Joe GallopThe cross-party Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which scrutinizes the work of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and its associated public bodies, has announced a hearing and review into the current crisis facing grassroots music venues and will produce a full report of its findings in 2024.
The initiative was announced by DCMS Select Committee Chair Caroline Dinenage MP who confirmed that a call for evidence will be made in the near future with written submissions invited. Witnesses will be also called to parliament to enable the committee to understand the current crisis and make recommendations to all stakeholders on how to address it.
Speaking at Music Venue Trust’s (MVT) annual ‘Venues Day’ conference in London earlier this week Dinenage said, “We will be announcing a call for evidence quite soon, and then probably just after Christmas, we’ll start taking live evidence from people as well. We will then work to produce a full report and to put forward recommendations. It will be recommendations not just to the government, but also to the industry and recommendations for local authorities.”
MVT CEO Mark Davyd said, “We are grateful to Caroline and the other members of the DCMS Select Committee for focusing their efforts on the myriad challenges facing grassroots music venues. The threat to this vital sector of our cultural life has never been more acute and we look forward to assisting the process and to seeing the recommendations they put forward.”