MUSIC VENUES ALLIANCE: "CHAMPIONING THE GRASSROOTS"

Music Venue Trust is delighted to formally announce the launch of the Music Venues Alliance, an association of venues and organisations that have united behind the work of the Trust to engage with the industry, the cultural sector, and politicians to take actions that protect, secure and improve the UK's music venue network.

Emerging from Venues Day 2014, the Music Venues Alliance is the first significant response to the recent ICMP summary report "Understanding Small Venues", which painted a picture of a UK live music venue circuit that is in a perilous and precarious state, facing an uncertain future at real risk despite the passion of the people involved in it.

Members of the Alliance have united behind the work of the Music Venue Trust to enable the Charity to speak up on their behalf, discussing and airing those challenges with live music industry colleagues and the cultural sector, and seeking ways to work together to tackle a range of issues so we not only maintain and preserve this circuit but actively start to improve it.

On behalf of the Music Venues Alliance, Music Venue Trust has already been invited to be part of the UK Live Music Group and to play a lead role in the Mayor of London's Taskforce on Live Music. The Trust has taken up issues raised at Venues Day with PRS, and is working with MPs to identify tax and investment opportunities that will directly improve the venues through a series of projects. The Trust will be making a major announcement about the future of the grassroots circuit at the International Live Music Conference in London on Friday 6 March, and will follow this with the launch of their full report on "Understanding Small Venues" in Parliament on Monday 9 March.

Over 80 venues are already represented within the Alliance, alongside live music agencies, campaign groups, and cultural organisations. Membership is open to any UK venue that wishes to join the campaign, and the Alliance welcomes applications from industry bodies and professional organisations that want to add their voices to support this vital part of the sector. You can contact the Alliance at musicvenuetrust@gmail.com

MUSIC VENUES ALLIANCE: FOUNDER MEMBERS:
13 Artists * Academy Music Group * Attitude is Everything * Band on the Wall (Manchester) * Birthdays (London) * Cellar 35 (Aberdeen) * Culture in Planning Alliance * Echoes & Dust * Electric Circus (Edinburgh) * Ents24 * Exchange, Bristol * Exeter Phoenix * Fallow Cafe (Manchester) * Generator * Glee Club (Birmingham/Nottingham/Cardiff) * Half Moon Putney * Independent (Sunderland) * Ironworks (Inverness) * Koko (London) * Live Music Exchange * Musicians' Union * Music Industries Association * Paradise by Way of Kensal Green (London) * Pocklington Arts Centre (York) * Regent Music Agency * Rich Mix (London) * Sneaky Pete's (Edinburgh) * Sound Connections * Splendid Communications * Sticky Mike's Frog Bar (Brighton) * Strongroom (London) * Surya (London) * The 1865 (Southampton) * The Agency Group Ltd * The Bedford (London) * The Blues Kitchen (London) * The Boileroom (Guildford) * The Cookie (Leicester) * The Ealing Club Community Interest Company * The Fleece (Bristol) * The Good Ship (London) * The Hairy Dog (Derby) * The Harley (Sheffield) * The Hope (Brighton) * The Horn (St Albans) * The Hunter Club (Bury St Edmunds) * The Joiners (Southampton) * The Lexington (London) * The Lighthouse (Deal) * The Louisiana (Bristol) * The Nest (London) * The Old Blue Last (London) * The Old Queens Head (London) * The Phoenix Artist Club (London) * The Railway (Winchester) * The Roadhouse (Birmingham) * The Ruby Lounge (Manchester) * The Servant Jazz Quarters (London) * The Soundhouse Leicester * The Stillery (London) * The Sugarmill (Stoke-on-Trent) * The Theatres Trust * The Tin at the Coal Vaults (Coventry) * The Troubadour (London) * The Victoria, Swindon * The Victoria Inn (Derby) * The Wedgewood Rooms (Portsmouth) * The Woolwich Grand Theatre * The Zanzibar Club (Liverpool) * Tunbridge Wells Forum * Village Underground (London) * West End Centre (Aldershot) * Windmill Brixton * York Fibbers * XOYO (London)