FEATURE:
Money Changes Everything
IN THIS PHOTO: London’s The Clapham Grand was one of the many venues to receive a portion of the first Culture Recovery Fund round
Ensuring All Parts of England’s Live Music Scene Is Fairly Represented and Compensated by the Culture Recovery Fund
___________
OVER this weekend….
PHOTO CREDIT: @matthewwaring/Unsplash
I am putting out a couple of features which are a bit more serious and tackle some hefty issues. It is good news that, earlier this week, many venues were given a lifeline in the form of Cultural Recovery Fund assistance. A while back, the Government allocated £1.57 billion to help protect the arts and venues. At the moment, there are cinemas, theatres, music venues and other locations that have either closed or face a very bleak and fraught winter. There is no real way of saying when live music will come back in a form that we are familiar with; so that venues can get enough people in to make it profitable. The fact that so many venues have been given much-needed funds is cause for celebration. NME reported the news:
“Hundreds of music venues, festivals, arts spaces and culture organisations in England are celebrating after being awarded part of a £257million grant in the first wave of funding from the government’s Cultural Recovery Fund.
Over 1,385 theatres, museums and cultural organisations across England have benefitted from the £257million grant – the largest chunk of the government’s £1.57billion bailout fund to date, helping venue and cultural spaces to weather the storm of being forced to close due to coronavirus restrictions. At the time of publishing, 90 per cent of results were in with 89 per cent of applications from England’s grassroots venue sector have been successful so far – and less than 20 still in danger. Meanwhile, 71 per cent of the Association of Independent Festival’s applications have been successful so far.
Relieved, grateful, exhausted to announce that GDS have been awarded funding from the Cultural Recovery Fund. We will remain closed for now but are safe til March21 🥳 @DCMS @hmtreasury @ace_national#Hereforculture
— Green Door Store (@greendoorstore) October 12, 2020
Our endless thanks to @musicvenuetrust ♥️ pic.twitter.com/YquXgPGZdL
With full-capacity gigs currently expected to return safely in April, the cash injection will help to mothball live spaces until COVID restrictions subside. This comes after many venues feared that they may “never see funding or reopen“. News on funding for venues in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will follow in the coming weeks.
Successful applicants to receive grants include the Ministry Of Sound (£975,468), Brudenell Social Club in Leeds (£220,429), promoter and venue operator DHP Family (£908,004), Liverpool’s Cavern Club (£525,000), Islington Assembly Hall (£235,564), Clapham Grand (£300,000), The 100 Club (£491,486), Crosstown Concerts (£212,950), Manchester’s Gorilla (£255,500) and Deaf Institute (£148,000), Eat Your Own Ears (£99,066), Portsmouth Guildhall (£215,000) and Sound City (£75,000).
Other beneficiaries include Camden’s Electric Ballroom (£206,974), Hebden Bridge Trades Club (£61,723), End Of The Road Festival (£250,000), Exeter Cavern (£50,000), Leeds-based Futuresound Events (£219,368), Hackney Empire (£585,064), Hootananny Brixton (£250,000), Independent Label Market (£50,784), Inner City Music (£211,200), Lost Village Festival (£250,000), Love Supreme Festival (£118,524), SSD Music (£700,000), The George Tavern (£222,030), Brighton Dome (£493,000) and Slam Dunk (£175,981).
Check out the full list here“.
I have seen on social media so many venues post responses to them getting the money they need to stay open until next year and, even though there is no guarantee that live music is going to return until later next year, it is a relief that many venues do not have to close their doors! I know a lot of money is still in the pot and has yet to be allocated, but I wonder how venues across the North and Midlands will fare. The first round of financial allocation has favoured a lot of venues in the South, but many elsewhere have not done so well.
PHOTO CREDIT: @thatjoebloke/Unsplash
Moreover, there does seem to be a disparity in some regions in regards the way music venues are funded compared to theatres and other areas of the arts. This article reports how many of Birmingham’s music venues have not received the same support as classical organisations:
“In analysis of today’s CRF announcement data, the Birmingham Live Music Project team suggest that the balance of funding is in favour of non-musical organisations with a track record of securing public funding, pre-Covid.
Additionally, researchers from the collaborative academic and industry initiative between Aston University, Birmingham City University and University of Newcastle suggest the live music sector is vital to the UK’s collective ‘morale’, and protecting cultural activity requires much more work by the UK Government.
Dr Patrycja Rozbicka, project lead with the Birmingham Live Music Project, identified an apparent disparity between the amounts received by organisations with a music and non-music focus. Following the release of the first tranche of awards today, Dr Rozbicka said, “As anticipated, across all 28 music organisations to receive a CRF award in Birmingham, only a few are venues or organisations which have a dedicated and primary focus on live music.
