Help The Forest Cafe Buy Bristo Place!

THE FOREST WEFUND CAMPAIGN IS NOW CLOSED.

To everyone who pledged their funds as a means of showing their support, thank you, thank you and thank you some more. The amount pledged is one of the highest ever promised on a WeFund campaign, and is a much welcomed demonstration of the support and love for Forest, and the desire to see it return to Bristo Place.

THE FOREST WEFUND CAMPAIGN IS NOW CLOSED.

To everyone who pledged their funds as a means of showing their support, thank you, thank you and thank you some more. The amount pledged is one of the highest ever promised on a WeFund campaign, and is a much welcomed demonstration of the support and love for Forest, and the desire to see it return to Bristo Place.

The past few months have seen Forest examine where it currently is and where it would like to be, exploring other properties and possibilities in Edinburgh. Whether that sees us back in Bristo Place or somewhere else to call a home, we will let you know as soon as we have tangible news. And invite you to the party.

For full details of the current Forest situation, what we have been doing, and we're heading, please see here: http://blog.theforest.org.uk/post/15824139000/forestfaq-where-is-the-forest-now-1-what

And again, thank you.




THE FOREST CAFE WANTS TO RETURN TO BRISTO PLACE!

The Forest Cafe existed as an independent, grass roots, volunteer run artspace masquerading as a vegetarian cafe. It had been a unique, inspriring, vibrant, often messy, always exciting part of Edinburgh's creative scene for over 10 years.

Housed in a magnificent former church at 3 Bristo Place, The Forest was one of the city's last remaining open access multi-arts venues. Sadly, our landlord went bust and the administrators stepped in to sell the building. On 31 August 2011, the doors were closed to the public, and The Forest lost its permanent physical home.

For the moment.

3 Bristo Place is currently lying vacant. No buyer for the building has stepped forward.

We want to buy it back. We CAN buy it back.

And Edinburgh won't have to lose yet another wonderful public space in the city centre to property developers and hoteliers.


HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Forest is in the midst of a massive, ambitious and possibly crazy fundraising effort. It's going rather well. But we need help.

We need to raise £100,000 to allow us to secure a mortgage and make an offer on this unique building, a building that we love and know how to look after and use so that as many people as possible can enjoy it, use it, meet, eat, watch, listen, dance and do stuff in it.


SAVE GRASSROOTS ARTS SPACES. PLEDGE!
We have raised over £30,000 so far in donations alone. By pledging via WeFund, you can help us to make our target, to buy back Bristo Place, to save a grassroots arts space and to help stop the closures of such places all over our cities.

And then we have to do something for you. Which is fun. See our pledges on the right. And in addition, when we're back in situ, every single WeFunder will have something in Bristo Place named after them. It could be a brick, a mug, a table, a room or a volunteer. And then you have to come and find it.


BRISTO OR BUST
We are very clear on what we want. If we are unsuccessful in raising the required £70,000 by the deadline, or if another buyer steps in to buy Bristo Place in the meantime, the money will not be taken from your account.

But we very much hope it doesn't come to that.


Ever wanted to be part of something extraordinary? Be part of this.

See more about Forest and the campaign here: http://blog.theforest.org.uk/savetheforest

Forest is a registered charity (SC03824).

Posted on 23/09/11

Jason Webley at The Forest!

More goodies from August! The amazing and wonderful showmanship of Jason Webley (one half of punk cabaret Siamese doubleact Evelyn Evelyn with Amanda F Palmer) in The Forest Cafe. With some enthusiastic crowd singing. See HERE: http://vimeo.com/29403094 xx

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Posted on 23/09/11

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

Dear Forest WeFunders, You may have noticed that we've altered a few things since we first created The Forest WeFund site in the heady, hectic days of August. First, our target (from £100,000 to £70,000) and now, our deadline to reach that target, from Oct 1st to Dec 1st. In practical terms, for you, our WeFunders, this means that the money you have pledged will be taken from your account on 1st December 2011, provided we reach our goal. I will be keeping you updated on progress, and will give notice a week beforehand that this will happen. Thank you for your patience in bearing with us as we sorted ourselves out. When we first launched this insanely ambitious crowdfunding effort, we were very much in upheaval. While we clearly knew what we wanted to do - to buy back Bristo Place and maintain a permanent, public open access artspace in the centre of Edinburgh - it's taken us a little time to clearly assess our options, and to create a feasible plan to allow us to actually achieve this. It takes time to sort out bank accounts, put business plans together, apply for mortgages, put in bids for buildings. That's what we're doing right now. After the crazy, manic, emotional surges of August, we had to hunker down and realise we were in this for the long haul. Our goal of £70,000 is huge. It's the biggest crowdfunding effort on the WeFund pages by a factor of 2, and it's possibly one of the largest in the world. I'm researching this at the moment because if - when - we do achieve this...it'll be pretty cool. Feel amazing for being part of this. If any of you have any concerns or issues with the change in date, then please contact me directly and we can have a chat about it. In the meantime, thankyouthankyouthankyou for supporting The Forest. Spread the word. Forest LIVES! xx

