Small music venues in England have welcomed the announcement of a further £1.1m emergency government funding.
Many venues, which have been closed since mid-March due to Covid-19, are facing the threat of closure.
Last month, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden rolled out his plan for a £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund, including £2.25m for music venues.
That has now increased to £3.36m due to high demand. The fund will be split between 135 grassroots venues.
Recipients include The Troubadour in London, where Adele and Ed Sheeran performed early on; and The Jacaranda in Liverpool, where The Beatles played early gigs.
The grants range from £1,000 to £80,000, with the average working out at £25,000 per venue.
‘Breathing space’
“We warmly welcome this first distribution from the Culture Recovery Fund which will ensure that the short-term future of these venues is secured while we continue to work on how we can ensure their long-term sustainability,” said Mark Davyd of the Music Venue Trust.
He said the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport together with Arts Council England had “worked very quickly to fully understand the imminent risk of permanent closure faced by a significant number of grassroots music venues across the country”.
The funding “creates a real breathing space for under pressure venues”, he added.
