We have a new screen in the bar! Don’t miss a thing while grabbing a drink, or take a break and watch from the bar for a bit if it’s too intense. Luckily most musicians are way more handsome than this guy!
We’ve opened a can bar in the basement, particularly useful for any bathmophobics. Current set up is a slight bodge to test it out, but it’s been a great success and a permanent slick looking fixture will be open from July.
Being a Real Living Wage employer is something that’s very important to the venue, but obviously comes with its challenges against a backdrop of spiralling costs. Over the past 5 months we’ve put a number of cost saving measures in place to allow us to continue to be a Real Living Wage employer and mitigate some of the cost. As far as we know, we are one of only two grassroots music venues to be a Real Living Wage employer along with our friends Le Pub.
In light of recent news events surrounding the government’s attitudes towards the trans community, Exchange wants to reiterate to all of our patrons that we have a zero tolerance policy towards all instances of transphobia, racism, sexism and classism.
We believe in a community that celebrates people’s differences and uplifts communities who have been historically marginalised.
Throughout history the progress of the arts and cultural sector has relied heavily upon contributions from the LGBT+ community, without them venues like Exchange would not be where they are today.
Exchange refutes the prime minister’s claims that ‘virtue signalling’ has ‘replaced common sense’ in the public sector and we do not believe creating inclusive and safe spaces for all to be a self righteous act of virtue signalling, but rather a responsibility that we take seriously.
Since we reopened our doors following the pandemic, Exchange has been proud to offer fully gender neutral toilets. This decision was made in order to make a more inclusive gig going experience. Overall this has been a successful step forward that we as well as many other venues, cafes, bars and public spaces around the city have decided to take, and we have no intention of back tracking on that.
We regularly have meetings with our staff where we discuss how we can improve our inclusivity and accessibility. The safety of our customers, staff and performers is always the thing we look to improve upon most, and as a group we don’t believe that putting in policies that would exclusionary to members of our community would be productive.
To all our trans and non binary customers, community members, performers, promoters and staff members we can only continue to offer unwavering support.
We believe in Bristol’s empathy as a city and hope that we can do right by those in communities currently being targeted.
If you, a friend or anyone you know has ever been the target of transphobic harassment or abuse in our venue please know you have our full support. Just notify a manager, staff member or one of our security team and they will handle the situation in a way that protects your dignity. Further from this if you have any feedback on how we can improve Exchange please email us at feedback@exchangebristol.com.
Here are some links and resources we have gathered that offer information and guidance for those who wish to know more about how they can support the trans community or those looking for support themselves:
Image featured by Black Lodge Press @blacklodgepress
For those of you who have visited Exchange recently, you may have noticed we have a whole new line up on our kegs, as well as a few new additions to our can fridge.
Exchange is proud to have recently partnered with local legends Bristol Beer Factory, who are now supplying us with an all local line up of vegan (and a few gluten free) lagers and pales, as well as a guest beer line that will feature new brews from BBF as they make them.
Bristol Beer Factory have been staples of the community for a while now in Bristol, and are on the same page as us in terms of their commitment to having sound values that uplift and support small venues, pubs, clubs and restaurants. We’re so excited to be working with them and their fantastic team, you can read more about some of their fantastic work on their website.
In addition to BBF, we are proud to continue to stock Moor Beers iconic Distortion and Stout on tap. We have a long standing relationship with Moor, who are just as passionate about live music, sustainability and great tasting vegan beers as we are.
If you’re ever in the Old Market area on a day we’re closed and fancy a tasty beverage, head over to their tap room in St Phillips and give their brilliant team a big ‘hello!’ from us!
In addition to their delicious kegged beers we still offer the fantastic 2-for-£10 deal on a selection of cans from Moor, which is great for when it’s your round! Just ask our bar staff for our current selection.
Lastly on tap we have Butcombe Brewerys affordable Underfall Lager and Goram Zero.
We also have a selection of delicious beers from Wiper and True and Arbor in our can fridge, with non alcoholic and gluten free options from both available.
Exchange will always champion local talent, not just on stage but in our glasses too, so next time you’re at a show let us know what you think of the selection and if there are any local vegan beers that we don’t know about yet.
We are delighted to announce that Exchange has received a grant of £5,000 for new CDJ equipment via Music Venue Trusts Pipeline Investment Fund (PIF)
The Pipeline Investment Fund is a new grant-giving fund established by Music Venue Trust with the support of venue members of the Music Venues Alliance.
The funds aim is prioritise support for organisations who may be excluded from other available funding and would ask venues to approach the fund appropriately and economically, for something that will make a real difference to your organisation and venue.
Recently Exchange has seen a rise in club night bookings, with most friday and saturday nights featuring exciting acts from across europe of all genres. The funding we have received from MVT will enable us to keep on booking a diverse range of DJ’s and promoters.
