A fund to support artists, venues and production companies hit by Coronavirus (COVID-19) cancellations has been launched, inviting music fans and related companies to support the grass roots music community decimated by the shutdown.
The Grass Roots Music Fund is appealing for donations from fans and larger companies to support people whose income has been devasted by the rapid shutdown of all public gatherings. The fund will be there for artists, venues and related production crews whose income would have been derived from ticket sales for gigs up to 500 capacity that have been cancelled from March to May due to COVID-19.
To donate visit: www.gigseekr.com/donate
The impetus behind the fundraiser is David Hamilton, founder of Gigseekr stated:
“We’re acutely aware of how many shows have been cancelled and that the smaller elements of the industry are really suffering, so our concept is simply to support them through these difficult times, so that when things pick up they are able to continue.
“Analysing our event data, we can see that already over 2,600 shows have been cancelled across the UK. We estimate that this will rise to over 5,000 cancelled shows by the end of June, resulting in over £40m of lost revenues. The grassroots sector is vital to the music industry and we want to use our reach via Gigseekr to let fans show their support for their favourite artists and venues.
“I hope fans will support the artists, venues and many others who have given them so much pleasure over the years gone by, which will mean they can survive and re-open to give those fans (and us all) the joy of live music for many years to come.
Without setting a specific target ‘the founders’ ambitions are to raise £500,000 to distribute back to the sector.”
Venues/bands/production companies are invited to apply for help from the fund for up to 80% of their losses up to a maximum of £2,000, via www.gigseekr.com/grassrootsmusicfund/apply
The industry can start to apply from Monday 13 April, to register their claims.