The Music Venue Trust (MVT) has launched a new campaign, ‘Save Our Venues’, in hopes of saving the hundreds of grassroots music venues in the UK that are at risk of closing due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Tara Pilkington reports.
The ‘Save Our Venues’ campaign has been created by The Music Venue Trust with the aim of reaching artists, music fans and the wider music industry and encouraging them to help save a venue which is currently in crisis.
On the campaign’s website, visitors can access the tools and guidance needed in order to perform an ‘at home’ gig in support of a particular venue which they have chosen to support.
Currently, over 556 venues are at risk in the UK. On the ‘Save Our Venues’ website, each venue has its own crowdfunding page which clearly outlines the target funds that are needed in order for them to stay afloat during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. If a target is met, then any excess revenue will go to the overall #SaveOurVenues Fund to help the wider grassroots music venue community.
One of the leading champions of this campaign is musician Frank Turner, who in a statement has said: “The UK live music industry is staring into the abyss right now…”
He added: “I’m not able to save the whole thing on my own, but I decided to do a series of livestream shows to raise money for specific independent venues that I know and love, and that are in serious risk of disappearing right now.”
He also said that he hopes that the ‘Save Our Venues’ is a great tool which is giving artists and music fans a chance to get involved and play a big part in helping their favourite music venues to survive.
- For more information, visit: https://saveourvenues.co.uk/
