“WHAT. A. WEEK!!

That’s a wrap for #IVW25 – hundreds of venues hosting hundreds of artists playing hundreds of shows to tens of thousands of music fans, old and new.

To every artists that played their hearts out, to every sound engineer that made them sound amazing, to every TM that made sure the artist got to their shows, to every cleaner that made the venues ready for the shows the next day, to every promoter that put on shows, to every bar person that served drinks and food, to every office admin that worked behind the scenes, to every door person that made sure people got in (and out), to every agent that got their artists shows, to every manager that guided their artists to support the venues, to every gig goer who bought tickets, spent money locally on taxi’s or public transport, danced down the front, bought merch, came early for the supports and made the venues buzz and finally to EVERY SINGLE VENUE that lugged equipment in and out of venues, set up stages and put on shows this week – THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING PART OF THE INDEPENDENT VENUE WEEK COMMUNITY AND FAMILY.

We owe you so much week in, week out and it means so much to us and everyone involved in IVW that you made this such an epic week.

 

Thanks also to our supporters, that help make the week possible;

Arts Council England, BBC Radio 6 Music, Beavertown, Creative Wales, BBC Introducing, PPL and RockBox.

Getting support at a time when arts funding is so challenging and coupled with even greater demand – we hope and believe we have helped to deliver a meaningful week that will have an impact on our venues and their communities for the months to come.

Huge thanks go to our broadcast partner BBC Radio 6 Music for their incredible and in-depth coverage across the week as well as BBC Introducing supporting locally around the country. Every venue, artist, promoter and creative person that gets to share their story across the airwaves helps to tell such an important story of what’s happening in local music ecosystems in every village, town and city. A special thanks goes out to the whole BBC 6 Music and Introducing team including Steve Lamacq, Huw Stevens, Sam, Atonia, Matt T, Paul, Andy, Sara, Matt E, Sarah, Joanna, Gilles, Claire B, Claire G, Kelly, Fuzz and anyone else (I hope I haven’t missed anyone).

Thank you to our brilliant Ambassadors who also flew the flag for our independent venue community during the week – YolanDa Brown OBE DL, Gwenno (Wales) and rEDOLENT (Scotland) – all of whom played incredible shows during the week.

Thanks to Beavertown for being our official beer partner, providing every venue with rider stock during the week, including their alcohol free lager. Hats off to them too for supporting 7 incredible live shows across the country, in partnership with our venue community. Bringing people together for sell out nights with brilliant artists to packed rooms – everything that IVW and Beavertown epitomise.

We’re also grateful for PPL for hosting an event in Birmingham with Big Special helping to provide insight into how to get into the industry.

 

Thanks go to our network of dedicated and hard working reps all around the country who are our eyes and ears in their areas, to ensure we are reaching and supporting every community in the best way possible. We couldn’t do this without you Tor, Martin, Vicki, Hannah, Olive, Joe, Kirs, Shelley, Jenni, Claire and Adrian.

We’re also grateful to our record number of volunteers this year who’ve helped ensure we support our venues on the night and across the week and speak to gig goers across the country so we can better understand what makes them tick.

Thank you all – your support means the world and means we can continue to deliver our huge celebration of our independent venue community at the start of each year.

 

I’d like to also recognise and thank our comms teams;

Adam and Kitty who have worked so hard in the months before IVW to make sure press and media are aware of what’s coming up and what’s going on in our community that so often get’s overlooked (5 venues taking part this year that have opened in the last 12 months, 3 venues celebrating big anniversaries). Also making sure we get to speak to as many national, regional and local press to make sure IVW’s impact is known on a national scale with a local feel.

Jenni and Lucy who worked tirelessly to make sure our digital channels were full of the amazing shows happening across the week around the country. It’s a HUGE undertaking to be out all week and then making sure we’re sharing what’s happening every day.

And finally, the small but brilliant, relentless and hilarious core team of Gabby, Liv and Patrick who’ve been at the coalface alongside me making sure all the pieces come together to deliver the final IVW 25.

 

IVW is never about any of us or, in fact about IVW itself. It’s about the venues, the artists, the crews and the gig goers – that’s the story, that’s the reason to be out, going to shows and celebrating – they are the ecosystem that we support so they can support arts and culture for communities all across the country.

We always say it and will continue to say it at the end of every Independent Venue Week but this is just one week of the year – these venues deserve our support and to be celebrated every week of the year so they can continue to be the lifeblood of their communities for years to come.

They are nurturing and creating the music industry of the future. There is talent all around this country that deserves to be uncovered and given the chance to be the music ecosystem of the future, on and off stage.

Thank you all for supporting us so we can all support them now and in the future.”

Sybil and the IVW team