Music Venue Trust (MVT) has announced a new campaign #saveourvenues, in response to the continued economic threat to over 500 grassroots music venues throughout the UK. Following on from the launch of their Grassroots Music Venues (GMV) Crisis fund last month, #saveourvenues is aimed at artists, music fans and the wider music industry and aims to raise both money and awareness.
Artists are being encouraged to choose a venue that is currently in crisis from an interactive map and dropdown menu, which can be found on the campaign website at www.saveourvenues.co.uk. Those artists will then be given the tools and guidance to perform an ‘at home’ gig in support of that particular venue. Each venue will have their own crowd funding page with a clear target of the funds it needs to raise to stay afloat throughout this difficult period. Once a target is reached any excess revenue will go to the central #saveourvenues fund to help the wider grassroots music venue community.
Unlike others, Exchange does not face closure because we ran a successful Community Ownership campaign in 2018. We felt it was important to be a part of the #saveourvenues campaign to show solidarity and support for other venues and the work that Music Venue Trust are doing.
We encourage people to only give money to Exchange if you have enjoyed a set that an artist performs for us. Please consider supporting other venues first. Any donations made towards our small target will contribute towards paying members of our team who were not entitled to Government grants.