New nationwide initiative to open up live music spaces during the day launched in Ipswich
'Yes We Can' is encouraging these venues to help support underrepresented communities
A new initiative encouraging live music venues to offer up their space for education and community programs was launched in Ipswich yesterday.
'Yes We Can' is a grassroots campaign that is hoping to help different underrepresented groups such as young People and the older Generation, LGBTQ+, Deaf, Disabled & Neuro-diverse people and initiatives supporting Mental Health and Well Being, to get access to event spaces during the day, typically when they are not in use.
We spoke to its founder Sybil Bell at the event, which took place at The Smokehouse, an independent live music venue. She says, " A lot of these community groups are looking for places to host event. With music venues very often not opening until 4 pm in the afternoon, it just seems to marry up."
Allowing groups to hold events could also help these venues get access to additional revenue, either through rent of hall or sale of food and drink. It also offers them a chance to promote their own gigs and events.
"If people are coming into the venues during the day for different activities, they might see posters on the wall for shows happening that day, week or month and decide that actually they feel comfortable in here and is open for any and everybody.
"They might then be inclined to come back and support the venue for live music. If we can give people access and make them feel comfortable in these spaces and also encourage them to come back then everybody is winning", she says.
'Yes We Can' have already secured funding from Arts Council England and are hoping to bring their initiative all across the UK. " What we'd like to see is more venues looking at what we're doing and seeing that its actually a really enriching thing to do.
"We'd like to see more partners come on board, funding partners, charitable partners, foundations and trusts so we can roll this out on a much larger scale.
"The idea is to be able to offer opportunities for people in all communities in the country the chance to engage in person, learn more skills or grow personally and just have a more enriched life in the local community", she says.