While waiting for its permit to turn the building into a hotel and apartment complex, Jinshan has decided to level it and told club management to vacate. Plans by the Palace Theatre to find an alternate venue in the city precinct, including Docklands, went nowhere.
Yesterday when Beat broke the story of the Palace Theatre’s closing, we suggested that State Government step in and buy the Bourke Street building from its owner, China-based Jinshan Investments, and reinstate the operators of the venue.
Now an Implore Mandatory Acquisition campaign has started. It targets politicians and lists their email addresses.
The most sympathetic ear could be Planning Minister Matthew Guy, who’s proven to be the biggest politician supporter of the live music scene in the past 20 years. Guy was instrumental in changing the rules to allow under age gigs. He is currently working on the Agent of Change principle where people moving into neighbourhoods with music venues can’t complain about the noise.
The message that the campaign focuses on the loss of the Palace Theatre, which draws 450,000 a year, will be a major loss to Melbourne’s live scene. It is the last of the 1500-1800 capacity venues. It also reminds the Government that the state’s live music industry sector is worth $1 billion, and the loss of clubs like The Palace are a major blow to Melbourne’s status as Australia’s live capital music.
After the story of the Palace’s closure hit at midday yesterday, 119,000 supporters alone expressed their anger and disappointment on the club’s Facebook in the first seven hours.
