Music Venue Trust has announced a new funding initiative which will provide grants of up to £5,000 for UK grassroots music venues.
This new fund has been established with the support of members of the Music Venues Alliance, and its launch has been 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.
The Pipeline Investment Fund is now open for small scale grant applications (up to £5,000) from UK-based grassroots music venues to support two key areas of work: small-scale capital applications (including lights, sound, access, ventilation and minor building alterations); staff and training (workforce diversification, succession planning, skills development and strengthening local community ties).
The fund will prioritise support for organisations who may be excluded from other available funding.
Funding is open to all venue operators and organisations that meet any of the three definitions of a grassroots music space, which can be found on the MVT website.
Applications are open now via the membership portal for MVA members and a simplified application process can be found here, or requests for an application pack can be sent to info@musicvenuetrust.com.
Music Venue Trust is 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.
Mark Davyd, CEO of the Music Venue Trust, said: “We have been working on music industry based funding support for grassroots music venues since 2018. The launch of the Pipeline Investment Fund is an important indication of how the grassroots sector supports and nurtures each other. It provides a targeted opportunity for individuals, companies and organisations right across the industry to get involved and provide direct and meaningful financial assistance to the venues which support artists to launch and build their careers. We hope that the industry will see this as a real chance to make a genuine difference.”
Mark Davyd writes a regular column for Music Week on issues in grassroots music. Subscribers can view the latest here.
