The Swansea Music Venues Working Group’s campaign to preserve Swansea’s music scene is gaining momentum, with music venues across the city joining forces to address the critical situation that the Music Venue Trust (MVT) warns could result in 10% of grassroots music venues closing in the near future.
The Swansea Music Venues Working Group is a new collaboration that will enable the city’s music scene to face the industry’s challenges and create opportunities together.
Following the hugely successful Swansea Arena House Party which raised £10,000 for the Music Venues Trust (MVT), the organisation is now petitioning the Senedd (Welsh Government) to improve the late-night transport into and out of the city.
Transport is a huge priority as currently, in Swansea and South West Wales, most transport links East currently finish before 23:00, meaning that music fans attending events closing any later have to make the difficult choice to either drive, or miss the last hour of the event.
Currently on just over 3,000 signatures, the Group has until 7 May 2024 to get the petition’s figure to 10,000 and qualify for consideration for debate. Swansea Arena, with support from the local grassroots music venues, has penned this open letter to the government to state their case.
The petition comes off the back of the Group’s first fundraising event in partnership with the MVT, The Swansea Arena House Party, that sold just under 1,000 tickets and generated £10,000 including ticketing income from the show, a £1,000 donation from Ticket 247 and optional donations via the trailblazing ATG Tickets purchase flow.
All of the money raised will be distributed by the Music Venue Trust, who will find the best investments for venues in the SA postcode region. In addition, a further £10,000 was injected back into the region’s creative sector via band and performer fees, workshop facilitator fees and creative involvement from photographers, videographers, and technicians as well as security staff.
The success of the event represented a superhuman effort from all performers, crew, staff, partner venues, and the relentless enthusiasm of the Tourism and Events students at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David who have worked with the Arena team since planning for the event began. The House Party will return in 2025.
Chaired by Lisa Mart, Venue Director of ATG’s Swansea Arena, with representatives from Sin City, The Bunkhouse, Elysium, Hangar 18 and Hippos, the Working Group aims to bring large scale and grass roots venues together on equal footing to meet all challenges head on. It has also fostered support between the venues who are now working together in many ways, including sharing staff to develop technical skills across all venues, loaning critical equipment and the Swansea Arena is providing parking.
Swansea Arena is advertising after show parties at Swansea’s grassroots venues to its ticket holders, in addition to hosting regular coffee shop sessions within the venue curated by local venues and providing preferential Arena Hire for events promoted by those local venues.
Lisa Mart, Venue Director, Swansea Arena commented: “Concerns around the state of public transport infrastructure into and out of Swansea had been fed through to us since well before we opened our doors in March 2022, and these concerns were shared by a large number of the team who were from Swansea and the surrounding areas. It quickly became a common source of feedback across our social media from interested individuals who couldn’t justify travelling to Swansea for a show, as it either required driving, paying for a hotel, or leaving a show early to ensure they caught their train home.”
“Early on in our venue working group discussions, it became apparent that it was a shared problem between ourselves and the local grassroots venues. There is real difficulty in growing and maintaining audiences when the audiences themselves can’t rely on the means to get home after an evening out. We feel this petition can work to ensure that venues of all sizes in Swansea have the support they need to thrive, develop and most importantly allow audiences to engage with and readily access new and emerging culture in the region,” Mart added.
Jordan McGuire, Venue Owner, The Bunkhouse concluded: “As a music venue owner in Swansea, I recognise the immense potential of collaboration between venues and the urgent need for infrastructure improvements in South West Wales. Strengthening our infrastructure is not just about enhancing the audience experience, it’s about ensuring the cultural longevity and vitality of the region. By investing in better facilities and connectivity, we pave the way for audience growth, foster a thriving arts scene, and solidify our position as a cultural hub for generations to come.”
Sign the petition here.
