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Young promoters urge support for small arts venues

Jon Wright
BBC News, Suffolk
Jon Wright/BBC Seven young people pose for a photo in a radio studio. One is sitting down giving a thumbs up signal to the camera. The others are standing a smiling at the camera and one person is holding up an orange poster advertising the gig that the group are hosting. A sign for "BBC Radio Suffolk" is behind the group of people. Jon Wright/BBC
Participants of the Tune Up programme are working towards hosting a gig on 31 January

Young people taking part in a project to learn how to put on music events said support for independent venues was vital.

Tune Up, a programme run by Brighten the Corners in Ipswich, offers ten free weekly sessions for 16 to 25-year-olds that cover music production, programming, marketing and event management.

The participants will host a gig to mark Independent Venue Week (IVW), which runs from 27 January to 2 February and celebrates independent music and arts venues and the people that own, run and work in them.

Noah Wright, 17, one of the current participants, said: "The gig scene in Ipswich is probably one of the best in East Anglia, it's something we should be really proud of."

Kezia Tan/Brighten the Corners A band performing on stage inside a church. The stage is lit up with a red lighting and three band members. There is a crowd of people facing them. Kezia Tan/Brighten the Corners
AfterDrive performed at St Stephen's Church in Ipswich for a previous Tune Up project

On 16 January in the House of Commons, Lisa Nandy, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, said: "In Ipswich, an entire ecosystem is being created that equips young people with those skills and that love of music at school, and goes all the way through enabling them to perform at smaller and larger live music venues, and to get the skills that they need to work in the music industry.

"We would like to replicate that model around the country."

The number of small music venues in the UK declined by 13% in 2023 - accounting for as many as 30,000 fewer shows - according to the Music Venue Trust (MVT), which said the sector had taken a "battering".

MVT has been campaigning for £1 to be added to tickets for arena and stadium shows to subsidise the pubs and clubs where many headline acts start out.

In May a cross-party report, from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, suggested a cut in VAT to help grass roots venues

Mr Wright added: "There are downsides to Ipswich, there are downsides to every town, but what we've achieved here, and Tune Up is a small piece of that puzzle, it's truly impressive."

Kezia Tan/Brighten the Corners A small group of people in black 'crew' T-shirts stand around a mixing desk in a music venue. There are lights with exposed bulbs hanging in the background. Kezia Tan/Brighten the Corners
The programme is open to 16 to 25-year-olds who want to gain experience of the music industry

Hux Josecelyne, 18, is another Tune Up participant and said he was surprised at how much work was involved in hosting a music event.

"We had to look through the budget side of things. Even for a gig at small grass roots venue you still have go through a formal process, contacting agents and finding artists," he said.

The event, organised by young people taking part in the Tune Up programme, will feature Sophie the Great, Arthur Black, HeadCheck and Helix at The Baths, Ipswich, on Friday 31 January.

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