Where: At venues across the UK
£: Ticket prices vary, depending on the event
What is it?
Independent Venue Week (IVW) will return from Monday 29th January to Sunday 4th February, with its biggest celebration of grassroots music venues yet.
Independent Venue Week was founded in 2014 as a way to shine the spotlight on the heroes that own and run small venues across the country. More than 160 venues have signed up for this year’s event and five ambassadors have been invited to champion IVW’s cause.
This year’s ambassadors include South Tyneside singer-songwriter Nadine Shah, who released her third full-length record, Holiday Destination, to critical acclaim. Alongside Nadine will be Portishead multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer Adrian Utley. Both Nadine Shah and Adrian Utley will be curating shows and Nadine will also be headlining a show at Hebden Bridge on Saturday 3rd February.
The continued growth of the IVW project comes not just from more venues across towns and cities signing up but also those from secondary and tertiary locations. These smaller towns and villages have an equally important role to play in nurturing new talent and providing somewhere for the local community to enjoy new music, especially for those who haven’t the means to travel to neighbouring larger towns and cities.
A great example of this is Halifax, home of the smallest (Grayston Unity) and youngest (The Lantern) venues taking part in IVW this year.
This year will see the addition of Marshall Records, the label of the independent British amp company, who will be touring some of their exciting new artists. Also this year, broadcast support for the project is coming from BBC Music, who are on board as an official partner.
IVW is backed, once again, by Arts Council England alongside Creative Scotland and Arts Council Wales. One project that Arts Council money is being used for is Bournemouth promoters We Broke Free, who are touring Bournemouth artists around the country.
Leading independent music charity Help Musicians UK is also partnering with Independent Venue Week, and will curate a number of shows around the country. In addition, the charity is gearing up for the December launch of its ground breaking 24/7 mental health support service for the entire music industry. Music Minds Matter will offer qualified and professional emotional support, advice and signposting to additional services as well as opportunities for grant funding.
Attitude is Everything is also returning to promote their Grassroots Charter and DIY Access Guide, as are Stay Up Late with their gig buddy scheme and The Joe Strummer Foundation.
Music inspired independent brewers Signature Brew are back for their third IVW, releasing some new artist collaboration beers as part of the week-long celebration.
More info: www.independentvenueweek.com