Red letter day for new version of Black Gate

This week marks D-Day for the Black Gate’s Indiegogo fundraising campaign, which aims to raise €80,000 to fund the opening of their new venue on Flood Street. And its return wouldn’t be a moment too soon – because between 2017 and 2020, the Black Gate Cultural Centre was a hub for all things creative in Galway.

Peadar King and Eamonn Day Lavelle had envisioned the place as a meeting point, and for artists around Ireland that is what it became.

They have remained very present in Galway music since closing their doors, facilitating gigs in different places and lending support to independent artists however they can. Now, the prospect of a new, permanent home for the Black Gate in the city should come as a huge boost for the community it fostered.

“Me and Eamonn had been talking for a few years about doing something together,” Peadar says.

“We had been best friends since we were kids. The Black Gate was the place halfway between our houses where we used to meet on our way to school [on Inishbofin]. It was kind of a meeting place. And when we opened it up, we wanted it to be kind of an extension of a ’Bofin atmosphere in Galway.

“What it became then, with all the artists and musicians I had known for years through different things – they started to come to us. They all found a home there, I suppose. Then over the years, it gradually picked up a name for being a home to the arts.”

A cornerstone of The Black Gate’s ethos is providing opportunities for young artists. Peadar and Eamonn wanted their venue to be a milestone for emerging acts, and the established artists that played there helped in building that legitimacy.

“It was just nice the way it organically formed and became a place where some of the bigger artists would come to play,” Peadar says.

Pictured: The old Black Gate....a new era dawns.