Young gig promoters urge support for Ipswich's independent venues
Young people taking part in a project to learn how to put on music events said support for independent venues was vital.Tune Up, a programme run by Brighten the Corners in Ipswich, offers ten free weekly sessions for 16 to 25-year-olds that cover music production, programming, marketing and event management.The participants will host a gig to mark Independent Venue Week (IVW), which runs from 27 January to 2 February and celebrates independent music and arts venues and the people that own, run and work in them.Noah Wright, 17, one of the current participants, said: "The gig scene in Ipswich is probably one of the best in East Anglia, it's something we should be really proud of."
On 16 January in the House of Commons, Lisa Nandy, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, said: "In Ipswich, an entire ecosystem is being created that equips young people with those skills and that love of music at school, and goes all the way through enabling them to perform at smaller and larger live music venues, and to get the skills that they need to work in the music industry. "We would like to replicate that model around the country."The number of small music venues in the UK declined by 13% in 2023 - accounting for as many as 30,000 fewer shows - according to the Music Venue Trust (MVT), which said the sector had taken a "battering".MVT has been campaigning for £1 to be added to tickets for arena and stadium shows to subsidise the pubs and clubs where many headline acts start out.In May a cross-party report, from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, suggested a cut in VAT to help grass roots venuesMr Wright added: "There are downsides to Ipswich, there are downsides to every town, but what we've achieved here, and Tune Up is a small piece of that puzzle, it's truly impressive."
Hux Josecelyne, 18, is another Tune Up participant and said he was surprised at how much work was involved in hosting a music event."We had to look through the budget side of things. Even for a gig at small grass roots venue you still have go through a formal process, contacting agents and finding artists," he said.The event, organised by young people taking part in the Tune Up programme, will feature Sophie the Great, Arthur Black, HeadCheck and Helix at The Baths, Ipswich, on Friday 31 January.
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The Guardian
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Yesterday the two broadcasters were blessed by a good chunk of pungent topical debates, with Tony Benn using industry questions as the chance to prove himself a good Euro-democrat, and with splendid quotations like: 'If the opposition wants any head on a charger, the leader of the Conservative party will have to be a lot more seductive as a Salome than she has been so far.' At the same time, there were highly complex questions about, for example, the funding of the new pod for the stretched version of the Rolls-Royce RB 211 – a matter of great importance, but one which cannot be explained in the few seconds between question and answer. Both commentators had to trim down their remarks to within a second or so either way: Mr Holmes reckoned that if he did not spot immediately whether the speaker was calling an MP for a supplementary or for the next question on the order paper, he would lose two of the four or five vital seconds of explaining time. 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Both tried valiantly to feed the listener with the details that make the House of Commons come alive. 'Mr Bidwell, chairman of the Tribune Group … Mr Denis Skinner, always a lively performer … Mr Benn is smiling to himself.' But they need not really have bothered: the proceedings were jolly enough. For those of us used to hearing politicians debating cautiously in front of untried audiences or answering laboured questions and phone-ins, it was an entertaining experience to hear such skilful parliamentary technicians as Harold Wilson and Tony Benn, parrying questions, riposting, joking, and scolding. The jokes were not always very good, but that's true of other radio comedians. Perhaps the laughter and applause sometimes seemed excessive but the barbed retorts were well placed and, as in other radio shows, what seemed like impromptu repartee must have been rehearsed, if only in the bath. 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Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@ View More » MORE: I get why women say Jason Statham's hair is 'ideal' — I'm more attractive bald MORE: Should men give women seats on the Tube? Have your say MORE: 'Speedo Summer' is here and the lads are getting their legs out
