MVT: Bringing Down Venue Costs, Building Up Venue Reputation

23 September 2016 - Press release

Music Venue Trust announces second major strand of work at Venues Day 2016: Localism & Community

Music Venue Trust is delighted to announce its series of sessions at Venues Day 2016 which aim to give venues the information and direct practical advice they need to drive down costs, increase audiences and improve relationships with their key partners. 

Localism & Community is a series of six panels featuring MPs, Councillors, Lawyers, Tax and Rate specialists, and a wide range of examples of best practice which will encourage venues to restructure, relaunch and re-examine how they manage key partnerships. 

Beverley Whitrick of MVT explains: “One of the key things we’ve noticed impacting on the economic and political stability of music venues is a failure to pick up on existing opportunities which are fully used by arts centres, theatres, museums, libraries and other parts of the cultural sector. On VAT, for example, it’s been a running suggestion across three years of work that tickets in these venues should be exempt from VAT. A method to do that already exists, deliberately created by the Treasury to support cultural institutions and activities, but music venues aren’t set up to take advantage of it. In this series of panels, we are going to explain how to recognise and utilise such opportunities”.

Music Venue Trust has gathered together experts from across a range of areas including licensing, planning, noise, rates, VAT, company structures, ticketing, grant funding and politics. 

“We’re aiming to make a big difference to how venues structure themselves, but also how others see them,” continues Whitrick. “Your local music venue is a cultural and social hub. We are going to give them advice on how to engage with local councils to make sure they are perceived that way, and advice on how being perceived that way opens up access to rate relief, local and national grants.”

Localism and Community will take place across six panels at The Roundhouse on Tuesday 18 October as part of Venues Day 2016. Panellists already confirmed include: Feargal Sharkey, Thangam Debbonaire MP, Cllr Jonathan Cooke (LB Wandsworth), Rebecca Walker (Sheffield Leadmill), Lohan Presencer (Ministry of Sound), Vic Galloway (BBC Radio Sotland), Vanessa Reed (PRS for Music Foundation), Richard Robinson (Help Musicians UK), Eamonn Forde (Journalist), Jane Beese (Roundhouse), Nick Wright (Altus RatesRecovery), Mal Campbell (Hebden Bridge Trades Club), Guto Brychan (Clwb Ifor Bach).

Since the first Venues Day event in December 2014, awareness of the precarious position in which the UK's small independent venues find themselves has grown enormously. Music Venue Trust, the charity created to champion and protect the nation's grassroots music, continues to lead this work and is putting together this year's networking day for highlighting and discussing key issues around two themes: Localism & Community and Music Industry Issues.

A full line up of the panellists, discussions, topics and opportunities for Venues Day is being released in the next two weeks. 

Venues Day 2016 is a one-day event, running from 10.30am - 6pm. General delegate passes are on sale now from here.

Venue representatives can apply for a free pass by emailing beverley@musicvenuetrust.com