RDU45 – Building a Music Studio and Creative Hub

Established in 1976, RDU98.5FM celebrate our 45th birthday this year. We are here on BOOSTED to ask you to help us build recording facilities that will help our local musicians thrive.

WHO ARE WE?

RDU98.5FM is Ōtautahi, Christchurchs’ leading independent broadcaster. Operating in the heart of the city, promoting NZ music, providing a diverse range of programmed content and acting as a platform for student voices, the young and the young at heart.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

This project is about raising funds to re-fit the studios that we have now secured to operate from.

Correctly fitted, these studios will offer:

• rehearsal spaces
• recording spaces
• workshop and tutorial spaces
• event hire and performance spaces.

In these studios, we'll have room for all the activities that RDU is most commonly helping musicians to create every week. With these spaces fit for purpose, the opportunities and capability for musicians will multiply! Creativity should flourish. Which, in turn, will lead us toward helping our city flourish. With music & performance. A musical city.

Be part of this creation. If you value what RDU98.5FM has brought our city over the past 45 years, then this should be an easy decision. Not a matter of IF…but how much. Please, give generously.

THE STORY

RDU moved into the BOXed Quarter at 270 St Asaph street in 2015. We had been surviving in a converted horse truck since the earthquake in 2011, and we were overdue for finding a new home to operate from. We built a new studio at BOXed Quarter and to reconnect with our student legacy, we built a satellite studio in the new Students Association on campus.

Since then, we have seen and heard first-hand how increasingly difficult it has become for musicians to make a career in music.

We know we are well-placed to help young, up and coming musicians. We have a broadcasting platform. We have a thriving community. We have expertise and skills within a passionate team of staff and volunteers. And now, we have the space to bring all these values together and exercise them for creative good. We just need your support to realise this space's potential and kick it into gear.

TO MAKE IT HAPPEN, YOUR SUPPORT IS NEEDED!

The funds raised through this Boosted campaign will help cover the costs of refitting the spaces, so that they are welcoming and comfortable to enter and operate from. Help us cover the costs of:

• seating and soft furnishings
• lighting and storage facilities
• refrigeration and hospitality offerings
• digital and analogue sound equipment
• cabling and connectivity
• computers and technology

All equipment will be carefully selected to bring the spaces up to a grade that would ensure every attendee enjoys their time and is as productive with that time, as possible.

HELP US PROTECT OUR MUSICIANS, OUR SOUND, ŌTAUTAHI CHRISTCHURCH.

There is no organisation that is better suited to this task. No organisation with such a distinct, self-imposed legacy of supporting the unique and authentic voices of our place and our region. Now, we want to expand this capability, untie our hands and place them firmly on the steering wheel for our local community.

Music is the backdrop to our waking lives. So, it stands to reason that we should invest and protect in it, so that it can remain in our service for years to come.

In advance, we thank you for reading this. Thank you for considering the RDU story and the importance that we feel it has. If you connect at any level with this, or with RDU and our story, then please donate. And help us spread the message by sharing this campaign!

Be part of the pride that we will share when this project hits and succeeds our target. Take part in the pride that we will share when this project launches and opens its doors to support the music that we all care about so deeply.

KIA ORA KOUTOU. KIA PAI TŌ MAHI ŌTAUTAHI!