Venues Day Live provided an opportunity for those working in the Grassroots Music Venue community to reunite and celebrate the sector’s achievements and survival over the 20 months of the pandemic, while providing a forum for discussion and debate alongside networking opportunities for live music service providers to engage with small and medium scale music venues.

A unique meeting point to discuss the cultural, social and economic interests affecting Grassroots Music Venues, partners and contributors included Ticketmaster, Amazon Music, Allianz, Jack Daniel’s, NME, Fightback Brewing Company, Musicians’ Union, Help Musicians UK, Safe Gigs for Women, The Zoo and Hearby.

The day began with a keynote address from Bobby Vylan of the acclaimed punk-grime duo Bob Vylan – passionate advocates for the Grassroots Music Venue sector and a key act from the recent National Lottery Revive Live Tour – followed by a full programme of panels and presentations.

Venues Day Online, offered an opportunity for people who may be unable to travel to London to take part in Venues Day Live to participate, took place on Tuesday 12 October 2021 via conferencing platform HopIn, a virtual venue with multiple interactive areas that are optimised for connecting and engaging. Attendees could move in and out of rooms just like they would at an in-person event, giving MVT the ability to programme all of the additional panels, presentations, discussions and one-to-one meetings that would normally be part of Venues Day. The Online content was designed to complement Venues Day Live, as well as making it accessible to a wider audience.

All content from Venues Day Online was be available to delegates for 3 days, providing an opportunity to revisit sessions or catch up with content missed first time round.

Beverley Whitrick, Strategic Director of Music Venue Trust

“It’s been two very long and strange years since we last all gathered for Venues Day 2019. Venues Day Live and Venues Day Online have been specially designed to bring people together as a community, despite the ongoing challenges and pressures caused by the crisis. We don’t think there’s anyone in our community who hasn’t faced the very real prospect of having to permanently close their doors or had to make incredibly tough decisions about members of staff that they know are absolutely fundamental to what their venue represents.

And yet despite all this, we are still here. Still fighting, still determined. And most importantly of all, still standing together trying to support each other. The support from audiences, from artists, from our industry, has been the phenomenal silver lining to some very dark clouds. Perhaps that silver lining contains within it the thing we have fought for these last seven years since the very first Venues Day – a recognition that our venues matter, that our work is important, that the people who do it should be valued and supported.”

Venues Day Live 2021 Schedule

Tuesday 5 October 2021 – EartH, London