Music Venue Trust CEO pleads with arenas to help fund grassroot venues
Mark Davyd, CEO of the Music Venue Trust, has said that Britain needs to prioritise grassroots venues over building more new multi-purpose arenas. He also pleaded with their owners to assist with developing the next generation of musical talent through funding.
Current arenas under construction include Manchester’s Co-op Live, the YTL Arena in Bristol, the New Cardiff Bay Arena, Edinburgh Arena, and Gateshead’s The Sage. London’s MSG Sphere is yet to be confirmed but is still under discussion, as is the Sunderland Arena and Dundee Arena. However, Davyd believes they are unnecessary unless the future of grassroot venues are secured to produce artists to fill arenas.
Davyd previously stated: “Co-Op Live in Manchester will be a 23,500-capacity venue due to open later this year or early next year. It has no plan at all to invest in the grassroots venues that are going to create the artists that will fill that stage in 10 years time. That is not good enough.”
Additionally, the costs relating to the New Cardiff Bay Arena have soured. The venue, which is to have a capacity of 17,000, was supposed to open its doors in 2025, but that’s been pushed back until 2026, and it’s now expected to cost £280million, a £100million more than first envisaged.
In a new op-ed for Music Week, Davyd writes: “MVT believes that no more arenas should open to host live music events in the UK until we can guarantee they have a reliable and sustainable future talent pipeline that warrants them being opened. The future must be based on the UK’s ability to continue to nurture and develop new artists to fill the stages of these arenas”.
“The research and development work that is required for this costs money. It’s costing grassroots venues £79 million a year, which they can’t continue to invest on their own. And that’s not through a lack of will, they are simply no longer able to.”
He added: “The question isn’t whether these arenas are going to be making a contribution to the work our grassroots music venues do to create the talent on which they depend, it is whether they will do it willingly. Be sensible, work with MVT as joint stakeholders, or wait until the next government gets fed up with what’s happening and taxes every ticket to make it happen.”
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