The World Music Café has been described as the ‘heart of The Boîte.’ It was established in 1989, in order to host regular, intimate, acoustic concerts. Not only did this model make sense from a production perspective and allow performers to build an audience through regular performance opportunities, the acoustic nature of the event has suited a genuinely diverse cross-section of instruments and musical styles.
Before then, The Boîte had developed earlier incarnations of a smaller concert offering. In 1986 Therese Virtue was pleased to report to members that a small grant was enabling the realisation of a long-standing goal:
‘For some years, the idea of establishing a small theatre cum folk club has been the dream of some Boîte supporters and musicians.’
The Boîte hosted the first Musicians’ Clubnight at the Fitzroy Community Room on Friday the 27th of March 1986. In 1989, a similar project evolved when the Chapel in The Boîte’s new home at the Mission to Seafarers provided a suitably intimate venue for the World Music Club.
Lucas Michailidis 
Mal Webb 
Margret RoadKnight 
Mindy Wang 
Vinod Prasanna
By 1990 The Boîte had launched the World Music Café at the Mark Street Hall, North Fitzroy. Close to the new office of The Boîte at the Uniting Church building in Napier Street, the new venue offered the intimate atmosphere The Boîte had been seeking to capture at these events. The World Music Café at Mark Street has been an enduring venue. It has offered countless local musicians the opportunity to build their audience, launch CDs, and enjoy the intimacy of a venue that allows the appreciation of instruments and musical styles from all over the world. It has also played host to international, touring musicians. For audiences, the World Music Café has been a welcoming, relaxed space in which to enjoy a unique opportunity for a close-up, high-calibre musical performance, while partaking in the Café’s trademark mulled wine by the fireplace.
In 2006, the World Music Café expanded to Box Hill Community Arts Centre and BMW Edge. Around this time, The Boîte worked closely with Jeffrey and Gai Woolhouse to support the presentation of concerts through the Surrey Music Cafe. In 2011, The Boîte took on the role of supporting an existing monthly concert hosted at St Margaret’s mud brick hall in Eltham. World Music Café events have also taken place at the Northcote Uniting Church.
Over the years the World Music Café has been coordinated by a number of staff, Therese Virtue having played a central role in its development as a unique concert experience.