Thank you so much to MVT for this fantastic opportunity, check out more of the brilliant work they do over on their website.
If you’re looking to join our programme of club night bookings please email heidi@exchangebristol.com
It’s with a heavy heart that Exchange has decided to close it’s cafe/bar for the daytimes Monday-Friday for the foreseeable future.
We will now only be open in the daytimes Saturday and Sunday from 12, with Specialist Subject continuing their trade everyday from 12 through the side door.
We have an exciting programme of daytime shows and more on the horizon, which can be found on headfirst and our website. If you’re keen to make a daytime booking for a gig, market, workshop or anything pop our bookings manager Heidi a message at Heidi@exchangebristol.com, we’re keen to chat to you!
It’s a tough time for everyone, with rising costs of living and it become harder and harder for grassroots venue to survive in the economic climate. We are so so grateful to our community for their support, and hope to see you all down at shows in the future.
If you want to support Exchange’s growth you can join our patreon or become a part of our community benefit society via the form on our website.
Exchange celebrates its 10 year anniversary by hosting 10 events in one weekend!
The weekend of events will be headlined by The Lovely Eggs and Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage and will take place on Saturday 1st October and Sunday 2nd October.
The events have been collaboratively programmed by members of the booking team past and present, Exchange residents and trusted promoters to showcase some of our favourite bands and artists in all the varied performance spaces throughout the venue. Whilst the main and basement stages will host most of the events, there will be a special one off performance in Joe’s Garage Recording Studio, a Specialist Subject Records in-store event, and a Fat Paul Sunday Brunch session in the bar.
“Exchange is the heartbeat of Bristol’s thriving independent music community, and we’re over the moon to celebrate its tenth birthday with a series of incredibly exciting events. It’s more difficult than ever before for grassroots music venues to continue to survive, so to see Exchange do not just that, but also thrive through the last decade has been a joy. We’re delighted to throw this big party for our friends, customers, members, promoters, Patreons and staff past and present to celebrate this achievement.” – Iwan Best, Exchange Director
Big, big thanks to everyone who has supported us so far! Being a community venue has helped us weather difficult times with Covid, Brexit and more. We couldn’t have done it without you…. Hope to see you at the party, or in the venue soon!
Tickets to the headline events are £15 each, and there are a limited number of £30 weekend tickets available that grant access to all ten events across Exchange’s birthday weekend, though many of the smaller events are free and can only be attended on a first come first served basis. There will be discounts and exclusive pre-sales available for members of the Exchange Community Benefit Society and Patreon.
Tickets for all events can be purchased from www.exchangebristol.com or through Headfirst at https://hdfst.uk/E78065
Exchange has invested £1,000 to become a member of Music Venue Properties, a Charitable Community Benefit Society set up by the Music Venue Trust.
Music Venue Properties (MVP) seeks to address the biggest issue facing Grassroots Music Venues (GMVs), which is the private ownership of the buildings that house the vast majority of them. As a not for profit charitable organisation, MVP will purchase the freeholds of GMVs across the UK and act as a benevolent landlord that will seek to reduce rents and make contributions towards insurance and repairs.
Exchange founder and director Matthew Otridge, started working for Music Venue Trust during the pandemic and recently became MVT’s Ownership Coordinator
“Exchange is proof of what can be achieved when the aims of a tenant are aligned with those of the landlord – In the past couple of years Exchange has invested a significant amount of money into the venue, improving accessibility, environmental sustainability, technical specification and sound proofing. It’s hard for other venues to make this kind of investment when they have, on average, 18 months left on their tenancies and a landlord that is more often than not seeking to maximise their investment. This campaign represents an opportunity to do something radical to address the issues around ownership and secure the long term futures of these vital institutions. It’s been useful to be able to take what I’ve learnt about venue ownership and community shares at Exchange to help achieve this goal.”
If you wish to invest in MVP alongside Exchange then you find out more via the Crowdfunder – If you’re unable to invest at this time then please consider sharing.
Previously Exchange also invested in the Sister Midnight Community Share Offer.
Exchange has become the first grassroots music venue in the United Kingdom to achieve gold on the Attitude Is Everything (AIE) Live Events Access Charter.
AIE is a disability-led charity with 20 years of experience supporting non-profit and commercial organisations to be accessible and inclusive for neurodivergent, Deaf and Disabled People.
The AIE Charter is a bespoke service offered exclusively to the live music industry. Over 210 venues and festivals have signed up to the Charter, adopting it as an industry standard for accessibility at live music events. Many small venues have bronze and silver levels, and many festivals have achieved gold, but not venues of our size. AIE has made a useful map on their website to show this information.
