Melodic Bar in Liverpool has received a grant from the charity Music Venue Trust (MVT), as part of a fourth round of recipients for its major new funding initiative, which provides grants of up to £5,000 for UK Grassroots Music Venues. Melodic Bar received £1705.73 from MVT’s Pipeline Investment Fund to pay for new staging, training, and seating.
Venue director of Melodic Bar James Zaremba said: “As a venue that opened right after the lifting of Covid restrictions, we’ve faced a number of financial challenges. This means that all money generated has been allocated towards basic operational costs and overheads. We’ve very rarely been able to invest in improving and growing the space. This funding allows us to make much-needed investments into our venue.
The money will help to us to build modular furniture to make the most of our space, improve our overheads, allow us to put larger acts on with the extension of the stage, and help us create a safer more welcoming space through important staff training. We’re confident that this funding will improve our guests experience of visiting our venue!”
The Pipeline Investment Fund, established in 2022, is primarily funded by ticket sales of MVT’s recent ‘Revive Live’ programme of gigs around the UK, a hugely successful partnership with The National Lottery. To date £165,000 worth of grants have been awarded to 38 Grassroots Music Venues since December. This fourth round of payments sees a total sum of £97,516.97awarded to a further 23 GMVs across the country.
Small scale grant applications (up to £5,000) were invited from UK based Grassroots Music Venues to support two key areas of work:
- Small scale capital projects; including lights, sound, access, ventilation and minor building alterations
- Staff Training; workforce diversification, succession planning, skills development and strengthening local community ties.
Mark Davyd, CEO of Music Venue Trust said: “This fourth round of the Pipeline Investment Fund once again demonstrates how much difference small amounts of money, wisely invested, can make for Grassroots Music Venues. With grassroots music venues facing extraordinary challenges right now, Music Venue Trust is determined to keep pressing the music industry and government to support this fund and ensure music communities right across the country can continue to access the very best in live music.”
The fund prioritises support for organisations who may have been excluded from other available funding and was open to all venue operators and organisations that meet any of the three definitions of a Grassroots Music Space, which can be found here.
Music Venue Trust is still actively seeking further donations, particularly from the wider music industry, to maintain and expand the Pipeline Investment Fund and make it a permanent source of support for Grassroots Music Venues. Please contact [email protected] for details of how this work can be supported.
In January, Music Venue Trust released their 2022 Annual Report, which was launched at a reception for MPs at The House of Commons. The report details the immense contribution of Grassroots Music Venues to the UK economy, and the current threat they face as a result of the cost-of-living crisis and ongoing post-covid recovery.
MVT is calling on the government to review the VAT on ticket sales that is currently limiting profitability and crushing a sector responsible for nurturing new, upcoming talent in the UK – talent that goes on to define British culture and create huge profit for the industry.
The report also outlines plans to ensure all new arenas opening in the UK contribute to the wider music eco-system by investing a percentage of every ticket sale into Grassroots Venues. As, without the work of GMVs to nurture new talent, there will be no big artists to fill these venues in the coming years. Taking matters into their own hands, last month Enter Shikari announced that £1 from every ticket sold for their first ever arena tour would go to MVT to support the Pipeline Investment Fund.
