The non-profit foundation Live Music Society has announced the recipients of its second annual Music in Action grant.
The Music In Action grant provides funding to venues to plan events that build community and promote accessibility for marginalized groups, create opportunities for both local and touring talent to grow and find new audiences and grow revenue and customer base their. The number of small music venues benefiting from the program has increased from 17 in 2023, while funds have increased from $500,000 last year to $710,000 this year.
This year, 24 small performance venues across the United States have been awarded a total of $710,000 to plan events that build community and boost revenue. The 24 venue beneficiaries include Maple Leaf Bar in New Orleans, Nocturne Jazz & Supper Club in Denver, Cole's Bar in Chicago, Drkmtter Collective in Nashville, The Lost Church in San Francisco, The Royal Room in Seattle and Chris' Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia.
The 2024 recipients will use their funds over the next year to launch concert series, organize family-friendly festivals, create membership programs, create LGBTQ+ musician gathering spaces, create educational programming, and host monthly Latinx dance parties.
“People are trying to open their stages to new voices: women, BIPOC, LGBTQ and even just different styles of music that they're not used to performing,” says the executive director of the Live Music Society. Henry the cat. “It's really exciting for people to take a philosophical risk to make sure they're not just staying in one lane all the time and provide opportunities for more voices at the table.”
For the founder of the Live Music Society Pete Mueller, the Music In Action grant is all about giving people who love and know their business the opportunity to get involved in something new and help create a more sustainable business in the long term. “If you have a 200-seat venue, you're not going to make a lot of money. Even if you run it well. The best chance you have is to figure out how to raise a lot of philanthropic local dollars,” says Muller. “Most of the time, it will be limited and we can help.”
While the Live Music Society doesn't intend to fully fund any venue, Muller says the nonprofit created the grant to take risks for young musicians, pay musicians and staff reasonable wages, and remain an integral part of the ecosystem. live music.
“200-seat venues or 100-seat venues are an amazing place to start your music career,” says Muller, who is also a touring musician. “I really prefer smaller venues. You can really connect with the crowd. The only problem is that it's very difficult to make a good living.”
The Live Music Society, which began awarding grants in 2020, hopes to continue to increase the number of venues receiving funding through the Music In Action grant, with the amount of funds reflecting need. With the Music In Action 2024 grant and the annual Toolbox grant, the foundation has now disbursed $3.7 million in funding to small venues.
To further its mission to recognize and protect small venues and auditoriums across the United States, the Live Music Society also strives to assist venues by developing and sharing best practices. Working with venue sponsors and the involvement of organizations such as the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) — the Live Music Society will host a panel at this year's NIVA conference in June — the foundation plans to gather expertise that can be shared with small venues for to help succeed in a tough live music economy.
“One of the goals of the rally in New Orleans [for NIVA ‘24] is to help create an informal network of companies and club owners because they don't really compete with each other. They are in different markets,” says Muller. “If one of them finds a great musician, sharing him with a different club is beneficial for both of them. The more you interact, the more you build community.”
Full list of Music In Action 2024 grantees:
118 North – Wayne, PA
B Side Lounge – Cleveland Heights, OH
Blue Jay Listening Room – Jacksonville Beach, FL
Bossa Bistro – Washington, DC
Chris' Jazz Cafe – Philadelphia, PA
Cole's Bar – Chicago, IL
Devil's Backbone Tavern – Fischer, TX
Drkmttr Collective – Nashville, TN
Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center – Sarasota, FL
Grand Annex Music Hall – San Pedro, CA
Jilly's Music Room – Akron, OH
La Peña Cultural Center – Berkeley, California
Maple Leaf Bar – New Orleans, LA
MOTR Pub – Cincinnati, OH
Nocturne Jazz & Supper Club – Denver, CO
One Longfellow Square – Portland, ME
Rebel Rebel Studio & Lounge – Berea, KY
Roots Music Project – Boulder, CO
The Acorn Center for the Performing Arts – Three Oaks, MI
The Jalopy Theater – Brooklyn, New York
The Lost Church – San Francisco, CA
The Parlor Room – Northampton, MA
The Royal Room – Seattle, Washington
The Spot on Kirk – Roanoke, VA
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/business/touring/live-music-society-2024-music-in-action-grant-recipients-1235682822/
