Grassroots venues organisation the Music Venue Trust (MVT) has announced that its Venues Day 2022 will take place at the newly refurbished St John at Hackney Church on 18 October.

MVT, which represents almost 1,000 UK grassroots music venues, has hosted the annual one-day event since 2014, with delegates representing venues, promoters, agents, artists, government departments, funding bodies and ancillary service providers.

A key theme for the event will be MVT’s recently launched ‘Own Our Venues’ campaign. To support the campaign MVT launched Music Venue Properties (MVP) in May to purchase the freehold of grassroots music venue properties. MVP has identified nine venues for a pilot project with an initial target of £3.5m to purchase them before the end of 2022.

MVT COO Beverley Whitrick said, “It has become increasingly clear that after a tough couple of years there will be no return to the past, and it is now critical that new connections are made and that alternative ways of doing things are explored.

“Venues Day 2022 is a fantastic opportunity to find out how people have adapted to such seismic change. The GMV sector has always thrived because of its vibrant sense of community so bringing everyone together to help reinforce this is hugely important.

“This event will be a unique meeting point to discuss the cultural, social and economic interests affecting grassroots music venues. Venues Day 2022 is built around one key aim; that every single delegate leaves having made connections or re-connections that will help them in a meaningful way.”

MVT CEO Mark Davyd said, “Our ‘Own Our Venues’ campaign is by far our most ambitious project to date and has already had a great start. Venues Day 2022 will provide a great opportunity to discuss, plan and share ways in which we can make this initiative a reality and secure the long-term future of the GMV sector.”

Tickets for Venues Day 2022 will go on sale during August and full details of keynote speakers, panel titles and other confirmed details about the conference schedule are to be announced soon.