14/08/2021
This post is super long, because it is tough to write. Brief summary at the end.
Newtown Jugglers was established (by Sid and Zoe) in 1994.
Since then, we've met to juggle over 1250 times, and consumed over 10,000 biscuits.
We've outlasted several organisers, a dozen hall managers, an insurance crisis, countless competitors, the Great Exodus (where many talented jugglers moved to Melbourne of all places!), the rise and fall of the Sydney Juggling Convention (twice), two of our favourite late night cafes, three supermarkets, four insurers, the Great Hailstorm, and the Night of the Great Blackout.
We have become the longest running juggling club in Australia's history.
And yet during that time, we've never broken a window and never had an ambulance called.
It has been a great success, and I am proud to have been part of it.
However, we have been struggling for a while, and a number of factors are making it harder and harder to keep afloat. It is approaching the time to call "Pack Up Time" for the last time.
It is personally hard to say it, but I am planning to close our doors soon.
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Here's what I wanted to do, a couple of months ago:
1) I wanted to speak to the current attendees, face to face. Listen to their opinions and suggestions. They deserve that.
2) I wanted to announce publicly that we are finishing up in September. I wanted to give people a chance to come visit again, and for anyone who thought they might want to take it over (or start a competing club) to think through the commitment.
3) I wanted to have a big blow-out party in mid-September where even old-timers who don't juggle any more can come along to celebrate 27 years of throwing things around with friends and eating biscuits.
Lockdown has made each of those impossible. I still hope to have a final few weeks of juggling before we close up. I still hope to have the party. But... understand if the plans are tentative.
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This has been a hard decision. Here are some of the factors:
The main issue is attendance:
Attendance hasn't been enough to break even for some time, and the problem isn't expected to improve for some time.
- Old regulars: Several regulars have been (or soon will be) unable to attend.
- New regulars: University circus associations used to act as feeder clubs - as students outgrew the juggling opportunities or graduated, they would see Newtown Jugglers as the next step. The pandemic has halted that, and an increase of students studying from home in the future is likely to slow the return of this stream.
- Irregulars: Part of the charm of attendance has been the constant stream of new faces from backpackers popping in for a week or two, or foreign students attending for a year or two. The pandemic has stopped that entirely.
A related issue is our inability to consistently break even, even pre-pandemic. The price of paying for the hall, insurance, and now contactless payments, has made Newtown Jugglers the most expensive juggling club in Australia. If we reduced the price, we might get more attendance, but halving the price would likely increase attendance by only 20%, making us lose money even faster.
If we were only losing $20-30/week, I would continue to cover it, because I enjoy it, but there have been too many weeks where the loss is much greater (and at the same time, a less enjoyable evening.)
Another issue is the motivation:
I spent a lot of time during the lockdowns not practising.
I spent a long time after the first lockdown with a bad back, which made juggling painful.
I lost a lot of form, and the amount of work it would take to get my pass juggling skills back has been very daunting.
I have been getting old for a long time now, and this is one of the results.
I think that passion is important - especially if you are reaching into your pocket to pay.
Of course, there is the pandemic:
I don't put it as the main reason, but more like a crane for loading straws onto camels' backs much faster than before.
Obviously, it has caused us to close our doors for months. It has hurt numbers. It has increased the costs. It has dimmed the passion. It has made running the club more stressful; both conforming to the new rules and because I never want Newtown Jugglers to appear in the daily NSW Health briefings.
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So what is the plan?
We aren't meeting at the moment, due to the Sydney Lockdown.
When lockdown lifts and we can do so safely and comfortably, I hope to announce the last few sessions. Please come along and let us finish this experience on a high note.
Sometime after that, when vaccination rates are high enough that we can socialise more freely, I hope to host a big party to celebrate a quarter century of juggling. I hope a whole lot of old-timers will come along, with no pressure to juggle.
I am happy to answer questions; I am happy to hear counter-proposals. Please be mindful that a lot of my personal identity has been tied up in running a juggling club, and this is a really hard decision.
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Short version: Newtown Jugglers will be closing soon. We aren't over yet. Watch this space.
Please react to this message to encourage Facebook to share it with all of the members of the page.
- With love and sadness.
Julian