“Within this number, the three largest grants (combined total of £2,523,668) have been awarded to three regularly funded organisations (RFOs): Birmingham Royal Ballet, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Midlands Arts Centre (mac). Out of the 28, only three grants (combined total of £349,000) really go to local live music venues. The rest land with classical organisations, theatres and dance studios”.
PHOTO CREDIT: @vishnurnair/Unsplash
It is great that a few venues in Sunderland have received some hefty funding, and it is wonderful that many venues are being saved for closure. I think there has always been a disparity between venues in the South and London especially compared with areas further north. I want to return to the Midlands, as it seem that they have been especially overlooked:
“London organisations were given £87m – £9.71 per capita, while in the South West £26.6m was handed out, at £4.72 per head.
In the East Midlands it was still higher, with grants equating to £3.55 per person handed out.
Venues across the West Midlands, including theatres, concert halls and galleries, were forced to close once again due to Covid-19.
Many have been left asking if our great venues are playing second fiddle to London.
Of that near-£17m handed out, £6.2m has been given to 39 groups in the Black Country and Birmingham.
A total of £1.24m has been handed to eight businesses in Shropshire, while across Staffordshire, five groups in Lichfield, Cannock, Stafford and South Staffordshire received around £1.2m.
It is hardly surprising that recipients, including Cannock’s Prince of Wales Theatre, Newhampton Arts Centre in Wolverhampton, and Albert’s Shed in Telford – have welcomed the funding with open arms.
After all, there is a strong argument for the cultural sector being the hardest hit by the pandemic, with venues forced to close when the first major lockdown was announced back in March.
PHOTO CREDIT: @joshappel/Unsplash
Many are not planning to reopen until next year, and the grants received will help them to keep their heads above water until punters can finally return through their doors.
Yet across the whole region, the Arts Council funding equates to just £2.86 per head, the lowest figure in the country and way behind the nation’s capital, where £9.71 per person has been handed out.
In fact, of the 1,385 organisations to be awarded cash so far, a third of them are in London, where 34 per cent of the CRF funding total of £257m has been allocated.
They included Belgrade Theatre, which received just under the maximum amount allowed of £1m, and the Soho Theatre company, which got around £900,000.
Arts Council England points out that more funding announcements are to come – including some of the bigger cash awards – and that we have not yet got a complete picture of how the money has been distributed nationally”.
I have nothing against London being afforded such financing, but there is this ongoing disparity between how the arts and culture is valued in the North and Midlands compared to the capital. I hope that there is a lot more consideration towards our valuable music venues and spaces north of London, as it would be a tragedy is many were overlooked. Sadly, many venues who were looking for more funding have not hit their target and have been forced to close, and although venues in London like The Lexington need more funding to survive, we all want a fair distribution so that large areas of the country are not ignored.
IN THIS PHOTO: The Deaf Institute, Manchester/PHOTO CREDIT: The Deaf Institute
Earlier in the year, Gorilla and The Deaf Industry in Manchester almost closed their doors for good, but they have been saved. The latest funding round has seen some valuable spaces in the North given a boost:
“Manchester-based Mission Mars, which operates the Albert Hall (2,200), Gorilla (600), and The Deaf Institute (260) venues is to be awarded £1m from the Arts Council England administered fund.
The Cavern Club will receive £525,000, the 100 Club £491,000 and the Brudenell Social Club (400) in Leeds £220,429”.
I know that not all venues and music spaces can survive, and I do hope that the Government value and respect music venues as highly as theatres, concert halls and other sectors of the arts which will receive funding. So many people in the music industry are suffering right now and self-employed workers and crews are especially vulnerable. Live music is essential, so the package the Government have announced means that many venues are going to be able to operate for another eight months or so. It does seem that there is a favouritism towards London, and whilst some venues in the North have been mentioned, there are many others that are in desperate need of money – and the Midlands received quite a small chunk of the funding. Let’s keep fingers crossed that there is better news when the second round is allocated, as it would be a shame if London was the major recipient of the money. It is difficult getting the balance right and deciding who needs financing the most, but I think there is a North/South divide that has existed for decades and, at such a critical and scary time, every area of England needs equal consideration! I can appreciate the money London’s venues contribute and how many artists play here, but there are terrific musicians and people in the industry right around the country that, if they are not adequately supported, then that will have a devastating effect on the whole of the music industry in the U.K. Even though it is a tough balance, it is only right that terrific venues around the country…
IN THIS PHOTO: The Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham/PHOTO CREDIT: Sal Maxuda
GET their fair cut.