The generous donations through Crowdfunder and overwhelming support from the Hull community are enabling us to: – Become a Community Interest Company (THE POLAR BEAR CIC Ltd.) with a board that will be run by people whose primary aim is to serve the local community; – Become a venue for Hull, run by the people of Hull: a venue that supports local creatives, works with charity organisations and cares for the wellbeing of HU5 and beyond; – Care for one of Hull’s historic venues, maintaining the building and keeping it alive; – Create opportunities for young people to learn within the industry.
BUT LET’S PAWS FOR A SECOND… It’s been a while, so let us explain what we’ve been up to. We raised a whopping £19,308 through Crowdfunder. This was an incredible effort, and we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to put the money to good use. An integral part of securing The Bear, to enable its relaunch, was to spend a portion of the money raised on lease negotiations, legal fees and a whole host of other unavoidable costs. Thanks to the generous donations we are now able to sign the lease which will enable us to open the doors of the re-branded POLAR BEAR MUSIC CLUB and launch as a Community Interest Company.
Our aim is to continue to raise enough funds to become a self-sustaining, non-profit making community venue. Along with securing the building, the crowdfunded money is contributing to the installation of necessary equipment so that POLAR BEAR MUSIC CLUB can continue to function as a music venue. Initially, our intention was to repurchase the equipment that was already on site. However, the negotiations with the administrators collapsed as they wanted far more cash than the equipment was worth.
Instead of repurchasing the old second-hand equipment, we’re over the moon to announce that we have secured a new P.A. Rental Package thanks to the incredible ITSL, a fantastic local company. Massive thanks to Mike and the team! The remaining money is being put to good use covering costs for essential items and repairs necessary to reopen the venue. BEARLY ALIVE Even with the generosity of the people of Hull, we are living paw to mouth. We’re reopening on the remaining funds, with a shoe-string budget, so don’t expect UV lights and lasers anytime soon (or ever)! However, looking ahead, we do have lots of exciting and ambitious ideas that we’d love to bring to life, with HU5’s blessing. Our first task, to thank those who have supported us from the start of our crowdfunding mission, will be to contact everyone who is awaiting their crowdfunder reward. We’ll also be working on a membership scheme which will entitle our loyal customers to discounts and offers, whilst also helping us to continue to raise vital funds!
WE’RE FEELING FUUUURRLY POSITIVE, BUT WHO ARE ‘WE’? We are not the company that sent the venue into administration or a big national business. We are just seven local people who previously worked at The Polar Bear, Fruit, Lamp and Welly, who love the city, and believe POLAR BEAR MSUIC CLUB should maintain its place as an important venue.
We want to support the local community and play a part in Hull’s already flourishing music scene. We appreciate that this has been a long time coming (we’ve been working on The Bear’s relaunch in our free-time) but thanks to your incredible support and patience, we’re now at the stage where we are ready to take the next steps towards re-opening.
BACK TO BEARSICS (sorry, last pun)… GET INVOLVED We can’t reiterate this enough. We are only able to reopen, purely because of Hull’s determination to keep The Bear alive. THANK YOU HULL!
At present, the future of the venue continues to be on a knife edge, and your support is just as important now as it was when we first started to crowdfund. We will do everything that we can to make this venue a success. This is a venue for the city, and we welcome any ideas or contributions that you think will help to make a difference to the future of The Bear. We’ll initially be opening with our flagship events on Tuesdays and Saturdays with so much more to come. Tuesday 24th August is the date we have set to reopen POLAR BEAR MUSIC CLUB!
