TWO music venues have been saved from imminent closure thanks to public support.
The Brunswick in Holland Road in Hove and the Rossi Bar in Queens Road, Brighton, have both been taken off the Music Venue Trust's "crisis list" of UK venues most at risk of shutting for good because of the pandemic.
The charity, which represents hundreds of grassroots music venues across the country, launched its Traffic Light campaign to secure funding for venues which were either completely or partially unsuccessful in their applications for the government's Culture Recovery Fund.
The campaign formed part of the charity's wider #SaveOurVenues initiative to rescue music venues impacted by the coronavirus lockdowns.
Thanks to donations from the public, the two venues in Brighton and Hove are among 13 across the country to be saved from closing down permanently.
Ambre France, who owns the Rossi Bar, said: "We are incredibly grateful to have been part of Music Venue Trust's Red List campaign, which highlighted the probability of our imminent closure as a venue if we had not had support from the public.
“Our struggle was shared with other venues in the same position and spotlighted in the public eye.
“We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the charity for helping us navigate through the last year but also for coaching us through such gruelling funding applications.
"We were also extremely lucky to receive a £5,000 grant from the Music Venue Trust.
“We hope that a successful second bid and the support we have received through the Music Venue Trust will leave us in a stable position and feeling hopeful for the future of our small grassroots music venue."
The #SaveOur Venues crowdfunding campaign to save the Rossi Bar has so far raised almost £14,000 of its £28,263 target, while the campaign to save The Brunswick has raised more than £17,000 of a £50,000 target.
Andy Hillion, general manager at the venue said: "The Brunswick is delighted to be removed from the red list for now.
"Thanks to our lovely, loyal customers during our brief periods of opening and donating generously to our crowdfunder, as well as the continued support from the Music Venue Trust, we are now out of immediate danger of closure.
"However, we are not out of the woods yet and need to get back up and running with a programme of shows soon to get back on track.
"As ever, we will continue to fight to bring the best grassroots live music back to Brighton and Hove as soon as we can."
As well as its national crowdfunding campaign, the Music Venue Trust has also been selling t-shirts, hats and other #SaveOrVenues merchandise to raise funds.
Mark Davyd, chief executive of the charity, said: “We want to thank every artist, every audience member, every member of our community for taking direct action which means we are able to remove these 13 venues from the red list right now.
“The love shown for these venues continues to demonstrate how important they are to people and to our towns and cities.
“Music Venue Trust is committed to reopening every venue safely and we are going to carry on working through this crisis until that outcome is achieved.”
The Music Venue Trust is now reviewing the position of all other grassroots music venues across the country to analyse which ones are most at risk and need to be moved onto the red list.
To donate to the main crowdfunding page for all venues, visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/save-our-venues-red-list. The page for the Rossi Bar is here and the Brunswick crowdfunder is here.
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