Devastation as punk collective ‘priced out’ of Welland home
An Adelaide arts collective, known for its lively punk and hardcore gigs, is mourning the loss of its DIY space, saying it has been “priced out” of its Welland home.
Volunteer-run arts, music and community space Rewind Sound and Studios says it has been “priced out” of its Welland warehouse after 16 years, leading to the temporary halt of popular poetry sessions.
Maddie Diamond, who has volunteered at Rewind for the past two years, says the loss of the space was “like losing the heart of your community”.
“I think it’s primarily just really sad, and I think the memories that have been made in that place – like 16 years is a long time, and especially given the communities Rewind serves,” she says.
“We’re talking about a lot of young people, a lot of queer people, a lot of people on the fringes.
“We’re talking about punk and artist communities – people that don’t have a space that they feel that they can call their home a lot of the time.”
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Over the past decade and a half, Rewind, previously known as Animal House, has hosted everything from punk gigs to art shows, markets, makerspace workshops and poetry readings, as well as housing a hireable band room and artist studios.
“We have a pretty DIY approach to things, and if someone wants to do something, they can,” Maddie says.
“I think these days it’s really focused on connecting people, lots of creative things and sort of fostering community as well.”
Maddie says Rewind had been seeking a more favourable lease arrangement, but a proposed rent increase of 30 per cent made it financially unsustainable for them to stay at the Welland base.
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She says Rewind held an emergency meeting, where the collective explored a number of options to keep the doors open, including ramping up its events program and entry prices, but ultimately, they unanimously decided to move out.
“It was definitely a really difficult decision and a really hard day, lots of feelings coming up, and I think there’s going to be quite a lot of grief from volunteers, but also, people who have been impacted positively by the space over the last 16 years,” Maddie says.
“It’s going to be a huge loss in terms of the capacity of the community to do things like organising, it’s going to be a loss of a place to just exist, and for free, and to see people and have those incidental relationships.
“I think it’ll be a huge loss to the creative community as well – just one less space for creativity and arts to be valued, which I think is a struggle that a lot of areas of the community are facing.”
Rewind will hold a farewell party on July 11 before it officially checks out of the Welland warehouse later this month.
Maddie says Rewind is currently exploring different possibilities for a new home, including taking on another commercial lease or putting its efforts into the Roundabout project – a coalition of Adelaide groups campaigning and fundraising to buy a community-owned hub.
She says that while Rewind looks for a new home, it will continue to hold “key regular events”, including Them’s Shed makerspace workshops, Rewind Poetry and music performances.
“We want to still have momentum, that connection as a community and still be making space and have capacity for arts and creativity and community to thrive, but I just think it’ll look a little different for a while,” she says.
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