- More than 110 venues have already signed up for the nationwide celebration of independent music & arts venues which returns on January 29th 2024
- Conference delegates head to Rebellion, Manchester to celebrate IVW’s first launch outside of London – 40% of participating venues so far are in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humberside
- Calls for gig-goers to come out, buy a ticket and support their local music scene
- Over 1m tickets have been sold for IVW shows since 2014
- Artists confirmed for IVW24 shows include Kawala, Skinny Living and TVAM
- IVW24 partners include Arts Council England, BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Music Introducing, Creative Wales and PPL
Organisers at Independent Venue Week (IVW), the UK’s annual nationwide celebration of independent music and arts venues, have encouraged gig-goers and the music industry to get behind next year’s event which takes place from January 29th to February 4th 2024.
Each year, IVW unites hundreds of independent venues from across the UK for 7 days of live gigs and performances.
At a launch party hosted today (Thursday 12th October) by BBC Radio 6 Music’s Huw Stephens at Manchester’s Rebellion venue as part of the Beyond The Music conference, IVW founder Sybil Bell revealed that over 110 venues have already signed up for IVW24, with over 40% of those being situated in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humberside.
Sybil commented:
“After ten incredible years of IVW, we’re back again, and it’s heartwarming to see so much excitement building for 2024. It’s an incredibly tough economic environment right now, particularly for small businesses, so if we can kick start the year by motivating music fans to leave the house and head to their local venue, then that’s a massive win for everyone. It’s vital that we celebrate and recognise the importance of these independent spaces, as well as those who work and perform in them, and their collective contribution to British culture.”
“The venues taking part in IVW deserve the support of more artists, managers, agents and promoters to make it the success we’re all used to enjoying across the week. The industry getting behind IVW is absolutely crucial, and why we’ve come to Beyond The Music in Manchester to urge everyone involved in the live business to speak to us, to visit our website, to see which venues are involved and to book some shows. This year, we’ve set a deadline for venues to be signed up by November 14th so we can effectively manage the marketing support in the run up to the week itself. We’re all incredibly excited.”
In 2023, IVW celebrated our 10th anniversary with more than 1,000 shows over the week by artists including Philip Selway, beabadoobee, Young Fathers, Adwaith, Suede, The Pretenders, The Murder Capital, Sprints, You Me At Six, Grove, Editors, Anna Meredith, Life, Amber Arcades, Slow Readers Club, Pip Blom, The Bug Club and many many others.
As part of a long-running partnership with BBC Radio 6 Music we also enjoyed high profile coverage across the week, with DJ Steve Lamacq broadcasting ‘on the road’ from five venues – Ramsgate Music Hall, the Hare & Hounds (Birmingham), Norwich Arts Centre, KU Stockton and Stereo (Glasgow).
In total, more than 1m tickets have been sold to IVW shows since 2014, providing independent venues with a positive start to the year. The full impact of IVW’s work was recently collated in a specially commissioned report.
Independent venues wanting to participate in IVW24 have until November 14th to sign up. Those who have already confirmed their involvement can be viewed below. Artists confirmed to be performing official IVW shows during the week include Kawala, Skinny Living and TVAM, with more being added on a daily basis.
IVW’s 2024 Artist Ambassador – who will follow in the footsteps of Radiohead’s Philip Selway, beabadoobee, Wet Leg, Arlo Parks, Anna Calvi, Wolf Alice, Nadine Shah and Novelist – will be revealed in coming weeks, alongside ambassadors for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
A number of venues have highlighted the importance of Independent Venue Week to their businesses.
Alex K, Rebellion, Manchester:
“Since taking over at Rebellion, we have always understood the importance of getting involved in community-led initiatives and contributing into the ecosystem of independent venues. The living organism that is the Live Music Venue scene contributes so much to the vibrancy and output of the world renowned UK music industry and much of it goes unnoticed for favour of the bigger venues by the general public, so wherever possible it is nice to remind people that we are still here, we are still plugging away and we are still taking risks.
