£3.36 million to support grassroots music venues across England
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announces that £3.36 million will be shared between grassroots music venues in England to support venues at imminent risk of insolvency.
Across the country, £3.36 million will be shared between 135 music venues which successfully applied for emergency support in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. In response to the demand for help from some of the hardest hit in the sector, an additional £1.1 million was added to the fund to support as many venues as possible, as quickly as possible.
This Government is here for culture and these grants today show we are determined to help our exceptional music industry weather the covid storm and come back stronger.
- Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden
The Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund was the first fund administered by us on behalf of the Government, as part of the £1.57 billion package announced recently to protect the UK’s culture and heritage sector during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The accelerated funding has been delivered by Arts Council England in under a month to help grassroots venues facing huge challenges as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Venues could apply for emergency grants of up to £80,000 to cover on-going running costs incurred during closure, including rent and utilities.
We recognise the importance of grassroots music venues, both to the music sector and the cultural ecology.
Darren Henley, Chief Executive, Arts Council England, said: “Grassroots live music venues are valued cultural spaces within their communities, providing opportunities for people from all backgrounds to experience live music, both as audience members and as participants or performers. They are a fundamental part of England’s thriving music scene, for musicians and audiences as well as for their role in supporting talent development.”
Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, said: “This Government is here for culture and these grants today show we are determined to help our exceptional music industry weather the covid storm and come back stronger. Grassroots music venues are where the magic starts and these emergency grants from our £1.57 billion fund will ensure these music venues survive to create the Adeles and Ed Sheerans of the future.”
“I encourage music fans to help too by supporting music and cultural events as they start to get going again. We need a collective effort to help the things we love through covid.”
In more good news for venues, indoor performances can now restart with socially distanced audiences, so music venues are able to reopen safely, alongside other cultural venues and heritage sites.
“We are very grateful that we have been granted some funding from Emergency Grassroots Music Venue Fund for the Green Door Store, in order to prevent us from insolvency by the end of September 2020. This has given us a month to work on fundraising and other possible Arts Council funding in order to continue doing what we love, showcasing live music.” - Toni Coe, The Green Door Store, Brighton
“This funding is allowing us to continue to cultivate a creative legacy within the city and enable many more opportunities for artists and audiences” - Sidney & Mathilda, Sheffield
“The support we have received from the Arts Council during this pandemic has been instrumental in the continuation and development of our services at 2funky Arts. It has allowed us to reimagine ways to support emerging artists and promoters in line with social distancing guidelines and the ‘new normal’, allowing us to develop and shape the future of online performances, artist mentoring and audience participation and reach.” - Vijay Mistry, 2funky Arts Cafe, Leicester
Music venues are also eligible to apply for a share of £500 million in grants being delivered to cultural organisations by Arts Council England.
