Community Pushes To Save Popular Gold Coast Live Venue: 'This Won't Be The End'

19 January 2019 | 11:53 am | Neil Griffiths

"The support has just been incredible."

It was only Thursday night that popular Gold Coast live music venue Nightquarter announced it will be shutting down after failing to reach an agreement with its landlord over a contract extension which would see rent doubled.

However since then, both the Queensland government and the music community has rallied behind the Helensvale venue, with pushes for the Nightquarter to return in a new space.

As Gold Coast Bulletin reports, Gaven MP Meaghan Scanlon, the Assistant Tourism Industry Development Minister, has offered to meet with venue owners and see how government can provide assistance. 

Meanwhile, a petition to save Nightquarter has already garnered well over 9,000 signatures with the target initially set at 10,000.

"The support has just been incredible," Nightquarter co-owner Michelle Christoe told The Music today.

"We've been in discussions with various sites to try and secure another location, however we haven't been able to come to any resolve and find something suitable...

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"This won't be the end of Nightquarter."

Christoe says the support has been so "overwhelming" that there is a very real chance the live music hub could be back very soon.

"Our goal is to have something back up and operational before the end of the year," she said.

"We're very serious about the music scene and incubating talent and hosting performances so it will be custom-built for the music industry with a focus on showing that the sound, quality and experience is exceptional.

"We'll take a lot of our learnings from this Nightquarter and I think that the next one will be even better."

Since opening in November 2015, the venue has hosted acts including Amy Shark, SAFIA, The Living End, Dune Rats, DZ Deathrays, Simple Plan and many more.  

It is currently scheduled to close on 1 February.