London, January 12th 2023 – A music venue in Brighton has received a grant from the charity Music Venue Trust (MVT), as part of a second round of recipients for its major new funding initiative, which provides grants of up to £5,000 for UK Grassroots Music Venues. The Folklore Rooms received £4890.49 from MVT’s Pipeline Investment Fund to pay for sound and lighting equipment to upgrade production in the venue, as well as staff training on lighting design.
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.”
The Pipeline Investment Fund was established in 2022 with the support of members of the Music Venues Alliance and was primarily funded by donations from ticket sales of MVT’s recent ‘Revive Live’ programme of gigs around the UK, which was a partnership with The National Lottery.
Small scale grant applications (up to £5,000) were invited from UK based Grassroots Music Venues to support two key areas of work:
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.
Following the 11 Grassroots Music Venues which received £40,000 from the inaugural round of payments in December, a further 14 have now been awarded almost £70,000 to help fund a range of needs.
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
The fund prioritises support for organisations who may have been excluded from other available funding and was open to all venue operators and organisations that meet any of the three definitions of a Grassroots Music Space, which can be found HERE.
Music Venue Trust is still actively seeking further donations, particularly from the wider music industry, to maintain and expand the Pipeline Investment Fund and make it a permanent source of support for Grassroots Music Venues. Please contact ozlem@musicvenuetrust.com for details of how this work can be supported.
Music Venue Trust have also announced the release of its 2022 Annual Report, which will be launched at a reception for MPs to be held at The House of Commons on January 26th.
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. “
About the Music Venue Trust:
Music Venue Trust is a registered charity, created in January 2014 to protect, secure and improve the UK live music network by securing the long-term future of iconic grassroots music venues such as Hull Adelphi, Exeter Cavern, Southampton Joiners, The 100 Club, Band on the Wall, Tunbridge Wells Forum etc. These venues have played a crucial role in the development of British music over the last 40 years, nurturing local talent, providing a platform for artists to build their careers and develop their music and their performance skills.
We work to gain recognition of the essential role these venues fulfil, not only for artist development but also for the cultural and music industries, the economy and local communities. We aim to preserve and improve venues, making them more efficient and improving the experience for performers and audiences. Long-term we plan to acquire the freeholds of as many of these vital venues as possible.
Music Venue Trust is a charity registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales: Charity Number 1159846
Music Venue Trust (Scotland) is a charity registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity
