Perth's New Home of Jazz by Jess Herbert

Perth

A$5,342

of $5,000 targetyrs ago

Successful on 22nd Jul 2015 at 9:12AM.

We have a new house which we would like to make into a home, not just for us, but for the whole community.

WAYJO has recently moved into the Maylands Town Hall in Maylands, Western Australia. The building has amazing potential as a creative hub, but is nearly 100 years old. As the current custodians of the hall, we’ve decided to try and give it the little bit of love and care that it needs.

Our long-term plan for the building is to make it a public performance and rehearsal space for music, theatre and just about anything else that anyone can come up with. We have a multi-stage fundraising plan to try and make this happen, but unless any of you have three million dollars you’re willing to part with right now, we’ll just stick with the first step for the time being because, as they say, baby steps.

The first step in our journey is to raise funds to help us make the current space comfortable and as usable as possible for our office staff and musicians, and to get fully moved in so we can start getting stuck in to all the hard work that will come later.

This campaign is the first step of a much longer journey.

About The WA Youth Jazz Orchestra

The WA Youth Jazz Orchestra, know affectionately as WAYJO, was started over 30 years ago when a group of musicians from the local university community got together and decided they wanted to play jazz in a big band every week.

In short, WAYJO was formed on the basis of community, and we have continued this ethos year after year. Currently we are Fiona, Mace, Nicole, Jess and Adam, along with our musical directors and member musicians, and our amazing bookkeeper Prue.

In 2015 WAYJO is considered Australia’s preeminent Youth Jazz Orchestra and is without a doubt the coolest! We pride ourselves on giving our young musicians unique opportunities, from playing with and learning from international guest artists to attending a variety workshops and master classes on all things jazz.

All of our members love playing jazz music, are between 14 and 25 years old, and are pretty much the hippest cats/kittens around. Every year we re-audition all of the 54 positions across our three jazz big bands to keep things fresh and to give everyone a chance.

WAYJO is about fun, inclusivity, and a celebration of music. We have even had a few enduring love stories emerge throughout our history, with a few of our alumni meeting their future companions during their time in the bands.

Over 32 years, WAYJO has grown from a small(ish) band of like-minded musicians to a fully-fledged not-for-profit organisation bent on world domination.

We are about to embark on a new era for the organisation, and with funds and support available for the arts seemingly ever-dwindling, we would love to have you along for the journey.

Connect with us!

www.wayjo.com
www.facebook.com/wayouthjazzorchestra
www.youtube.com/wayouthjazzorchestra
www.twitter.com/wayjo
Instagram - @wayjo
#WAYJO2015

How The Funds Will Be Used

The $5000 will be used towards maintenance and cleaning supplies for our new office and rehearsal space, as well as some creature comforts for our musicians.

We’re talking pretty simple stuff here (a vacuum cleaner, ladder, a kettle, a fridge, and a water urn are among the items we’re looking at) but it is all stuff that we can’t afford right now and it will make the world of difference to our new home and to building a foundation for the future of this potentially amazing space.

If you have an item that you think we could use at the office or in our rehearsal space please give us a call. Please see below a list of items that we are looking to purchase.

If we exceed our goal of $5000 we will put the extra funds towards the purchase of a new printer, hopefully before Adam has too many more “disagreements” with our current one.

Our shopping list with $5K:
Vacuum cleaner
New fridge
Flat-bed or stand up trolley
Hot water urn
Book cases
Mobile whiteboard
Stationery supplies
Kettle
Sandwich press
Couch
Mugs
Glasses

Wish List:
New fancy printer
Big red sign for the building
Padded seating for rehearsals
Acoustic treatment of the basement
Really loud guitar, bass, and piano amps
Grand piano or maybe just a keyboard
Music stands

The Challenges

Transforming the Maylands Town Hall is going to take a lot of hard work and it will be expensive. We have the vision, we have the space, and we have the passion, but we can't make it happen without YOUR help.