Sheffield's Gut Level among new venues to join community ownership scheme
The Music Venue Trust is hoping to raise £1.5 million to buy three venues as part of its Own Our Venues project
Sheffield's Gut Level has joined a scheme to bring grassroots music venues into community ownership.
The community-focused queer space is the latest to join Music Venue Trust (MVT)'s Own Our Venues project, alongside Leeds' Northern Guitars and Newcastle's Little Buildings.
This year's Own Our Venues campaign is also supporting Bristol's The Croft, Brighton's The Pipeline, Stoke-on-Trent's The Sugarmill, Nottingham's Peggy’s Skylight, Southampton's The Joiners, and Bedford's Esquires.
According to BBC News, MVT is hoping to raise £1.5 million to buy the venues, following a successful campaign in 2023 where the organisation raised £2.4 million to purchase five venues across Wales and England.
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In a statement to BBC News, Gut Level founder Frazer Scott said: "We were exploring the idea of setting up a community benefit society ourselves to try to purchase the building, which is why we had a conversation with the landlord about sale."
"Our timeline was going to be four years to try and purchase the building, which was just a bit longer than the current lease term we're on," he continues. "But after thinking about it, the landlord came back to us and said he wanted to sell immediately, so it really scuppered our plans."
MVT's campaign aims to help venues such as Gut Level become less reliant on landlords, and ensure they are protected from "unsustainable" rent hikes.
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In 2024, Gut Level raised £10,000 to finalise renovations for its new home in Chappel Walk, Sheffield; the team had previously raised £58,000 for renovations through a mixture of fundraising activities, including events and a GoFundMe page, though due to unforeseen costs, they required additional funding to open.
You can donate to MVT's Own Our Venues campaign, here.
Megan Townsend is Mixmag's Deputy Editor, follow her on Twitter