Cult venue’s new solution for live music crisis
A West End nightclub and live music venue will launch a new membership program this weekend, hoping to create a steady revenue stream amid tough times for Adelaide nightlife.
A tiered membership program for Ancient World devotees is set to be launched on Saturday, positioned as a solution to ensure the “long-term sustainability for the space and community”.
The Ancient World Club Membership will let patrons sign up for four different levels of membership, each at different monthly costs.
Members will receive different levels of savings and benefits when they come to the club, including free entry to the venue, discounted tickets to shows headlined by international acts, and priority entry.
“In short; save money, free drinks, skip the queue and support the venue – everyone wins,” says Ancient World co-owners.
The club membership will be launched this Saturday at a party at the venue including local talent and a headline set from French DJ and producer u.r.trax.
It comes about a year after Ancient World co-owners Hugh Scobie and Chelsea Zerna revealed on Instagram that the club was dangerously close to closing.
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At the time, the duo said Ancient World was dealing with similar problems as clubs that closed during the tail end of 2023.
For Ancient World specifically, the club was hit with a 12 per cent rent hike, higher costs in stocking the bar, and the cost-of-living crisis which was keeping people at home and drinking less.
The owners said that economic conditions have “stabilised” since, but “we’re not out of the woods”.
“I think a lot of people have just figured out what their budget is,” Hugh says.
“They know that they can go out once every two weeks or once a month or something, instead of before when it seemed like no one was going out at all.”
The new club membership is based on similar models the pair had seen working overseas, but it’s a novel concept for Adelaide.
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“We wanted to try and make it accessible for people on different budgets, and we wanted to make sure that we’re giving people a good deal,” Hugh says.
“When we were having financial problems a lot of people reached out and asked if they could donate money. We didn’t have a way for people to give us money except by coming to the venue, coming to shows, spending on the bar, and hopefully this provides a way for people to contribute to the venue financially without them having to come out.
“This venue is important to lots of people for lots of different reasons. We’re hoping this provides a bit more financial sustainability for the venue in a really uncertain time.”
In the year since Ancient World first called for support, the venue was successful in securing some grant funding but Hugh says applying for grants is “a huge amount of work and there’s a lot of uncertainty about whether or not the venue is going to receive the funding”.
“You don’t get any feedback if you do or don’t get the funding. You just get it or you don’t get it,” Hugh says.
“So we’re hoping that this is a real community response that can help us sidestep away from having to apply for funding rounds.”
Chelsea says the membership is another way to connect with the strong Ancient World community.
“We want to reward the goodwill of the community and the supporters when times are tough,” she says.
Full details of the club membership will be revealed at a launch party on 16 November from 5pm.