The Music Venue Trust (MVT), a registered charity, has announced a second round of grants of up to £5,000 for UK Grassroots Venues.
Following the 11 Grassroots Music Venues which received £40,000 from the first round of payments in December 2022, a further 14 have now been awarded almost £70,000. These have been awarded for
- Small scale capital projects; including lights, sound, access, ventilation and minor building alterations
- Staff and Training; workforce diversification, succession planning, skills development and strengthening local community ties.
Mark Davyd, CEO of Music Venue Trust said, “Distributing almost £70,000 to 14 grassroots music venues is a really positive way to start 2023 and is further proof that our Pipeline Investment Fund can make a real difference to individual venues. It is really important, however, that we don’t get complacent; this initiative has had a real impact but it is only the start of what we need long-term. We still need the wider industry to back us with real financial commitments so that we protect the fabric and integrity of the grassroots venue sector, which continues to face serious challenges on an ever increasing number of fronts. We are also pleased to announce that our 2022 Annual Report will be presented to MPs at The House of Commons later this month. Although it makes for sobering reading, it clearly sets out what we need from government to help our sector survive and thrive.
The full list of new recipient venues are:
Cloak And Dagger – Bristol
Coda – Colchester
Faith In Strangers – Cliftonville
Fiddlers Elbow – London
Fighting Cocks – London
Folklore Rooms – Brighton
Hot Box Live – Chelmsford
Meraki – Liverpool
Patriot Home Of Rock – Crumlin
Suburbia – Southampton
The Lughole – Sheffield
The Tin Music & Arts- Coventry
Westgate Hotel- Newport
Sally Browns- Bradford
Some of the venues have already explained how important this will be for their venue:
A representative from the Folklore Rooms said: “We are an intimate venue, just 60 capacity – It’s very difficult for a venue of our size to create a huge amount of profit and we have to be incredibly careful with how and where we spend our money. This upgrade would have taken us many, many months to be able to afford without this fund or difficult to do at all. This upgrade was what we always wanted to do, when the fund became available the whole team were desperate to get approved so we can make this venue an even more important cog in the Brighton music scene. We’ll host close to 200 shows this year – This upgrade will make everyone one of those better.”
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