CAMPAIGN TIPS

Top Tips for Venues

1. Avoid confusion: We are providing top tips and sample text with the aim of creating single standard messaging: same platform, same hashtag, same references. Please follow this guidance so this is a cohesive and coherent national campaign.

2. Set a reasonable target: The target range should ideally be £5,000 to £15,000. Avoid setting a target which cannot reasonably be expected to be raised by artist activity or seems out of step with the size of your venue. The target per venue should be the minimum amount needed in the short term to cover specific costs which cannot be covered elsewhere. MVA Coordinators will agree a specific target with each venue which both parties believe is reasonable and achievable.

NOTE ON TARGETS – The Music Venues Alliance is working together on this: We are asking venues to commit that any money raised above this achievable target goes into a central fund. You should make this clear on your fundraising page (see below).

3. Choose the right fundraising platform: Create a dedicated fundraiser specific to this initiative. Please try to stick with Crowdfunder (core platform). Check that money will be paid to you throughout a campaign and that you will receive it whether or not you hit the target.

4. Best use of artists: Venues with strong links to established artists with significant social media pull should consider pay-walling an online event by that artist to support that venue; if an artist can get 5,000 plus viewers, we strongly recommend selling £3 tickets. The #saveourvenues platform has a facility to do this and we have a ticketing partner who can facilitate reaching large numbers of people with a headline style event. We will work directly with a venue and artist with this potential – please get in touch with your regional co-ordinator or send us a message

5. Suggested fundraising text: #saveourvenues

[VENUE NAME] is part of a national initiative launched by Artists, MVT and IVW to help prevent the closure of hundreds of GMVs. Our venue faces closure [BECAUSE]. Your donations will be [USED TO].

If we hit our target, and we can prevent the closure of our venue, everything above the amount we need will be donated to the Music Venue Trust GMV Crisis Fund to protect other venues just like ours, right across the country. 

6. Working Collectively: Collective geographically located venues or themed venues (‘Bristol Venues’ or ‘Jazz Venues’) should consider staging a festival style event on a specific day with a single fundraising platform and multiple artists. We have festival, ticketing and marketing partners prepared to support this, and our live-streaming platform partner can consolidate multiple feeds from different artists / stages. An event can have multiple ‘stages’ and feed to multiple social media pages. SofathonSingalong is an example of how this can work. We will work directly with venues and artists who want to stage such events so please do get in touch.