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Music Venue Trust & Music Planet Live Fund 100 Female Promoters Under 25 In UK
To foster a new, female generation of promoters, Music Venue Trust (MVT) and Music Planet Live (MPL) are investing £100,000 ($140,000) to help 100 young women under 25 put on 100 shows in 100 grassroots music venues across the UK without the risk of losing their own money.
– MVT and MPL
The money generated through the promoted shows is going towards MVT’s Fightback campaign, which raises funds for struggling grassroots music venues. Applicants for the scheme are guaranteed not The money comes from MPL, which is putting of £1 million ($1.4 million) in total, the rest of which will go to other funding projects for artists, projects and live events.
Industry professionals including venue owners, promoters, musicians and music fans launched Music Planet Live. The money is raised through private investors.
Interested women can apply for the funding scheme by creating an MPL account. MVT will then provide them with a toolkit and the necessary contacts to put on their show. Successful applicants are also going to be put in touch with industry experts, who will serve as mentors.
Professionals supporting the initiative include Toni-Amanda Coe (Programme Manager, The Green Door Store Brighton), Nina Jackson (Venue Manager/Music Programmer, The Half Moon Putney), Graham MacLean (Entertainment Liaison, Ents24), Chris Sheehan (CEO, Karousel Music), Andrew Parsons (MD, Ticketmaster UK) and Steve Tilley (Kilimanjaro Live).
Beverley Whitrick of MVT said: “We want to make a big change to the independent promoter scene in the UK, enabling 100 young women to take a chance on promoting a show they believe in. With their support, we are not only going to raise money for Music Venue Trust, we are going to start the process of identifying the next wave of fantastic new independent promoters and tackle head-on diversity in this sector. There’s not enough female promoters working in grassroots music venues, and we’re going to change that.”
Richard Taylor of Music Planet Live added: “We’ve chosen to work alongside Music Venue Trust on this very special initiative because we want to ensure we provide opportunities for everyone to get involved in music. We all share the same passion and we believe it is vital to support everyone that has a love for music, especially young people whose voice isn’t being heard yet. Ironic as it sounds as an online platform, we want to encourage people away from their computer screens and out experiencing more shows. We want to help keep live music thriving from grassroots venues to the biggest arenas.
“We’re providing finance for hard working promoters to help them put on the shows they want. We want these shows to happen, we want the venues paid, the artists paid and as such we want to help cover costs, so promoters can afford to put on a show risk free.”