Next year, Dunedin is going to lose the inimitable Chick's Hotel; our only long-standing, ambient and appealing music venue.
It's going to be hard to see it go.
I've been playing there since I was a teenager and I watched it change from being largely inaccessible to a thriving music centre with a bus service, incredible sound and fantastic bar staff.
Sadly, it seems it's really hard to make money as a venue in Dunedin when the primary audience for shows is young people who don't have a huge amount of disposable income.
It's a huge blow to the music scene, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the loss wipes out a large part of the music community.
But on the back of all this sadness, I wonder if something good can't come of Dunedin losing its musical centres.
In Dunedin, I worry that we suffer from a complacent creative community.
Complacency in the community extends to people making very little effort to create safe environments in which everyone is welcome to come and enjoy whatever creative content is being produced.
There are those who make an admirable effort, of course, the Fresh 'n Fruity collective have put a lot of work into making their gallery space safe.
But for the most part, as a community, we've made very little progress towards inclusivity, with venues and radio stations still run almost exclusively by small groups of men.
This week, I am on tour with my band, and so far we have played in Wellington and Palmerston North, and I've been nothing but impressed by the music communities in both cities.
Palmerston North is home to Great Job, an all-ages venue where the focus is simply on live music, not on alcohol and exclusivity.
We played with a high school-age band and two bands our own age and everyone was able to participate on the same terms.
In Wellington, there is the Eyegum Collective who, in the face of Wellington losing venues, started to throw house party gigs with a focus on creating safer spaces.
Playing in these environments has been inspiring, and I'm looking forward to being in Auckland this weekend to play another all-ages gig.
Venues like Chick's Hotel are fantastic in their own right, and I'm happy to have played so many shows breathing in the sweet scent of beer-soaked carpet and damp, cigarette-smoke coats.
But so much of venue/bar culture excludes people who want to want to play or watch music.
Those under the age of 18 can't come along, and those who might be uncertain of a venue's policy on sexual harassment are going to find it difficult to safely and happily attend events.
Although, this isn't to say that venues can't become safer spaces, it's simply to say that there is a lot to be gained by having a number of different environments in which people can experience art.
What I hope for Dunedin is that the music community will now have to take our future into our own hands.
I hope there is a move towards working together to create safe spaces where everyone can safely enjoy music, and I hope that the community becomes less divided on what it means to be inclusive.
It's all very well to claim inclusivity by adding women, gender minorities, or people of colour to your line-up, but if environments are still exclusionary then your scene is threatening.
Saying farewell to Chick's Hotel will mark the end of an era, an era with ups and downs.
With any luck, the music community will further all of the good that Chick's has done for us, and make the community even stronger, more accessible, and more inclusive.
Millie Lovelock is a Dunedin student.
