The Music Venue Trust (MVT) has announced the first recipients of its new funding initiative, which provides grants of up to £5,000 for UK grassroots music venues.

The Pipeline Investment Fund was launched with the support of members of the Music Venues Alliance and was primarily funded by donations from ticket sales of MVT’s recent Revive Live programme of gigs around the UK, in partnership with The National Lottery.

Small-scale grant applications (up to £5,000) were invited from UK-based grassroots music venues to support two areas of work. These include small-scale capital projects; including lights, sound, access, ventilation and minor building alterations, as well as staff and training; including workforce diversification, succession planning, skills development and strengthening local community ties.

Eleven grassroots music venues have now received almost £40,000 in total for a range of lighting, sound and associated equipment purchases, air conditioning units and building work. The recipient venues were:

  • Alexander’s Live (Chester)
  • Venue38 (Ayr)
  • The Louisiana (Bristol)
  • The Grayston Unity (Halifax)
  • Retro (Manchester)
  • Chats Palace (London)
  • Backstage At The Green (Kinross)
  • Dorothy Pax (Sheffield)
  • Servant Jazz Quarters (London)
  • Snug (Atherton)
  • Three Wise Monkeys (Colchester)

MVT said the fund prioritised support for organisations who may have been excluded from other available funding and was open to all venue operators and organisations that meet any of the three definitions of a grassroots music space, which can be found on its website.

The organisation said it is seeking further donations, particularly from the wider music industry, to maintain and expand the fund and make it a permanent source of support for grassroots music venues.

MVT founder and CEO Mark Dayvd said, “The Pipeline Investment Fund is proof of what a huge difference relatively small amounts of money can make to local grassroots music venues.

“We’d like to see every stadium and arena show in the country making a small contribution to this fund. Every headline artist should be able to know with confidence that when they reach the top of our industry the impact of their success ripples back to directly support the venues and communities where the launched their career. MVT has created the mechanism to make that possible, we need the music industry to come together and make it happen.”