Music Venue Trust - Venues Day 2017
The Music Venue Trust has become the backbone for the body of music venues across the country. They rely on to safeguard their very existence in many cases.
We spoke to Mark Davyd, CEO in the countdown to October 17th and the 3rd Annual VENUES DAY.
HM: Have you seen any significant changes - for better or for worse since the last Venues Day? "The positives: Music Venues Alliance now boasts over 320 venue members, the largest ever network of Grassroots Music Venues. The Emergency Response team has handled forty threatened closure cases, and prevented closure in all but one - and that one looks like it might be temporary. We've had a lot of great organisations coming towards us, wanting to work with us and the venues and pull together to make things better.
The negatives: Without going over the same issue over and over again, it's obviously deeply frustrating that three years of discussions with Arts Council England has not resulted in a single extra penny going into a Grassroots Music Venue. Music Venue Trust itself is in a very difficult situation as a result of the failure to fund our own organisation, but more importantly we proposed a project which would have seen investment going directly into improving venues and making them more sustainable and that was turned down as well. With the Arts Council ruled out as a potential supporter for the actual problems and challenges in this sector, we really need the music industry itself to step up, and that's very difficult to achieve. " HM: Sir Paul McCartney, Jamie Pritchard and Frank Turner are among the supporters of the MVT. Does the endorsement of famous artists help to get the message across to the public who often don't realise the issue until their favorite venue disappears? "Absolutely. The support from artists has been amazing. They've thrown their weight behind the campaigns and it's made a real difference. We now need to connect the viewpoint of the artists to the people who represent them, the record labels, publishers, PRS etc. " HM: What are the simple key things people can do to show their support and get involved besides coming to Venues Day?
"Go to a gig. Really, it's that simple. Visit our website and look at the work we are doing. Get informed. You can support MVT with a donation at GoFundMe Or buy a t-shirt at: Pledgemusic"
Although the VENUES DAY #FIGHTBACK live music event is now postponed. The Fight Back is very much still on, otherwise the following will just keep happening; RIP Central London's 2,000 capacity music venue;
In January 2009, my team were the last ever film crew at the Astoria. Here is a video we made marking the sad occasion and very prescient quotes from the likes of Alan McGee (Creation Records) & Paul Draper (ex Mansun front man, now a solo artist). This should give you a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye if you are passionate about live music in the UK. It was cultural vandalism.
The Astoria is where Jimmy Hendrix launched his career and the venue has played host to everyone from Nirvana to U2 via Prince!
HM x