Bartees Strange Named Artist Ambassador For Independent Venue Week

Independent Venue Week has named Bartees Strange as its artist ambassador for its 2021 U.S. edition, scheduled to run July 12-18.

This year’s celebration has already announced 300 participating venues in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. IVW in 2019 held 200 showcases at 83 venues in 50 cities. Some of the participating venues include The Anthem in Washington, D.C.; Mohawk in Austin; Exit/In in Nashville; The Troubadour in West Hollywood, Calif.; World Cafe Live in Philadelphia; and Thalia Hall in Chicago.

“The important thing about independent venues is the way they can eliminate the barrier between a fan and an artist,” Strange said in a statement. “As bands get bigger, it becomes more and more unbelievable to see that they’re human. That they face the same challenges as everyone. And that anyone can use music to tell their stories as well. It was at small independent venues that I found my first idols, eventually grabbed drinks with them, and learned that we were the exact same. That was powerful for me – and I think that the more we make music accessible to everyone, the more people and experiences we’ll see reflected across it.”

For the uninitiated, IVW was founded by Sybil Bell in the U.K. in 2014. Inspired and modeled after the Record Store Day initiative, the event essentially invites venues to participate by hosting shows under the IVW banner in the U.K. in late January, a typically slow period. The model was ported over the U.S. by boutique music marketing firm Marauder in 2018.

IVW announced it was partnering with the National Independent Venue Association in 2021. 

More than 130 venues participated in a digital version of IVW Oct. 24-30, 2020.

The artist ambassador for the 2019 edition of IVW was Fantastic Negrito.