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A crowd-funder has been launched to secure the future of Hebden Bridge’s Trades Club through the ongoing coronavirus venue shutdown.
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Read more: “It feels like cultural degradation”: what corona-closures could mean for live music in the north
The beloved Yorkshire grassroots venue has been closed since March and faces an uncertain future with a reopening date yet to be established.
The venue’s 200-capacity space has forged a reputation for hosting a wide array of live acts – with the likes of The Fall, IDLES and Patti Smith previously passing through its doors.
A statement confirmed: “The Hebden Bridge club is owned by its members, and has like every other live music venue been forced to close its doors due to the pandemic.”
Our crowdfunder is now LIVE! Here's the link >>> https://t.co/3FLfOU78na pic.twitter.com/jNuohG7CYQ
— The Trades Club (@thetradesclub) August 7, 2020
They added that it “still has to find money to pay its loyal staff and running costs despite no money coming in.”
The statement continues: “As a not for profit, community co-operative they don’t have huge reserves to fall back on and despite promises of some government support they can’t rely on when that might actually be paid out.”
“Any donations will primarily be used to pay their fixed costs until they are able to safely re-open. Any additional funds will be spent on long-overdue refurbishments to a venue that first opened its doors in 1924, including works to make the club more accessible and inclusive for deaf and disabled people.”
You can support the Trades Club, and find out more about the campaign here.
The campaign comes after it was announced that the first portion of the government’s £1.57 billion fund to protect the UK’s arts and cultural industries will be used to save grassroots music venues from closing their doors.
Last month, more than 1,500 artists acame together to call on the government to stop “catastrophic damage” to live music as part of the #LetTheMusicPlay campaign. Dua Lipa, Liam Gallagher, PJ Harvey, Dizzee Rascal, Radiohead and more signed the open letter, which read: “Government support will be crucial to prevent mass insolvencies and the end of this great world-leading industry”.
The Music Venue Trust and over 500 UK music venues previously asked the government to provide £50million in emergency funding to “hibernate” the spaces until October.
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