Bongo Club statement: - Friday 18th. May. 2012

Please support us! 

PLEASE SIGN & SHARE OUR PETITION; over 4,500 signatures so far!   Thank you

www.chn.ge/bongopetition

"It's a great venue, which offers a great range in underground & diverse music & other quality events/nights. There is not going to be anywhere to go at this rate if you're not interested in the usual mainstream nonsense.  KEEP IT OPEN!"   Justin Alexander

Edinburgh Uni should show some compassion and understanding for their surroundings.  They hold the power in this situation, and could damage the city's creativity and individuality irreversably.  Do the right thing, please"   Lewis Chilvers

"If Edinburgh truly wants to live up to its reputation as a city with a vibrant cultural and art scene it needs more than some expensive Festivals for a few weeks in August - it needs affordable spaces where exciting things can happen all year round - things that are not necessarily commercial or mainstream and where the artists of the present or the future can meet and find inspiration and collaboration.  The Bongo Club is one of the few such-like spaces remaining in this city"   Kat Hasler

"There are not enough venues left to allow another to go.  I am an alumnus of the University and I provide financial support that I expect to be used so that all Edinburgh residents can benefit"   Andy Agnew

WHAT'S YOUR VIEW?    You can comment here: www.chn.ge/bongopetition  

Out of the Blue & Bongo Club Statement, 29th March 2012 

SAVE BONGO!

Following Edinburgh University’s decision to prematurely end the Bongo Club’s lease, thousands of Bongo Club supporters have signed petitions, joined the Facebook campaign and messages of support have poured in from MP’s, MSP’s, Edinburgh City Councillors, University staff and students, artists, performers, musicians, and of course from many of the thousands of people who attend the Bongo Club each year.

Many press articles have explored the decimation of Edinburgh’s music scene. The message is clear - Save The Bongo Club as a vital part of Edinburgh’s cultural infrastructure

Out of the Blue are now calling on the University for the Bongo Club to remain at Moray House until September 2013 and for a long lease on the Old Kirk on the corner of St John Street and Holyrood Road, which has been unused and boarded up by the University for over 5 years.

Through our ownership of the listed Drill Hall on Dalmeny Street, Out of the Blue are experienced at working with funders such as Historic Scotland, Creative Scotland, and The Big Lottery Fund who have funded renovation and repair projects. Given ownership or a long lease of a building for The Bongo Club we could do likewise.

Kim Waldon, Edinburgh University Secretary has stated:
"The University has had a long and positive association with the Bongo Club .... We do of course appreciate the importance to Edinburgh, and not least to our own students, of a vibrant and diverse cultural scene to which the Bongo Club contributes. To this end we will provide the Bongo Club with all the appropriate help we can with its location"

Enabling us to develop the Old Kirk would certainly demonstrate an appropriate level of belief in the value of OOTB and The Bongo Club to the city. We have the full support of Creative Scotland, City of Edinburgh Council, our local MP, MSP, Triodos Bank, Social Investment Scotland, EUSA and of course our thousands of supporters.

EUSA President Matt McPherson, said,
"Students have made it clear to me through thousands of signatures on a petition that The Bongo Club is far more than just an evening space.  It is a venue which plays an important part in the international, deeply cultural and diverse social fabric of Scotland's capital city. 

I have written to the University on behalf of student council, who recently passed a motion in support of the Bongo Club, expressing my concern at the decline of Edinburgh's meaningful and local spaces, and asking the University to support the current organisers of the Bongo Club through means of finding an appropriate other venue.  EUSA has enjoyed a close partnership with the Bongo Club in recent months, and I have asked the University Rector if the issue can be discussed at a University Court meeting in the near future"

Contact: 

Ally Hill - Venue Manager, 37 Holyrood Road Edinburgh, EH8 8BA  +44(0) 131 558 8844

ally@thebongoclub.co.uk

www.facebook.com/savebongo