The old Fly By Night Club.
Camera IconThe old Fly By Night Club. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Help club stay in Freo

Bryce Luff, Fremantle GazetteFremantle Gazette

The club is facing an uncertain future, with threats to its tenure at the former military drill hall.

Fremantle MLA Simone McGurk said music lovers were integral to shoring up the club’s future.

‘While support from both the State Government and Fremantle Council are vital to the Fly’s existence, I’m also calling on music lovers to support the club by becoming financial members,’ she said.

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Ms McGurk has also called on the State Government to support any application put forward by the club for grants offered up by the Department of Culture and the Arts (DCA).

‘There has been a steady demise of music venues in Fremantle and Perth, and I believe the State Government should be supporting, not hindering the arts in WA,’ she said.

A spokewoman Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said the DCA had provided rental assistance to the Fly by Night Musicians Club for use of the drill hall since 1998, with more than $116,000 handed out in the last five years.

‘The DCA has invited the club to apply for funding in 2015,’ she said.

‘The club is yet to submit an application.’

Fly By Night chairman Stephen Wells said the club had in fact submitted an application for funding, although it could survive without it.

He said the club’s future at the hall would be decided by the National Trust, not money.

‘We have applied for DCA grants, although we don’t require it,’ he said. ‘We are financially viable either way.

‘We’re more just waiting for a decision after submitting our expression of interest. We’re bending over backwards to meet the requirement of the National Trust.

‘It’s such an iconic building, we’re a not-for-profit club and it works well.’

Visit flybynight.org/membership for more information.