Independent Venue Week returns, in person, for its ninth consecutive year – the annual, seven-day celebration of independent music venues around the United Kingdom is back and announces Wet Leg as its ambassador for 2022. #IVW22 will take place across the nations – England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland – from Monday 31 January to Sunday 6 February.
Each year, Independent Venue Week celebrates hundreds of truly independent venues and their communities, across the UK. The initiative provides a huge spotlight on the grassroots ecosystem within the live music sector, which has experienced the toughest 18 months in its history. This is an ecosystem which not only includes the venues and the people that own, run and work in them, but also artists, managers, crew, the kit, merch, ticketing, tour transport companies, and the all important music fans and gig-goers – much of who now need their communities support more than ever.
The official annual #IVW22 launch, hosted by BBC 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq, took place on Wednesday 27 October 2021 at 229 London. Lamacq chatted with Tim Perry from The Windmill, Brixton and Cath Hurley from Future Yard, Birkenhead about how the last year has been for them both as venues operators and what being a part of Independent Venue Week will mean to them this year. Lamacq also spoke to Wayne Yardley of Rippla, who started streaming live gigs before the pandemic and Charlotte Penny from Arts Council England about how they have supported Arts and Culture, and specifically the grassroots community, through the pandemic and what’s next.
Lamacq then unveiled this year’s Ambassadors, the up and coming Isle of Wight duo, Wet Leg. The annual launch event was rounded off with a live performance from London based band, Moa Moa.
In the band’s short existence, Wet Leg have already garnered millions of plays across Spotify and gained a huge following from industry and the public alike. The band released their debut single ‘Chaise Longue’ earlier this year (June 2021) and have recently released a second ‘Wet Dream’ (Sept 2021). The duo are made up of Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers and their music is sending critics wild with their provocative future pop that pairs unshakeable bubblegum melodies with robotically dispassionate vocals, including dirty jokes your mum wouldn’t like… As part of #IVW22, Wet Leg will be playing shows across the UK and those dates will be announced soon.
When asked about becoming IVW Ambassadors, Wet Leg said:
“We grew up in a place where we had no music venues at all and after living in Bristol and London, it’s been incredible to experience what it’s like to be a part of a scene; to feel that sense of community that you can pin point geographically to a place, to a venue, I think is quite important and quite special particularly for emerging bands and artists.
“It’s a bit of a delicate ecosystem – Music makers and lovers are supported by the venues and in turn the venues are supported by bands/artists and their fans passing through. The way I see it is this – No Independent venues = No music scene.” “
– Wet Leg
No community. And to me, I feel that that’s something worth continuing to preserve and nurture. That’s why we’re super stoked and very very proud to be ambassadors for this year’s Independent Venue Week.”
Three additional ambassadors for the nations – Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, will be announced on Friday 29 October 2021.
The Director of Music at Arts Council England, Dr Claire Mera-Nelson, said:
“As we move beyond lockdown and into a recovery phase, the importance of independent, grassroots music venues to the local and artistic communities they serve is greater than ever. Independent Venue Week is a vital ingredient in the success of our grassroots live music sector, showcasing our brilliant independent venues and artists across the country each year. Thanks to National Lottery funding and the players that make it possible, we’re delighted to be able to support Independent Venue Week and the grassroots venues and artists it supports.”
Independent Venue Week, again is gratefully funded by a longstanding partnership with Arts Council England, Creative Scotland, Arts Council Wales, See Tickets, and loadin.com (plus more support to follow). See Tickets are the official ticketing partner for IVW 2022 championing independent venues across the UK.
Rob Wilmshurst, Global CEO at See Tickets said:
“See tickets are once again proud to support IVW into 2022 and accordingly the acts, promoters, agents and managers that combine to place some fantastic emerging talent onto the stages of some incredible venues in the UK.”
Launching as part of the announcement today is the new #JustAsk campaign from Attitude is Everything’s artist development initiative “Next Stage”. This campaign sets out to achieve a simple ambition – to help ensure that next year’s Independent Venue Week is as accessible as possible for acts on the line-up, by equipping promoters to ensure that artists no longer hold the burden of having to bring up their access requirements. After holding a series of workshops with a flagship group of IVW promoters, Attitude is Everything will share guidance and run open training sessions for IVW promoters, with the aim for all artists to be asked in advance if they or their crew members have any access requirements.
Attitude is Everything’s Artists Development Manager, Rich Legate, says:
“This campaign is going to be a hugely positive and beneficial collaboration between promoters and artists, aiming to enrich our future live music landscape. Attitude is Everything’s Next Stage research shows that many artists with access requirements face challenges disclosing their health condition or impairment. We want to take the burden away and enable artists to flourish. It’s really exciting to be tackling this in partnership with IVW and setting a blueprint for the future.”
Sybil Bell, founder of Independent Venue Week, comments:
“Being able to announce our plans for #IVW22 this week is just brilliant on so many levels. To see so many venues, artists, industry and gig goers excited about the return, in person, of the UK’s biggest celebration of live music in grassroots venues is absolutely fantastic.” “
“There is such an overwhelming desire to see everybody, on and off stage, safely packing out these brilliant venues with some of the best talent in the world, enjoying the best of our arts and culture up close all around the country.“
“We are incredibly grateful and humbled that Arts Council England are, once again, a major supporter of Independent Venue Week and our venue community more widely. We are also grateful for the support from Creative Scotland, Arts Council Wales and our wonderful ticketing partners, See Tickets. To everyone who has helped get us to this point, we thank you and we are excited to announce further partnerships in the coming weeks too.”
Details of shows, tours and ticket links are available on the Independent Venue Week website which will be updated continuously over the coming weeks and months. For full event listings please visit: independentvenueweek.com/uk/ticketsandinfo
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