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“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of progressive, p
ersistence beats resistance. You have to just crack on with it… Give people the opportunity and the culture will come, the people will do it.” R3D’s House opment plans and advocates like Sunil and Robbie. We are seeing some changes and I will give one example, the Poolbeg West development which still isn’t built, obviously. As part of their planning agreement has a provision that they have to provide 5% cultural, creative and community space with 40 artist studios as part of that. What they are doing is building a ‘meanwhile use’ space while they build the rest of it which will have a town hall which will potentially be used for night-time activities. “This space we are sitting in will be an active market again, but we have to stitch into the agreement that it is considered a late night venue also for purposes such as what is happening here tonight. It is also looking at the venues we have and making it easier. We have to simplify the process for promoters and organisers, but we do need dedicated spaces too. I do fear for the city that we have run out of space so we’ll probably be looking at what we have. This is not just important from a clubbing perspective but from a family one. I want to be able to bring my kids into town at night and have things to go to – and not just on culture night. A night-time offering which has something for everybody, but also ensure it is safe. There are so many moving pieces to this such as the justice piece we have spoken about from a safety perspective and the urgent legislative changes that are needed, there’s the transport piece ensuring people can get in and out more easily. There is a public realm piece. We need a better offering for the people who live here, first and foremost but also the people visiting - what are they going to do? Take a tour of the hotels of the city and see a plaque that says ‘here doth lies a former brilliant club that 28 is no longer here’. I feel sorry for younger people, what’s for them after 6pm at night? ask for it in real life space, how does it carry over? You feel like you are constantly starting over. MMD: “The toolkit, the event management plan, created for tonight can hopefully benefit others in this instance. How important is that we keep learning and not repeat the same steps each time?” RM: “People approach organising in different ways and not everyone understands public liability insurance or that you can pick your own security for certain venues. I’ve lost a lot of friends to other cities and I want them to come back and have something to come back to. People need joy and there has been a really big lack of joy and play and hopefulness and that is also the result of all these big social pushes - Repeal, Equality - from what I’m feeling from the people we work with, it’s that we’re tired, we’re exhausted, we are really hanging on to every little piece of joy we have. I feel I am moving from a space of delusion where I am going to a venue saying we need a closed space, this is our ethos, we always need gender neutral bathrooms, we need the space to be accessible. That already discounts so many spaces. The sub-cultures right now are really suffering. We have the likes of Temporary Pleasure and Club Comfort pushing the dialogue on queer club culture but that can only go so far. And what I feel from being a minority within a minority within a minority is that you get pushed further back. It feels like pre-BLM conversations that haven’t carried on because we had that big gap of Covid where a lot of the diversity and inclusion things weren’t able be properly carried out and carried through. It’s on social media but when you SS: “One thing we’ve never been able to do is explore buildings like this for electronic and dance music, build an all-purpose event space. We have lost night-life in the suburbs, when we change the licensing laws it is important our planning rules speak to them. From a creative point of view even having a Dublin sound. One place I played in early years was Slovakia in the likes of nuclear bunkers and they developed their own industrial rhythmic style of techno. It felt they have something special - we could have a range of sounds if we could explore these buildings. I am very positive about the future and what can come.” MMD: “Since we have had to wait this long, how crucial is that we get it right rather than end up with a half-way house solution?” CH: “I disagree. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of progressive, persistence beats resistance. You have to just crack on with it. If the political will is there, if it is possible to create some of these spaces and test a couple of venues that can push these licenses a little bit later. Start experimenting, don’t wait for the perfect plan to land in the city. Give people the opportunity and the culture will come, the people will do it. Night Moves was presented in partnership with Dublin City Council and generously supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media’s Local Live Programming Scheme.