3 minute read
Youth Spaces
Since the closing of the original ZEAL location on Ghuznee street in 2016 Wellington has had no consistent all-ages venue for young people to go and see live music. Conversely, there are also few places for young artists to play and network with other artists and get their foot in the door of their local music scene. For a city with so much artistic potential in its young people, it’s such a huge missed opportunity to develop and continue Wellington’s reputation as an artistic mecca for New Zealand.
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As a young artist, I have experienced and seen the difculty many young artists and music fans have had in their local scene. Age prevents them from getting into music clubs in town and not being able to get early entry and experience in the music scene is a waste of potential great artists and performers. When it comes to weekend activities and nightlife, most of it is built around the commercially manufactured drinking culture funneling everybody to bars on Friday and Saturday nights. So what does that leave people who are too young to drink or just want to have a good time that doesn’t revolve around getting “fucked up”? Well, not much. Wellington caters to its large population of students coming in from all over to study at Victoria University who use their newfound freedom to go out with their friends and not know how they got home. This causes its own problems of public safety around areas like Courtney place and Te Aro Park. Now, this is no fault of the promoters or venues, as it’s just the position they fnd themselves in. Beer sells more than door sales, and the bills are not going to pay themselves but, I think for a city that prides itself on its schools and universities, that have well funded and successful art departments we should see some funding and support from the council to put in place venues and places for that art to be expressed. I wanted to get the perspective of someone who has had more experience in the Wellington scene, so I contacted Ian Moore. Moore has been active in the scene for many years playing as drummer in the band Severed beliefs and has his own solo Digital hardcore project where he goes under the name DEATHTRIPPA for views on this topic. He told me that his passion started when he was at the “Red Rabbit cafe on Leeds street and a barista noticed [him] wearing a Killswitch Engage band shirt and invited [him] to come see his band playing at ZEAL.” These allage venues are the “main reason why hardcore in New Zealand has stayed around after decades of its existence is through the proactiveness that bands and promoters have to run all-ages shows and support young bands.”For Moore, ZEAL “acted as a lot of things” that he took for granted at the time, but he “really cut [his] teeth learning to perform on that stage”.
I asked if he sees a future where Wellington can have another thriving all-ages venue, this led to the sad truth that “In Wellington, it’s near impossible” running a venue costs lots of money and “in 2021 where property rent is through the roof, you’d need a venue to be able to monetize a decent income to pay for rent, power, sound people, backline among many other things.”
Moore compared this to the old ZEAL that “worked because it was government-funded and non-proft so unless anyone was able to get a government grant or has rich as f*ck parents who can straight buy a property - we’re not in luck.”
Despite the bleak conclusion of this interview, it did tell me that the Wellington scene is not just open but actively supportive of younger artists as most people in the scene were in the same position I am now in, except they had the platform to express their vision. But both Moore and I agreed on the fact that “the government should be putting more funding into youth venues.”
To summarize, this article I could not say it better than Moore did in one of his fnal anecdotes: “I think All Ages
