A Manifesto for Grassroots Music in Scotland

Music Venue Trust is proud to present A Manifesto for Grassroots Music in Scotland, a five-point plan for the next Scottish Parliament.

Across Scotland, small venues are where everything begins. In the last year they staged more than fourteen thousand events, supported over one hundred thousand performances, and welcomed audiences of nearly two million people. These rooms are where artists learn to be artists, crews learn to be crews, and communities gather around new ideas. This is the research and development department of Scotland’s music industry.

Yet too many of these venues are running at a loss. Costs have risen. Rents and rates bite. The people who keep the doors open are carrying the risk for an entire ecosystem. The next Scottish Parliament can fix this by using powers it already holds.

Scotland can lead. Culture is infrastructure. Music is industry. When we support the places where it starts, we secure everything that follows.

Five Actions The Next Parliament Can Deliver

  1. Refresh the Culture Strategy Action Plan
    Recognise Grassroots Music Venues as cultural R&D, extend support so creative industries qualify for R&D-style tax relief, and back community ownership as a route to long-term security.
  2. Planning and Ownership
    Strengthen Agent of Change in practice and create a clear pathway to community ownership so venues can invest in access, energy and programming with security of tenure.
  3. Funding
    Establish a dedicated Grassroots Live Music stream within Creative Scotland with simple forms, quick decisions, and support for venues and promoters across Scotland.
  4. Transport
    Pilot late-night transport to 03:00 on key corridors and fix practical access problems around Low Emission Zones and street works so artists, crews, staff and audiences can get in, get out and get home.
  5. Business Rates
    Permanently fix Rateable Values for Grassroots Music Venues by creating a dedicated cultural classification and clear GMV definition, delivering fair valuations, ending flawed revaluations, reducing closures, and stopping the need for constant emergency government intervention.

Download the full Manifesto for Grassroots Music in Scotland here.

MVT’s Work in Scotland


Excerpt from MVT‘s Annual Report 2025.