A music venue in Leicester has received a grant from the charity Music Venue Trust (MVT), as part of a fourth round of recipients for its major new funding initiative, which provides grants of up to £5,000 for UK Grassroots Music Venues. 2 Funky Music Cafe received £4165.83 from MVT’s Pipeline Investment Fund to pay for a new sound desk to replace a 7-year-old analogue desk.
The Pipeline Investment Fund, established in 2022, is primarily funded by ticket sales of MVT’s recent ‘Revive Live’ programme of gigs around the UK, a hugely successful partnership with The National Lottery. To date, £165,000 worth of grants have been awarded to 38 Grassroots Music Venues since December. This fourth round of payments sees a total sum of £97,516.97 awarded to a further 23 GMVs across the country.
Venue Manager Sam Warren said: “We have been in need of a new mixing board for some time, and the Pipeline Investment Fund will allow us to get a new state-of-the-art digital mixer. This funding has allowed the 2 Funky Music Cafe the opportunity to increase productivity and modernize the venue space, as well as improve the sound quality for both visiting audience members and musicians performing in the venue space.
This allows us to champion a diverse variety of music and art, creating opportunities for aspiring Leicester artists.”
The fund prioritises support for organisations who may have been excluded from other available funding and was open to all venue operators and organisations that meet any of the three definitions of a Grassroots Music Space, which can be found here.
Music Venue Trust is still actively seeking further donations, particularly from the wider music industry, to maintain and expand the Pipeline Investment Fund and make it a permanent source of support for Grassroots Music Venues. Please contact [email protected] for details of how this work can be supported.
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