Arts Council launches Emergency Grass Roots Music Venues Fund

Arts Council England is administering a new £2.25 million Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund to help ensure the survival of grassroots music venues from now until 30 September 2020. Applications are open until 12pm on Monday 3rd August 2020 and conditions apply.

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) recently announced a new fund to support grassroots live music venues at imminent risk of insolvency.

This is the first fund that Arts Council England will administer 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. 

As part of that package, the £2.25 million Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund seeks to ensure the survival of grassroots music venues in England. The fund is being launched at the request of DCMS who have also set the criteria: it will be administered, awarded and monitored by the Arts Council on behalf of DCMS.

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.
 
The purpose of this fund is to support grassroots live music venues that were financially sustainable before Covid-19, but are now at imminent risk of insolvency, to remain solvent until 30 September 2020.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden say, “The first £2.25 million of our unprecedented cultural rescue package is targeted at their survival. We’re working to deliver the rest of the £1.57 billion emergency package as quickly as possible, so that we can protect and preserve our precious culture, arts and heritage for future generations.”

The fund is open for applications from midday 25 July 2020 until midday on 3 August 2020.

Venues which present live grassroots music events in any music genre, including multi-arts venues that host other events and entertainment alongside a main programme of music, and who play a significant role for their communities in developing talent are eligible to apply.

Applicants can apply for funding ranging from £1,000 up to £80,000, to cover operational costs incurred between 4 August and 30 September 2020.

FUNDING PAGE FOR APPLICATIONS - https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/emergency-grassroots-music-venues-fund#section-1

More information about the fund: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/news/launch-emergency-grassroots-music-venues-fund