As we spend this week dismantling the arts and performance venue we worked so hard to create over 15 years, we decided to remove our sign last night. Why did we go to the trouble of doing this and not just leave it for the next tenant to deal with?
a) Obviously it will be upcycled into Bunker decor 👍🏻 for our pop up events starting in April!
b) We wanted to highlight that this old building has ceased to be the House where Art lives and music, poetry and all the rest happens.
Most of all we want to draw attention to the fact that it isn’t just us – grassroots venues and arts spaces are in deep crisis right now.
16% of grassroots venues closed in the UK in 2023, according to the Music Venue Trust.
A combination of the pandemic, rising costs, less grant funding available, lower audience numbers and lower spending by customers has put the country in real danger of losing most of our small arts spaces.
Without grassroots spaces like ours, there is no music, no comedy, no performance poetry, no small film screenings, no workshops to access skills, no places to meet and no places to share ideas.
Without the scruffy little unfunded places on the fringes, the middle and the top become a sea of derivative tribute acts, one-hit wonders and cover bands.
Without little places, there is nowhere for a new performer to get up on stage that very first time.
The next government needs to address this urgently, as do local councils. There are a thousand ways to support venues and most of them are cheap and high impact.
Charging a percentage on tickets at big venues for a fund to pass to small ones, similar to what happens in football.
Abolishing VAT on event tickets.
Giving small venues rate reductions and other concessions to make it easier for them to operate through quiet seasons etc.
PRS for Music having a threshold below which they don’t charge for every show and encumber venues with unwieldy reporting and paperwork.
Funding from Arts Council England for core costs and reserves, not forcing places to spend huge chunks of funding on equipment that depreciates when what they need is the rent and leccy paid.
Community Asset transfer so that venues can own their own buildings and not be subjected to the whims of the private property market. Music Venue Trust are currently buying buildings under their ‘Own Our Venues’ scheme for venues to rent directly from them – which is a great model.
Overall, the cost of living crisis is doing far worse than closing venues down, people are in genuine need and we see this every day with our pantry. The UK is in a bad state and it shows no sign of ending soon.
It feels frivolous to speak up about the many funky little buildings, including ours, falling silent at a rate of 2 per week, when people are struggling to eat or to heat their homes.
But remember, it is bread we fight for – but we fight for roses, too. Healthy communities need the basics and they need the Arts to make life worth living.
