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THE MUSIC VENUE TRUST (MVT) she laughs.
For about 3 years, the issues that Clara Cullen, Music Venue Trust’s Venues Support Manager, came across had a similar shape. Noise complaints would escalate and cause a venue to lose its licence, or redevelopment plans would target unprofitable pubs for more lucrative ventures. “The fact of the matter is most landlords would prefer the building to either be flats or to be a restaurant or a Pret,”
Suddenly, the pandemic hit, the country locked down, and venues lost their entire sources of income overnight. “In the very early months, I genuinely thought that we could see the total wipeout of the grassroots music venue sector” Cullen tells me. By the end of 2020, the numbers painted a grim picture: live music industry revenues had fallen by 81%, the annual income of freelancers fell by 88%, and 15% of the workforce had left the sector. Stark numbers like those can obscure the human impact. “When we’re talking 32
about the loss of a venue, often the venue operator lives in the venue,” Cullen says. “You couldn’t detach the professional from the personal. There were cases in which it was about ensuring people had money to buy food.” The Music Venue Trust (MVT) was founded in 2014 with the goal of protecting, securing and improving grassroots music venues. Along with advocating for live-musicfriendly government policy and raising awareness of the issues facing the night-time economy, they operated an Emergency Response Service. If a venue was under threat of closure, MVT could offer advice to help de-escalate the situation. During the
