Looking ahead to the return of live music
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The past year has been immensely challenging for grassroots music venues and promoters. Venues up and down the country, usually buzzing with fans and live music, fell silent in March 2020. Many have remained closed due to lockdowns and social distancing regulations, and those that have been able to welcome people back inside have only been able to do so for short periods of time and in very small numbers. When I walked into my local venue, Band on the Wall in Manchester, in late January 2020, I couldn’t have imagined it would be for the last time in over a year.
Throughout that time, we’ve worked hard to provide emergency support to so many venues through both the Emergency Grassroots Music Venue Fund and the Cultural Recovery Fund, and the sector has not been laying idle over the last year. Venues and promoters have continued to innovate, delivering socially distanced gigs and live-streamed performances that have provided a vital connection for audiences and a lifeline to the bands and artists that have performed and to those working behind the scenes to make it all possible.
Back in May 2019, we launched National Lottery Project Grants: Supporting Grassroots Live Music, a ring-fenced budget within our National Lottery Project Grants programme to support promoters and venues working at grassroots level across all genres of music. Since then, we’ve made 180 awards and invested £3.2 million across the country, supporting everything from family friendly gigs to refurbished bathrooms, and helping a number of much-loved grassroots venues upgrade their kit.
Venues such as the legendary The George Tavern in London’s East End, who can now deliver high-quality events to a wider audience thanks to a grant which improved their PA system and lighting rig. The fund has also helped develop new and diverse talent: Old Town Sounds in Swindon used their grant to offer free rehearsal space, experienced mentors and sound engineers for emerging artists to perfect their live shows. The Leadmill in Sheffield, on the other hand, used their investment to diversify their programming, so they can better represent the community they serve.
The fund has also helped venues respond to the unique challenges of the pandemic, with £1.3 million helping 79 venues and promoters across the country to deliver live activity when they could and to get ready for when live audiences can return.
Rosslyn Court in Margate used the funding to develop their live capture and streaming capabilities, enabling them to stream shows during the pandemic and develop new national and international audiences for their folk club. Meanwhile The Asylum in Birmingham has created a safe room for vulnerable or anxious audience members who may feel overwhelmed, helping them become a more inclusive space.
Looking ahead
Seeing Blossoms, The Lathums and Zuzu take to the stage and perform to 5,000 people in Liverpool’s Sefton Park earlier this month truly felt like a turning point in the pandemic. And as we cautiously, optimistically creep towards the return of live music, we’re pleased to say we’ll continue to ringfence £1.5 million for the grassroots live music sector over the next year and look forward to receiving applications from lots more venues and promoters. As always, we’re keen to see applications for projects spanning a whole range of activity from programming and audience development to venue refurbishments and equipment upgrades.
As the final year of ring-fenced funding for grassroots live music, it will act as a transition year to support more organisations and individuals in this specific part of the music sector to be confident in applying to the main National Lottery Project Grants programme in the future.
We’re particularly keen to support as many venues and promoters as possible who have not previously received our funding, so they can gain the experience of applying for and delivering a funded project. If you’re a grassroots music venue and have had funding from us in the past, particularly if you’re planning to apply for over £15,000, applying to our standard National Lottery Project Grants fund will help us provide more opportunity for new applicants.
We’d also encourage venues and promotors applying this year to consider how investment now could have the greatest impact in the longer term. Whether it’s upgrading your equipment, making your venue more accessible or developing new networks. Developing the resilience and sustainability of the sector for the long term is a key priority for us. Alongside this, we want to help venues explore new income streams to help them survive future challenges and to explore new ways of increasing diversity, both on stage and in the audience.
I’ve missed lots of things over the last year, but nothing quite tops the buzz of a busy venue on a Wednesday night. I can’t wait to get back out and see first-hand all the great things that venues and promoters across the country are doing with our investment.