“We are so pleased to be able to award the Exchange the Gold level on our Live Events Access Charter. This is the first grassroots venue to achieve this award on the newly updated Live Events Access Charter. The team at Exchange have really embraced the work that we do, pushing for the venue to be as accessible as possible. Not only have they worked with us on the Charter, but they have engaged with other areas of our work such as the Beyond the Music project, hosting gigs in partnership with us. We have also been in full support of their Go Gentle programme of events, showcasing relaxed performances in a grassroots venue setting. The Exchange have been a great example of what can be done at grassroots level, with limited time and money, but a lot of heart! Attitude is Everything are excited to have Exchange on the Charter at Gold, and look forward to supporting them towards attaining the Platinum level.” Natalie South-Law, Charter Manager
Exchange has worked closely with AIE for several years. Thanks to financial support from both Arts Council England and our members who invested in our 2018 community share offer, we have been able to make structural adjustments to make the building more accessible. When we were Mystery Shopped last year as part of this process, we scored 9/10 for accessibility, and 10/10 for enjoyment.
In order to obtain the gold award, we have developed many aspects of the venue, including streaming and captioning packages, staff training, and engagement with artists, and promoters.
Covid-19, Brexit, and the rising cost of living mean challenging times for grassroots music venues. Despite these challenges, it’s still possible to combine quality programming with accessibility. We also hope that through our projects such as Go Gentle (relaxed performances) and our partners at Gig Buddies Bristol, we can remove barriers people might face, such as isolation and feeling unconfident in crowded spaces.
As a Community Benefit Society, it is important to us that we programme diverse events, and also offer different forms of engagement for our community, for example, hybrid gigs, streamed shows and reduced capacity events.
“We are delighted to be given this award, and we hope it will encourage other venues to sign up to the charter. A lot can be achieved without significant investment, and Exchange is keen to support other venues with the AIE charter process.” – Iwan Best, Exchange Director and Go Gentle Project Manager
The whole team at Exchange want to extend a massive THANK YOU to Em Sheppard and Iwan Best for their tireless work on this project. The commitment shown by both has been outstanding, and a true reflection of Exchange’s values.
We will continue to work with AIE through their Just Ask campaign which works specifically with Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent promoters, and Beyond the Music, who shot their recent campaign film in the venue. We will also start to work towards the Platinum Charter next year!
If you have any queries please email em@exchangebristol.com. Or come into the venue and say hi! More information can also be found on our website.
Links
http://attitudeiseverything.org.uk/the-charter-of-best-practice
http://attitudeiseverything.org.uk/professionals/beyond-the-music-mentors
We have been doing a fair bit of reshuffling and recruiting at Exchange recently!
We are delighted to welcome Lawottim Anywar as our new Bar Manager. He’ll work alongside gig booker, photographer and bar manager Will Benson, who joined the team last summer, working tirelessly for the venue since then, big legend!
Lawottim is a musical all rounder, having put out a solo album last year as well as drumming in Gimic, another fantastic Exchange regular (including members of Migraines and Dogeyed) and also runs Fruit Machine (an inclusive label and platform)! You can check out Lawottim’s creative genius here.
We also really excited welcome Heidi Wort as our new Bookings Manager.
Heidi drums in Slagheap who have played at Exchange many times, including a fab session with Exchange TV back in 2020.
If you have a show you’re burning to put on or any questions about booking throw her a message! heidi@exchangebristol.com
The Directors agreed to create a new post ‘Operations Manager’ and this has been filled by Cress Williams, who joined last year as Daytime manager (occasinally you’ll catch her here in the evening!)
The Ops Manager will really help the HR side of Exchange, and will work closely with Heidi on developing the daytime use of the building.
When she’s not chained to the coffee machine, Cress’s creative pursuit is working on experimental film and music videos. You can check out her work here.
For more information on day time hire visit this page
Come down to the venue and say hi, or get in touch with Heidi if you have any booking queries!
It feels really exciting to be welcoming new people into the Exchange family 🙂
At the end of April, tireless Exchange legend Iwan Best is stepping down as Venue / Bookings Manager.
Iwan, we will miss you!
Iwan has been a key figure in Exchange since 2014 and his dedication and determination are epic. From his role as Bar Manager, to his vision for Gig Buddies Bristol (including the highly successful launch), Iwan has had many positions at Exchange as well as promoting his own shows and being a general all round good guy. He will be a tough act to follow!
COVID was hard on music venues, but Iwan was tireless in making the most of it, coordinating our Fertile Ground sessions. As a Director, Iwan’s attention to detail and commitment to the venue and members of the Community Benefit Society have been invaluable. He has supported countless staff to get skilled up, and worked with countless promoters and collectives to give the venue and Exchange community the positive reputation it has today.
Iwan is staying on as a Director (so hopefully we will still get visits from Pepper the dog from time to time). We will be continuing a lot of the accessibility work he started.
All of the Exchange team wish Iwan the very best at his new job!