Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Music venues warn government support must continue if bands are to play on

Peat & Diesel packed out Dundee’s Fat Sam’s in February 2020, weeks before coronavirus ended live music.
Peat & Diesel packed out Dundee’s Fat Sam’s in February 2020, weeks before coronavirus ended live music.

Grassroots music venues have welcomed Scottish Government help to limit the financial devastation caused by the coronavirus.

More than £2.2 million has been ring-fenced for the country’s smaller music venues, which are described as vital in supporting and nurturing Scotland’s newest talents and music culture more generally.

The money will go towards helping venues facing ruin from a lack of custom over the last four months as a result of the lockdown.

Venues face further hardship because of restrictions on live music, meaning although pubs and restaurants can open, bands and DJs will be unable to perform for some time yet.

Ross Calder, entertainment manager at Tunnels and Cafe Drummond in Aberdeen, thanked the Music Venue Trust for their campaign to protect smaller and independent venues.

He said: “Tunnels and Cafe Drummond are obviously delighted with the announcement today and really appreciate all the work the Music Venue Trust have done throughout this whole process to help get us to this stage.

“Any sort of assistance at this point to help protect grassroots venues is welcomed and much needed.

“We understand this is short-term funding to stabilise venues and prevent permanent closures of these types of venues.

Tunnels, Aberdeen pre-coronavirus.

“We gather that this funding is intended to cover fixed costs which include rent, non-furloughed staff, servicing debts, and utilities etc.

“We understand Ms Hyslop (the culture secretary) intends to provide further help so that we can eventually reopen every venue safely — something everyone can agree is the main aim here.

“We all miss live music and know how important venues like Tunnels and Drummonds are to not only bands, but of course gig-goers too.

“Hopefully today’s announcement will go some way to safeguarding us and similar venues until we can get back to doing what we love.”

Derrick Johnston, owner of Dundee’s Make That A Take records, who form the collective which runs Conroy’s Basement venue and have put on hundreds of gigs in the city over the past decade, said it was too early to say what the government’s action could mean for the independent venues.

Conroy’s Basement, which has been closed since lockdown started.

He said: “While we obviously welcome any and all moves to support the grassroots music infrastructure throughout the UK and are heartened by the Scottish Government’s pledge of support, it is difficult to make any informed comment based on the minimal information currently available.”

Beverley Whitrick, strategic director at Music Venue Trust said: “Music Venue Trust is delighted to have agreed this funding with Scottish Government and we thank them very much for their commitment to grassroots music venues.

“This funding will stabilise venues in the short term and prevent permanent closures, and we can begin to plan towards reopening every venue safely.”

The money comes as part of a £38 million package of support for Scotland’s entrepreneurs.

It will be added to the £10 million promised last week by the government to support the arts and cultural sectors.