Representatives of grassroots music venues have welcomed emergency government funding provided as part of the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund. To support local spaces struggling to stay afloat amid the coronavirus lockdown, £3.36m of grants will be shared across 135 financially at-risk venues.
Acting CEO of the music industry representative group ‘UK Music’, Tom Kiehl, said: “Grassroots music venues are the engine room of our £5.2bn music industry, contributing to our talent pipeline and providing a vital role in the lives of communities across the country.
“The music industry thanks the Government for taking this decisive action and calls for further support to be maintained when many businesses and individuals still cannot work.”
Similar praise was given by CEO of the charity ‘Music Venue Trust’, Mark Davyd, who welcomed the aid and said the funding “creates a real breathing space for under pressure venues.”
“We warmly welcome this first distribution from the Culture Recovery Fund which will ensure that the short term future of these venues is secured while we continue to work on how we can ensure their long term sustainability,” he said. “Both DCMS and Arts Council England have worked very quickly to fully understand the imminent risk of permanent closure faced by a significant number of grassroots music venues across the country.”
The grants will range in size up to £80,000 and will cover venues’ rent, utilities, and other ongoing running costs. The funding has been delivered by Arts Council England and accelerated to save grassroots venues facing insolvency during their closure over the last several months.
Some grassroots venues have taken to social media to express their thanks for the funding and its essential support to their operation.
Thank you to the Arts Council England for approving our application for the Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund. It’s a huge help towards keeping us going over the next few months. #ThankYou @DCMS @ace_national #SaveOurVenues #CultureRecoveryFund #HereForCulture pic.twitter.com/WdmIL2PnTa
— Matt and Phreds (@MattandPhreds) August 22, 2020
Thanks to @ace_national & @dcms for a very timely grant which covers our losses til the end of September.
We're currently running socially-distant, seated gigs so please come and support your local venue and artists.#saveourvenues #culturerecoveryfund #hereforculture— Windmill Brixton (@WindmillBrixton) August 22, 2020
Arts Council England CEO Darren Henley, said: “This much-welcomed emergency investment from the government into grassroots music venues will have a profoundly positive impact on England’s music ecology, and today’s news will mean a great deal to the many artists, audiences and communities they serve across the country. I’m pleased that the Arts Council has been able to use its expertise to administer this fund, ensuring that we are supporting music venues in these challenging times.”
Among those venues receiving financial aid is The Jacaranda in Liverpool, where the Beatles played their first gig and would occasionally rehearse when starting out, and The Troubadour in London, where Adele and Ed Sheeran performed at the start of their careers.
The fund was originally set to provide only £2.25 million to struggling venues, but Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden announced last month this would be topped up by a further £1.1 million to help a greater number of venues in financial need.