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Posted on 22/09/11

Daniel Kitson at The Forest Cafe, August 2011!

Storyteller, performer, spoken word artist, deserved cult figure Daniel Kitson has been a fan of The Forest for a while and in August 2011, he and Gavin Osborn gave a magical secret performance called 'Stories For The Starlit Sky' to raise funds and to celebrate The Forest. They filled Bristo Hall to capacity with an absorbed, hushed crowd. It was beautiful. You can get a snippet of his performance (and the queue snaking around Forest to see him)here: http://vimeo.com/29396671 Enjoy xx (image via creative commons)

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Posted on 22/09/11

LIMIT TO YOUR LOVE.

Hey all Following queries from a few keen but thwarted WeFunders, we have since discovered that there is an upper limit of £1000 on all WeFund donations. This is due to a PayPal quirk rather than anything on our or WeFund's part! For anyone who is interested in donating or loaning larger sums, please contact fundraising@theforest.org.uk for further information about how you can help. OR you can give directly to our JustGiving campaign HERE: http://www.justgiving.com/theforest/Donate But most importantly, EVERYTHING helps. To all who have WeFunded so far, thank you thank you thank you. We are nearly halfway to our target, which is superexciting. Everything is possible. And in the meantime, we've got things going on...tell you later... Forest Lives! xx

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Posted on 14/09/11

Talkin' about The Forest WeFund on BBC Radio Scotland today!

I was invited to talk about the Forest WeFund campaign as part of BBC Radio's Culture Cafe today. It was very exciting, a wonderful platform to talk about Forest, and I can confirm BBC Scotland has very nice bathrooms and great free coffee. You can listen HERE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b014ggcm/The_Culture_Cafe_13_09_2011/ xx

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Posted on 10/09/11

Three Fridays of Fundraisers!

We're not just getting you all to help us buy this building -- we're continuing to stage extraordinary events, showing what we do best, and making some cash at the same time. So if you fancy being part of the, you know, LIVE FOREST EXPERIENCE, come to one of these. Or all of them! Full details at www.theforest.org.uk * * * REFORESTATION Friday 16th Sept, 7pm Medina, Lothian St A party with music and everything! DIGITAL JONES / BENEFICIAL / MACHINE ROOM / SOUL KITCHEN and more tbc. * * * Silent Art Auction! Fri 23rd Sept, 6.30 - 10pm Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Dalmeny St Over 30 local and international artists are donating their work to a charity art auction in support of SAVE THE FOREST. This campaign is part of a large scale fundraising drive to allow The Forest Cafe to buy 3 Bristo Place. The event is being held at Out Of The Blue Drill Hall in Leith on Friday September 23rd from 6:30-10:00pm. This is an incredible opportunity for everyone to not only view fine art, but to take it home at the end of the night. With raffle tickets for £1 and opening bids on all pieces at £5, original art has never been more available to the public. Entry is free with live acoustic sets by surprise special guests. This unique event further highlights how The Forest strives to bring our community together. * * * [AWRY] PSYCHEGAELIC CÈILIDH / CÈILIDH IOLDATHACH Friday 30th September, 9pm - 3am Studio 24, Calton Road A PSYCHEGAELIC CÈILIDH WITH [AWRY] AND VERY SPECIAL GUESTS ‘THE JOHN LANGAN BAND’ & ‘PORTNAWAK & THE WOO’

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Posted on 06/09/11

Target!

If anyone is confused by the Forest WeFund target changing to £70,000 in the past day, we decided - along with WeFund - that the £30,000 would stay in the Forest account. Therefore, we only need £70,000 to reach our target of £100,000. And already at 15%...amazing! Spread the word. Forest lives. And thank you thank you thank you. Love Forest. xx

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Posted on 02/09/11

Be part of Forest. Physically.

If this project is successful - when this project is successful - Forest will name something in the building after every WeFunder.Then you have to come and find it. xx

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