“With more venues closing down than ever before it’s a tricky time to be an indie and events such as IVW help us to keep putting on gigs, get shifts in for staff and nurture and grow artists that all need a place to start or continue their journey before heading off to the bigger venues and arenas.”
Tim Perry, Booker, Windmill Brixton, London:
“Independent Venue Week feels like a mid-winter festival here. We showcase the best local bands of the moment and it feels like a week long party and coming together of friends. It’s a great spotlight for bands and in recent years IVW has seen breakthrough performances from the likes of black midi and Black Country, New Road and more recently from Fat Dog, O, Mary In the Junkyard and Picture Parlour.”
Phil Moore, Events Manager, The Black Prince, Northampton:
“Having a nationally-profiled initiative in Independent Venue Week available to us is a fantastic resource. It really does highlight the work we do week in week out at the grassroots level in pushing live music to the local populace. Being a “tertiary market”, a “regional” place – heck, let’s face it, an unfashionable place – it is often a slog to get attention on what we do, and IVW does really cut through that by placing us front and centre in the UK music world.
“Having bands with national radio presence, plentiful column inches, and a strong digital following play a 250 capacity venue during IVW shows us in a good light, plus it helps with ticket sales, with wider industry recognition, and with good old fashioned pride that what we do is “worth it”. In 2024, I’m excited to see and hear six nights of music at our “rolling festival of music”. Skinny Living on the Tuesday will no doubt supply plenty of goosebumps, and TVAM on the Saturday will provide boundary-pushing excitement too.”
Michael Ainsworth, The Grayston Unity, Halifax:
“IVW is vital for us as a venue because it shines a light on the work we and other grassroots venues do in nurturing & growing talent, whether that be on the performance or tech side. When we started six and a half years ago we were just 18 in capacity. It’s because of being part of IVW that we have moved to a 116 cap venue. IVW saved us during the pandemic and helped us grow out of it, we owe it so much.”
Dee McAdams, Operations Director, Oh Yeah Music Centre, Belfast:
“Oh Yeah is delighted to once again be a part of Independent Venue Week. It seems more crucial than ever to shine a spotlight on small venues all across the UK, and particularly in Northern Ireland, that play such a crucial role in the music and cultural fabric of society. We appreciate greatly the work that IVW does in this regard and are looking forward to a busy week in the centre.”
Craig G Pennington, Co-Founder & Chief Executive, Future Yard, Birkenhead:
“Independent Venue Week has very quickly been established as a vital highlight in Future Yard’s annual programme. The opportunity to collaborate with other venues, as part of the UKs vibrant DIY venue community, is hugely welcome. We’ve hosted some truly memorable shows over the past couple of years, as we’ve built the venue out of the challenges of covid. We are hugely grateful to the IVW team for all their support and can’t wait to take part again in 2024.”
Iain Lowery, John Peel Centre for Performing Arts, Stowmarket:
“We love being part of Independent Venue Week. It provides the perfect excuse for us to shout about our venue to the local and wider community, highlighting and celebrating the efforts of all the people working behind the scenes, many of which, here at John Peel Centre, are volunteers.”
Independent Venue Week is also delighted to confirm support from Arts Council England, BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Music Introducing, Creative Wales and PPL with more partners to be announced.
Claire Mera-Nelson, Director, Music, Arts Council England:
“The importance of independent, grassroots music venues to the local and artistic communities they serve is greater than ever. Independent Venue Week has long been a vital ingredient in the success of England’s grassroots live music sector, showcasing brilliant independent venues and fantastic artists across the country each year.
“IVW’s recent impact report demonstrates their strong commitment to supporting new and diverse artists and audiences to participate in, and engage with, live music. It also demonstrates the value of music venues to their communities and it is particularly positive to see venues in Levelling Up for Culture and Priority Places joining the initiative. We’re delighted to be supporting the 11th iteration of Independent Venue Week and the wider sector development work delivered by Independent Venue Community.”
Gerwyn Evans, Deputy Director of Creative Wales, said:
“Creative Wales is delighted once again to be supporting Independent Venues Week in 2024. There is no event more valuable when it comes to showcasing our talented artists and the wealth of grassroots music venues available across Wales.
