Independent Venue Week (IVW) is celebrating the official opening of venue sign-up today, 6th Aug, by launching a new initiative,
Venue T-Shirt Day
Originally due to run for the first time this year on Friday 9th August, the event is being postponed and a rescheduled date will be announced in due course whilst the unrest around the country continues.
We wanted to mark sign-up opening with something new for everyone to get involved with by supporting our venue community directly. However, things are changing all the time and we feel it’s the right decision for now.
When we do return with this celebration, venue teams, artists, the industry and fans will all be encouraged to show their love by wearing a venue T-shirt and share photos online #VenueTShirtDay. With summer festival season in full swing, venues can see a real drop off from gig goers so this is a great opportunity to shine the spotlight back on our venues, where the festival artists and crew all start out, and remind people just how important it is to keep going to gigs and supporting the places that support the live music ecosystem, all year round.
IVW is the long-running 7-day celebration of independent music and arts venues and the people that own, run and work in them.
The event will return in 2025 for its 12th edition between Monday 27th January and Sunday 2nd February, with hundreds of venues expected to take part up and down the UK, encouraging fans to come out in the depths of winter, show support for their local scene, and enjoy a live gig or show.
Venues can sign up for IVW 2025 today at: www.independentvenueweek.com/uk/venues
Using the innovative communications platform loadin.com for a 5th year, IVW is able to link venues with an initial list of over 50 artists looking for shows, either via their agent or management.
New for this year, IVW will also be working with the ground breaking fan engagement platform Openstage, to capture and grow their fanbase and offer partners direct links to passionate gig-goers that celebrate IVW and support artists and venues throughout the year.
In 2024, 205 independent venues took part in IVW, hosting a vast range of events, led by shows from our brilliant artist ambassadors English Teacher (recently nominated for the Mercury Prize), Brooke Combe and L E M F R E C K, supported by Arts Council England among many other partners.
With support from BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Music Introducing, the week also saw DJ’s Huw Stephens and Steve Lamacq go “on the road” for a tour of five UK venues where they broadcast special performances from artists including Ash, 86TVs, NewDad, Antony Szmierek and Problem Patterns.
IVW’s importance to live music culture was highlighted in a special 10 year Impact Report, published in 2023.
Since launching in 2014, more than 1m tickets have been sold for IVW events.
Commenting on 2025’s return, IVW Founder and CEO Sybil Bell said:
“We are over the moon to announce the return of Independent Venue Week for 2025. Every year, we look at news ways to shine a spotlight on these brilliant cultural spaces, highlighting their vital importance in sustaining the UK’s music culture and ecosystem at a local level, as well as celebrating the brilliant people who run, work and perform in them as well as those that come to enjoy amazing nights out with friends.”
“It’s exciting to be opening sign-up today for the 12th consecutive IVW. We wanted to mark this moment by asking everyone to show some love by wearing a T-shirt from their nearest or favourite independent venue. And if you don’t have a T-shirt, please go and buy one – let a venue know how much you appreciate what they do, and then post your photos via the IVW link here as well as online with the hashtag #VenueTshirtDay. We’ll be announcing a new date for this celebration in due course”
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