Nightquarter announce opening weekend on the Sunshine Coast
NightQuarter are excited to announce the opening weekend is set for Friday 6th November - Sunday 8th November on the Sunshine Coast.
Dynamic duo Michelle Christoe and Ian Van der Woude finally unveil the weekend destination to the Sunshine Coast community. The project’s move to the Sunshine Coast was delayed due to Covid-19 in March this year after operating successfully for three years on the Gold Coast.
The venue will be open year-round every Friday and Saturday from 4 pm - 10 pm and every Sunday from 12 pm - 6 pm. A kaleidoscope of colour and flavour, the precinct will be home to 40 shipping container-based stallholders serving up global eats, desserts, drinks and speciality retailers. Every Friday and Saturday night, the space will come alive with live music across five stages, immersive performances, street art, bars and vintage amusement rides. The Sunday concept is a new addition to the NightQuarter experience set to make the most of the beautiful Sunshine Coast Sunday afternoons. It will be dedicated to funk, flavours and furry-friend outings with a ‘pup-up bar’ for pooches, undercover vintage and design markets, sustainability workshops and blues tunes.
The NightQuarter concert and events venue that won the 2019 Best Regional Venue award at the Queensland Music Awards has been re-imagined as ‘NightQuarter Live’. Featuring regular ticketed live music concerts, special events and cabaret dinner-and-show style events every Thursday, the precinct is set to reinvigorate the Sunshine Coast music scene following a year of Covid-19 restrictions. The venue has been purpose-built with a 12m x 6m stage, three storeys of shipping containers and state-of-the-art production.
“We have invested millions alongside Stockland into the precinct to provide immersive entertainment every weekend, a curated selection of global eats and unique experiences. This extends from Cabaret Thursdays, Friday and Saturday nights to Sunday afternoons with vintage and design markets – and yes you can bring your dogs on Sundays!” says Michelle Christoe.
Michelle goes on to stress “The hospitality and the entertainment industries have been hit hard by the pandemic and we are looking at new and different ways we can reinvigorate the talent that exists on the Sunshine Coast and attract the drive market to the Southern end of the Sunshine Coast.”
Partnering with local brewery Eumundi Brewery, there will be the Eumundi Backyard dedicated to local craft beers, live tunes and games. Queensland winery Sirromet have created a cellar door style experience with a wine bar and wine tastings, and Jack Daniels have created ‘Jack’s Bar’ dedicated to great whiskey and live music with whiskey tasting flights.
Fiona Papworth, Retail Asset Manager Queensland, Stockland, said: “NightQuarter is strongly aligned with our focus on bringing curated customer experiences to our retail town centres while supporting local artists and businesses. The dynamic, open-air marketplace complements our existing centre offering and positions the retail precinct as more than just a great place to shop and socialise, but a destination with a range of choice, convenience and entertainment.”
The precinct will be opening under a Queensland Health approved Covid-Safe plan. This has led to some innovations in the way that the space will operate to ensure all guests enjoy a safe and socially distanced experience.
Single passes will be available at $5 and single-family passes will be $10. Seasonal passes will provide 6 months of unlimited access for $69 making the entry less than $1 per visit for locals. The first 1000 people to sign up for a seasonal pass will become ‘foundation’ members of NightQuarter and receive a free t-shirt and a ‘golden ticket’ to a concert in NightQuarter Live.
A proven concept like the NightQuarter arts and entertainment precinct delivers on this identified need. It is a project of scale that has been proven to both increase cultural tourism, provide paid performance opportunities for local artists and engage the local community in arts and culture. Projections indicate this could result in an economic impact of $6 million a year, on top of the $12 million injection expected from the NightQuarter regular weekend offer and employ over 400 people.
Local Sunshine Coast-based artist Joel Birch (lead singer of The Amity Affliction) has shown support for the NightQuarter project and designed an external mural: "I think that Michelle and NightQuarter are pushing the arts scene on the Sunny Coast in the right direction and hopefully this is going to kick off some more things. It would be nice for Sunshine Coast businesses to follow the lead here and realise that art does drive the economy. The more you have the art, the more you are driving free marketing for the region.”
Michelle wanted to express that she felt privileged and humbled by the support on the Sunshine Coast from Sunshine Coast Council and Visit Sunshine Coast throughout the delays, as well as the interest and support from the local community.
The venue is in the process of hiring staff for its bar operations and taking on school-based traineeships.
Tickets are on-sale now at www.nightquarter.com.au