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For me Innocent signifies a sort of freedom
To be able to do things you want and to learn new things
It's more than only going to a place you like, it's a kind of lifestyle
Most special about it is that there is space for everything
Its pointed on Hardcore but there always the possibility for other activities
They are booking bands that are getting booked nowhere else, what is special in the Netherlands
Furthermore they are booking foreign bands especially from the US
that normally would not play in the Netherlands but for Innocent they are coming
It is very nice as you hear people say "Innocent, you have to play there!"
It is unique because everybody is voluntary in here
You have to say it is an incredible idea that after 25 year there are still bands
even bands with big names that really like to play here
Every time you come here it is chilled and there is very laid back mood,
everybody is welcome, you get to know new people and it becomes comfortable
Innocent is working with "in consensus" that means everybody has equal rights.
The one who is planning the actual event, not matter it is a party,
a concert or something else is the executive
He is conducting and takes charge.
This is very unique and you will see this almost nowhere else that you do not have to explain yourself to someone in a higher position.
You have the responsibility to yourself and if it fails you fail.
From this you learn a lot
Every Monday there is a meeting where we talk about everything that is important.
We consult, discuss and develop things and after that we hang out and have a little drink.
What bands do you want to see
I already told Rick in Berlin that we should make a survey at shows to get to know where they are from.
Innocent has a wide catchment area and so you can show to the community that you have a very unique function
As you want to keep a youth centre like alive you will need new blood
You will need people who can keep this alive but sometimes this can be very hard
because not everybody is cut from the same cloth and able to do this
Innocent is extremely autonomous you have to do your own things.
In the US they call it the "Do It Yourself" mentality
More people get the feeling of freedom and that they do not always have to ask for permissions to do or plan certain things.
Now they are like: "I want to do this" and they do it, but until now not everybody is like that.
I would like to see more people acting like that but I stay positive
If I want a certain Psychobilly band to play here really hard, I suggest it.
I will say I can get this band on that evening and I want them to play.
I argument it and if there are good reasons, the price or the name recognition is good we can do it
But there are some people that say: "I want to do this and that!"
I am like "Why are you not doing it then?" and they are like "You just cannot simply do that?"
Sure! you can do it, just make a plan, write down what you want to do and arrange some people around it, just get a good planning!
Right now the future of Innocent is indistinct, we do not know what is going to happen ,
we are dealing with money problems, what makes it very hard to organize things because everything costs money even the smallest activities
The debts run up because of an alteration.
At first everything was planned properly with everybody even with the community
During the alteration there was a suspension of building work which caused a big amount of extra money that was never scheduled before.
So it happened because of an unhappy coincidence, maybe we even could have planned it better,
but at first everything went well until somebody at the landscaping management concluded that the structural design is insufficient.
Okay, that is his work but it ran us into this large amount of extra costs
People at Innocent and even customers of Innocent paid a lot,
for example the "Friends of Innocent Club" but right now we are waiting for money from the community which promised to contribute or substitute some money but it takes and take time
What can you do against it?
Trying to organize as much activities as possible to refund it, that the only way
To Keep Innocent alive we are organizing Benefit concerts right now,
and some have already been
We try to organize more workshops to get more payload,
we try to be open more active with more quality not just being open a lot
Look it is a far cry from saying we are saved but you can see the commitment of the people and
there is already nice amount of money we got through donations what helps us to look forward to new actions.
But we are still not saved at this point
As Innocent closes I would extremely miss the facilities and what they are capable of.
You can do so much in here not just activities
we have rehearsal rooms, studio rooms, editing rooms we have so much space to build things,
you can chill, we have a professional kitchen you can do so much in here
The other places in this area are just different,
they have other attitudes, other goals and for example the Metropol can never assume what is happening here at Innocent.
I think Innocent will be missed really hard if it would be closed
There is just no other place, Innocent is Innocent
and I don't get it that some people at the community are not aware that this is an unique place in this world
After 25 years there is still determined ideology and determined bands that want to play here.
INNOCENT CANNOT BE CLOSED, PERIOD