Music Venues Trust: Patron Saints

The Music Venue Trust has announced three new artist patrons in advance of its annual Venues day on 17^th October. Charlotte Hatherley, Slaves and The Anchoress will all now support the organisation, with Everything Everything’s Jeremy Pritchard the first musician to become a trustee.

Jeremy Pritchard commented: “Were it not for the presence of the Tunbridge Wells Forum while I was growing up, I very much doubt that I would be a professional musician now. The same would be said of countless other individuals who have been inspired and nurtured by similar community live music venues – Southampton Joiners, Bristol Thekla, Oxford Jericho, Manchester Night And Day, Hull Welly, Newcastle Cluny, and so on”.

He continued: “The UK music industry needs to do more to support its live grassroots, and government needs to recognise that the health and future prosperity of this important British industry relies on us nurturing these seeds”.

The MVT’s annual Venues Day event this year is already sold-out, taking place on 17th Oct at Ministry Of Sound in London and featuring a variety of panel discussions on issues facing small venues.

The Gen must again ask: Is this a London centric problem? Iconic venues have been closing down and it is as much of a struggle to operate a grass roots venue as it ever has been but new ones are also opening across the UK. The importance of these venues in developing talent should not be underestimated and of course, Agent of Change makes sense and the UK Government should act and commit to it. But how much of this is simply market forces? And are we really seeing a dearth of new festival and arena headliners as a result? Many live promoters would say that the ‘headliner’ problem, beyond say the cyclical nature of V festival headliners (The Killers, Kasabian and / or Kings of Leon anyone?), is not a problem at all with talent emerging at all levels.