Independent venues are the backbone of the live music scene – we must look after them

We’re incredibly proud and excited to see Independent Venue Week (IVW) returning for a 12^th consecutive year, with hundreds of amazing live shows and music events taking place all across the country. 

Back in 2013, the initial plan was simply to bring our community together – so we’re delighted to be here in 2025 as a well-established first key date in the music industry calendar.

IVW gives everyone parity. All this year’s 214 participating venues are treated equally and given the same opportunities as each other. We want all of them to be in the spotlight. 

• Plea to save UK’s grassroots music venues as hundreds face closure: ‘We’ll all be poorer for it’
• English Teacher on the power of diversity and how grassroots venues keep music from becoming boring

We’re all acutely aware of the challenges faced by bricks and mortar businesses right now. It’s an incredibly tough operating environment, particularly for the night-time economy. I, myself, have owned a venue that has subsequently closed. But, for one week, it does feel good to be able to take a deep breath and just encourage people to get out to a show and discover great new music and celebrate our arts and cultural ecosystem.

I’m really proud of how IVW provides a platform for our venue community. All of them work tirelessly year-round to support artists, but IVW is the one week where we put THEM in the spotlight, giving the industry and fans the chance to celebrate and thank them for what they do.

This year, with the amazing support of Arts Council England, Creative Wales and our partners such as Beavertown, we’ve seen a real increase in not only the genres of artists playing across the week but also the type of shows happening in venues. For instance, for the first time, we’re including open mic’s as a way to reflect further how these venues give artists, and importantly crew, their first opportunity to play live in front of an audience.

IVW is about reflecting what’s happening in the venues rather than telling them what to programme – we are here to demonstrate on a national scale just how these local hubs offer such a wide range of music and creativity for their local community.

We’re also so proud to be supported in 2025 by some brilliant artist ambassadors. Our overall ambassador, YolanDa Brown OBE DL, is particularly unique. As being an acclaimed jazz saxophonist, she is also now also a venue operator, having opened Soul Mama in London’s Stratford in 2024.

YolanDa is also at the heart of the music industry in her roles at Arts Council England and the BPI amongst others. For Wales we are over the moon to have Gwenno who sings in both Welsh and Cornish and will be doing a stripped back piano show at Acapela Studios in Cardiff. Our Scottish ambassadors are Scottish album of the year winners rEDOLENT, who are playing all the way up in Dundee at Beat Generator.

What makes IVW stand out, apart from being a positive and celebratory initiative, is that we are focused on independent venues rather than simply the grassroots. Whether they’re big or small, it’s being independently-owned businesses that makes these venues unique – and why it’s more important than ever that we continue to support them, so they can provide a stage for arts and culture.

IVW is the perfect time to get together with some friends, see what’s on either locally or, perhaps, a little further afield, and discover new parts of the country, new venues, new artists and new music. And as you do this, know you are supporting the whole ecosystem and helping keep the UK live music scene alive.

Ultimately, IVW highlights why venues are so much more than just places for live music – they are cultural hubs for learning, creativity, arts and culture more widely, connecting people in their local community of all ages, backgrounds, abilities, genders, ethnicities, skills, experiences and walks of life. These venues are the backbone of the live music scene and Independent Venue Week recognises all that they have done to create the most memorable nights of our past so they can continue to do so in the future.

Sybil Bell is the founder and CEO of Independent Venue Week.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play.