This is not the first time that Collingwood’s the Tote has needed saving – but Shane Hilton plans on it being the last.
Hilton and his partner, Leanne, are hoping to secure the legendary live music venue’s future with a funding model that could keep other struggling venues out of the hands of developers.
“The Last Chance to Save the Tote” is being called the biggest crowdfunding campaign in live music history and hailed as a model for preserving other band rooms, which are coming increasingly under threat in the age of Spotify and gastro-pubs.
They just need $3m to do it.
Hilton is so committed to saving the venue, he has even started tattooing onto his body the names of donors who chip in what he calls a “life membership” of $1000.
The campaign has raised almost $1.5m, but the pair need to double it before 6 May. The current owners, Jon Perring and Sam Crupi, then have to accept the offer.
The Tote is listed for sale through commercial property agents Miglic Dean with a price tag of $6-$6.6m. While the listing spruiks the hotel’s rich history of four decades “supporting Melbourne’s live music scene”, it is also marketed as an opportunity for “a mixed use development incorporating the hotel as its centrepiece”.
In their Pozible campaign, Shane and Leanne – who also co-own Melbourne’s Last Chance rock’n’roll bar – claim the hotel risks being “turned into apartments, or worse one of those fucking awful redeveloped tissue box pubs run to make as much money as possible with no dirty rock & roll in sight”.
If they can buy the Tote, Hilton said they will set up a charitable trust to manage the venue, which they say would be the first of its kind in Australia.
“We’re going to put it into a trust, and then eventually what will happen is we will hand the building over to an independent charitable organisation who will own the Tote for the rest of time,” Hilton said.
Melbourne is a cornerstone of Australia’s live music scene – last year, five out of the six Australian acts at Glastonbury were from Victoria.
But venues have struggled since the end of the pandemic lockdowns, with Jimmy Hornet and Colour both closing.
The Curtin was saved when the new owner agreed to sign a 10-year lease, and Footscray’s Hotel Westwood is for sale.
Hilton said without drastic intervention, closures will keep happening.
“Live music venues and pubs are on prime development land,” he said. “So many of them have been turned into apartments. These spaces are disappearing.
“We think it’s a model that can be used in other venues to protect spaces. It’s something governments could look at and fine-tune.
“These spaces are important, they’re community spaces. It’s not the walls, it’s what’s happens within them.”
On top of the fundraiser, the pair have contributed what they could. While he cannot say how much the offer was, it came under the asking price of $6.6m.
Hilton said: “We put an offer in, that we could basically afford.
“We put it in with the hope that the campaign would make it to $3m.”
So far, in terms of his tattoo offer to life membership donors, he has over 70 tattoos.
“I’ve got over 650 still to be tattooed on me,” Hilton said. “I’ve got plenty of room, I’ve only got one whole leg, a thigh and my buttocks.
“Even if we fail, it’ll be a reminder of how strong the community is.”
Pozible’s Alan Crabbe said the campaign was the biggest in live music history.
“With over 5200 supporters, I cannot think of any campaign in the music industry internationally that has garnered so much support,” Crabbe said.
“Overwhelmingly, many supporters view this venue as a Melbourne institution, that must be preserved for future generations to experience – as they did.”
The current co-owners did not reply to questions before deadline, but said previously they would look “favourably at proposals that ensure a live music component”.
