CULTURAL VENUE IN LAPPEENRANTA
Nuijamies is an event venue for concerts, stand up, theatre, art, gigs from jazz to rock, talks, movies, clubs, dance and minifestivals. We are located in the city centre in an old movie theatre built in the 1950s, and the place is run by our registered association.
The cozy café-bar in the lounge is open from Wednesday to Saturday and during events.
The lounge is approx. 80m² in size and has room for 83 people. It is suitable for small events and acoustic gigs. Organizing an event in the lounge is free of charge, if the event is open for everyone.
The size of the tiered hall is approx. 370m² and it has room for 354 people, with theatre seats for 147-250 people. The stage is approx. 100m² large, and in the front there is a raised platform which can be arranged to be up to 36m² in size.
The hall has equipment and PA system for music gigs and film screening. The size of the movie screen is 50m². Please contact us for more information on our equipment or see the list here.
Are you interested in renting Nuijamies for your event? Please don’t hesitate to contact us!
mikko@nuijamies.fi
+35844 986 2924
How did it all begin?
In March 2017, the future of the old, famous cinema Nuijamies (Mallet Man) started to be uncertain. Aapo Stavén took a look into his crystal ball, and to be on the safe side, he created a facebook group called ”The underground occupation army of Nuijamies”. The group would attack straight away, when showing films in the cinema would end, so that Nuijamies would remain in the hands of cultural actors.
We thought the next step would need to be taken after a couple of years, but little did we know – it did not take that long. Already in May 2017, co-operation negotiations began in the cinema, so our motley crew gathered for a meeting. We discussed our strategy and plans, and listed our thoughts and ideas.
Each gathering had a little less participants, but the 14 most active people soon formed a core team.
When the core team had put together its thoughts and ideas, the team and the owner of the property, the Osuuspankki bank, published them together. The Lappeenranta Guild invited us to one of their meetings, and there we presented our vision publicly for the first time. There were also representatives of the city government at the meeting, and they accepted our thoughts with enthusiasm and pleasure. The core team, the city and the bank all had a common agenda: to preserve the cinema and to keep it in cultural use.
As a mere cinema, we cannot compete in this city – therefore, the space would become a combination of a stage and a combined gallery and cafe. In the theatre hall, we wish to arrange shows, concerts, art house cinema, exhibitions, lectures, training, events and workshops of various arts all year round. We want the cultural space to be a living room for all city dwellers, a place to connect with other people, and an open space where everyone can find something interesting. The space is also a solution to different kinds of artists who suffer from the lack of city properties, galleries and stages.
In October 2017, we asked through Facebook, if anyone would wish to be part of an organising
association. We then established a registered association on October 27 at the restaurant Avot Sie. We spent about five hours refining the rules for the registering officials, and finally, after one at night, we had finished them. The rules were accepted with a couple of slight changes, and the association was registered on November 17, 2017. The first board also had two people from outside the core team. Ossi Välimäki was chosen as the first chairman.
The number of members grows slowly but steadily, and besides our core team, a lot of active people have joined in our operation regularly. For example, we had more than 30 people as voluntary workers in our event in January 2018.
If you wish to contact us:
Valtakatu 39
53100 Lappeenranta
www.nuijamies.fi
kulttuuritila@nuijamies.fi
+35844 986 2924
