Mayor launches 'landmark' £2.2m fund to support North East grassroots venues
The three-year programme launches at a critical moment for venues that are as important to local communities as they are to emerging careers
A new £2.2m fund aimed at helping safeguard the future of North East grassroots venues has been launched by North East Mayor Kim McGuinness.
Announced at an event at Sunderland venue Independent tonight (July 16), the Small Venues Fund will provide grants of between £3,000 and £100,000 to venues across the region with capacities of up to 300 seats or around 500 standing.
The three-year programme will support investment in equipment, infrastructure and revenue-generating activity, with an initial £800,000 available in its first year when applications open this autumn.
The fund has been created to help ease the financial pressures facing smaller venues and protect the places where many North East artists take their first steps on stage.
Its launch comes at a critical moment for the UK’s grassroots music sector.
According to the Music Venue Trust’s Annual Report 2025, grassroots music venues contribute more than £500m to the UK economy each year but operate on average profit margins of just 2.5%.
More than half of all venues made no profit at all during 2025, while rising costs and changes to National Insurance and business rates contributed to the loss of 6,000 jobs across the sector.
Thirty venues closed permanently during the year and 175 towns and cities across the UK no longer receive regular touring shows by professional artists.
The charity warned that the shrinking touring circuit risks cutting off opportunities for emerging artists to develop their craft and build audiences, threatening the talent pipeline that underpins the wider live music industry.
Launching the fund, Kim McGuinness said: “Our incredible grassroots venues are under threat, yet they bring so much to our region. They’re places where artists perform for the first time, friends come together and memories are made.
“I want to see them thriving and that’s exactly what this fund is about. Protecting the places where our brilliant home-grown talent takes its first steps and legacies are started.”
While the region has produced a steady stream of headline acts in recent years - from Sam Fender and Nadine Shah to Maxïmo Park, The Futureheads and Richard Dawson - careers like those tend to begin in venues with sticky floors, small stages and audiences measured in dozens rather than thousands.
Comedy depends on the same ecosystem. Before the television appearances, podcasts and arena tours, North East comedians such as Sarah Millican, Chris Ramsey and Ross Noble all relied on smaller venues and club nights to develop their craft and build audiences.
Newcastle comedian Lauren Pattison welcomed the new fund, saying: “Small stages are a crucial creative stepping stone. We need small stages and venues to allow artists space to learn, develop and build an audience as they grow into those bigger stages that lie ahead.
“They’re a launchpad for careers and an all-important place for local people to get behind their own and support local talent.”
Ben Humphrey, from Berwick venue The Straw Yard, said smaller venues played a role that extended far beyond performance.
“Venues are much more than performance spaces, they’re where communities are from, where people socialise, and where local culture actually lives,” he said.
“Small venues especially are a breeding ground for performers looking to develop their skills and experience and are therefore essential to the cultural ecosystem, not just locally, but nationally as well.
“It is hard for venues right now; rising prices means some venues are being forced to close and they can’t rely on audiences to sustain their operations. It is tragic, because without them, the North East loses part of its soul.”
The fund has been developed in partnership with organisations including Generator, which has long campaigned for greater investment in the region’s grassroots infrastructure.
Generator chief executive Mick Ross described smaller venues as “the R&D department of our creative industries”.
“This fund is a landmark moment,” he said.
“It recognises that grassroots venues are essential to developing our pipeline of talent and without these amazing spaces to experiment, there will be fewer opportunities for people from every background to build careers on stage and behind the scenes.”