Following a successful first year of The Boîte in Sydney, the committee decided to spread their wings and expand the organisation to Melbourne in 1979. They had begun working with Melbourne artists in 1978, hosting a concert of Greek music at Melbourne Collingwood Town Hall and an art exhibition of the work of Melbourne-based Greek artist George Michelakakis, at the Bondi Pavillion. Peter Carantinos reached out to Melbourne friends George and Cavel Zangalis to lay some roots for the Boîte in Melbourne.
Cavel Zangalis was working at the Richmond Community Education Centre at the time, which provided a natural fit for The Boîte as its first home in Melbourne and where it would stay until 1988. In the words of Melbourne Boîte founding member Alex Butler:
‘It’s very hard to imagine it actually having happened, if it wasn’t at the Richmond Community Education Centre really, because that, that was the kind of hub of multi-cultural creativity at the time.’
Programs and flyers from early Boîte Concerts
A Melbourne Boîte committee was formed and began the ambitious task of planning monthly concerts committed to educating audiences about the rich cultures and musical traditions musicians brought with them when they migrated to Melbourne.