as rehearsal spaces and record labels, and launch artists on to successful careers within music and the arts.

The future and vision for Elsewhere...

Elsewhere has functioned as much more than a space for bands to perform. We’ve hosted workshops for Open School East and Pie Factory Music, as well as a wide range of programming and community events like Margate Zine Fair.

Our vision of Elsewhere is a hub for grassroots music in the South East. We’ve already begun using our connections with booking agents, record labels and music charities to bridge the gap between our local community and the national industry. We want to help nurture the next generation of talent, while also ensuring current local talent can get the best platform to reach the audience they deserve.

We want to continue nurturing the next generation of talent with takeovers by young programmer and promoters - such as Wantsum Music?, Route and Femme Fiesta - and we’ve got some incredible momentum and energy behind this that we’d love to sustain through this transition period.

Please donate and share.
Even if it's the cost of a pint or a coffee or a share on social media/whatsapp groups. Every contribution to this effort to save Elsewhere is vitally cherished.

Together we believe that we can do this! 

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