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‘Grassroots Investor’ to support small music venues

Venues that provide a training ground and experience for up-and-coming musicians are not up to standard and need investment to bring them up to the levels expected by audiences, according to the Music Venue Trust.

Liz Hill
3 min read

The Chief Executive of the Music Venue Trust (MVT), Mark Davyd, has spoken out about the conditions under which small music venues are operating, saying: “It isn’t good enough that we are letting small venues close for the sake of good legal representation or letting venues fall into disrepair because of lack of available investment.” At the announcement of a new programme of activity aimed at encouraging the music industry, cultural sector, government and sponsors “to respond strategically and constructively to protect, secure and develop” small venues, he said: “This is the research and development department of our major international music industry and we have to face facts: despite the incredible passion, dedication and commitment of the people running these venues, what we’re offering at grassroots level doesn’t meet the high standards we’ve set elsewhere in UK music.”

His comments coincide with the publication of a new report, Understanding Small Music Venues. Based on research by the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance, the report highlights the changing environment facing small venues, including changes to regulation, licensing, public perception and the urban environment, all of which are thought to be threatening their survival. In an attempt to address some of the issues, MVT has announced plans for a single, central approach to representing small venues and defending them at a national level. Known as ‘Grassroots Investor’, the initiative will see MVT “do all we can so that music venue closures are halted, national policy is changed, and this sector’s needs… are addressed properly by cultural strategy and by licensing, insurance and legislation”. Phase two of the initiative will put direct investment into grassroots venues, where “a combination of low aspiration and severe under investment means we’ve ended up content to describe this sector as the ‘toilet circuit’ and accept conditions in them that reflects all that description implies”.

Jack Daniel’s has become the first key partner to join the Music Venue Trust’s Grassroots Investor project, with a commitment to a long term strategy to protect, secure and develop the UK’s grassroots music venues. Michael Boaler, Senior Brand Manager at Jack Daniel’s said: “We’re in complete agreement that a longer term strategy is needed rather than a quick fix and we want to help achieve something really significant through this campaign and support the places where future legends are created in any way we can.”