“Getting involved in UK-wide events like IVW provides our artists and venues with an important platform to be seen, heard, and featured in an exciting programme of gigs and performances, we look forward to finding out what’s in store for next year.”
Confirmed IVW24 venues so far…
EAST OF ENGLAND
Cambridge Junction – Cambridge
Hot Box Live – Chelmsford
John Peel Centre – Stowmarket
Norwich Arts Centre – Norwich
St Stephens Church – Ipswich
The Baths – Ipswich
The Smoke House – Ipswich
The Waterfront – Norwich
The Waterfront Cafe – Norwich
Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom – Norwich
LONDON
AMP Studios- Old Kent Road
Big Penny Social – Walthamstow
Bush Hall – Shepherds Bush
Fox and Firkin – Lewisham
HERE – Central London
Lafayette – Kings Cross
Loki Brixton – Brixton
Lower Third – Central London
Luna – Leytonstone
Omeara – London Bridge
Paper Dress Vintage – Hackney
Peckham Audio – Peckham
Peckham Levels – Peckham
The Jago Dalston – Dalston
The Social – Central London
Windmill Brixton – Brixton
MIDLANDS
Duffys – Leicester
Firebug – Leicester
Canvas – Mansfield
Captain’s Bar – Stoke
Hare and Hounds – Birmingham
The Black Prince – Northampton
Bobiks – Northampton
NORTH EAST
Independent – Sunderland
KU Stockton – Stockton on Tees
The Bunker – Sunderland
The Georgian Theatre – Stockton on Tees
The Globe – Newcastle
The Grove – Newcastle
The Vaux – Sunderland
Wylam Brewery – Newcastle
NORTH WEST
Arts Bar Baltic – Liverpool
Arts Bar Hope Street – Liverpool
Canvas – Manchester
Disorder – Manchester
Eagle Inn – Salford
Future Yard – Birkenhead
Gullivers – Manchester
Handyman Bar and Brewery -Liverpool
New Century – Manchester
Rebellion – Manchester
Sunbird Records – Darwin
The Castle Hotel – Manchester
The Ferret – Preston
YES – Manchester
NORTHERN IRELAND
Oh Yeah Centre – Belfast
SCOTLAND
Barras Art and Desgin (BAaD) – Glasgow
Stereo – Glasgow
The Flying Duck – Glasgow
Broadcast – Glasgow
Church Dundee – Dundee
MacArts – Galashiels
The Caves – Edinburgh
SOUTH EAST
Heartbreakers – Southampton
Faith In Strangers – Margate
Komedia – Brighton
Olby’s Creative Hub – Margate
Papillon – Southampton
Pound Arts – Corsham
Rosslyn Court – Margate
The Boileroom – Guildford
The Brook – Southampton
The Face Bar – Reading
The Factory Live – Worthing
The Folklore Rooms – Brighton
SOUTH WEST
Dareshack – Bristol
Document – Bristol
Frog and Fiddle – Cheltenham
Moles – Bath
Motion – Bristol
Old Bakery Studios – Truro
St James – Guernsey
Strange Brew – Bristol
The Cobblestones – Bridgewater
The Crown – Bristol
The David Hall – South Petherton
The Marble Factory – Bristol
The Old Fire Station – Bournemouth
Wight Bear – Southbourne
WALES
CWRW – Carmarthen
Norwegian Church Arts Centre – Cardiff
Porters – Cardiff
The Gate – Cardiff
The Patti Pavilion – Swansea
The Tivoli – Buckley
Ty Tawe – Swansea
YORKSHIRE & HUMBER
DIVEHU5 – Hull
Docks Academy – Grimsby
Forty Five Vinyl Cafe – York
Northern Guitars – Leeds
Polar Bear Music Club – Hull
The Crescent – York
The Fulford Arms – York
The Garrison – Barnsley
The Parish – Huddersfield
The Trades Club – Hebden Bridge
The Underground – Bradford
The Wardrobe Leeds – Leeds
New Adelphi Club – Hull
The Blind Pig – Sowerby Bridge
The Grayston Unity – Halifax
