14 November 2019
Newsdesk
Independent Venue Week is very excited to announce Anna Calvi as Ambassador for their seventh year. The announcement came at a press and industry lunchtime event held at 229 The Venue in London hosted by BBC Radio 1’s Huw Stephens.
The role comes on the back of an incredible year for Calvi who has celebrated a Mercury Music Prize nomination for her third studio album Hunter, won the Fender Play Award at the Q Awards, scored the soundtrack to Peaky Blinders and performed a headline show at the Roundhouse in London.
She takes over the role of Ambassador from Novelist in 19 and is the latest artist to join the Independent Venue Week family which celebrates grassroots venues all around the country at the end of January/start of February.
“As an artist who spent many years developing my art in small venues across the UK, it’s such a pleasure to be named the ambassador of Independent Venue Week 2020” Calvi said.
“At a time where independent venues continue to provide a vital platform in every artists career, yet still struggle to keep their doors open, it’s more important than ever for every artist, no matter what size, to continue our support and be vocal about their vitality.”
BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Sounds will be supporting Independent Venue Week again in 2020 as Steve Lamacq takes his afternoon show back on the road from Monday 27th to Friday 31 Jan from 4-7pm. Steve will be heading to five different locations around the country visiting venues, meeting artists and chatting to the people that keep the circuit alive. He will announce the tour plans in early January live on 6 Music and across Independent Venue Week’s channels.
Independent Venue Week will take place from Monday 27th January to Sunday 2nd February 20 and expects that up to 220 venues will take part. The celebration continues to increase its reach across the country through the number of venues taking part, audiences it is engaging with, locations where venues are signing up and genres of music covered.
194 venues signed up so far
58 venues are taking part in Independent Venue Week for the first time
90 different villages, towns and cities
56% of venues are outside of major cities
Oldest venue is St James in Guernsey at 202 years old
Youngest venue is Peckham Audio – Opened end of October 2019
5 venues taking part are less than a year old
Biggest venue – OPEN Norwich – 1400 cap.
Smallest venue – Grayston Unity, Halifax – 18 cap.
Most southern venue – St James, Guernsey
Most northern venue – Krakatoa, Aberdeen
Most eastern venue – The Waterfront, Norwich
Most western venue – Oh Yeah Centre, Belfast
41% of venues have been part of Independent Venue Week for three or more years
Once again, 89% of participating venues are outside London as Chloe Ward, UK Director of Independent Venue Week pushes to engage with venues in villages, towns and cities all around the country.
“We continue to encourage venues in locations away from the main touring circuits to sign up. Is it so important for artists and gig goers to be able to enjoy live music regardless of where they live. Not everyone has the means to travel to a city centre, especially later in the evening and we don’t want that to be a reason that people aren’t going to gigs.”
Artists so far confirmed across the week include;
Tours;
BC Camplight Warmduscher Sinead O’Brien
Raging Speedhorn Rozi Plain Peaness
Toy Penelope Isles
Shows;
Toyah Wilcox Goat Girl Stereo MC’s IDLES JD set
James Taylor Quartet Turin Brakes Shane McGowan
With many more to announce in the coming weeks.
The week continues to aim for a representative spread of genres performing across the week including Indie, Rock, Metal, Jazz, Folk, Rap, Hip Hop, Grime, Electronic, Neo-Classical and artists DJ sets.
