£150,000 lifeline funding for five live music venues across Fife
The money came from Creative Scotland via the Scottish Government’s Grassroots Music Venues Stabilisation Fund.
PJ Molloys in Dunfermline - one of the region’s most established live music venues - received £52,000, while the 1703 bar in the west Fife town got £35,000.
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Hide AdA further £30,000 went to the Kings Live Lounge in Kirkcaldy, while Futtle, at Bowhouse Market in north-east Fife got £22,000.
The Woodside Hotel in Aberdour, which hosted one of the very last live gigs before lockdown hit last March, got £15,000
The funding came as all the venues wait on an indication when they could re-open their doors after a full calendar year in lockdown.
The pandemic has had a devastating impact on the creative sector with all live gigs on hold, affecting performers, promoters, tech crews and venues.
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Hide AdAlan Morrison, head of music at Creative Scotland said: “We’ve now been without live music for much longer than anyone could have imagined.
“Covid-19 has hit the music industry hard, and we all look forward to the day when musicians and audiences can get back together – in the same place, at the same time – to ignite the special spark of live performance.”
He added: “Grassroots venues are where talented musicians test and perfect their original material, where careers are borne and local scenes have their deepest roots.
“These awards are proof of the confidence that the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland have in our music sector, its artists, its audiences, its technicians and, of course, its much-loved grassroots venues.”
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Hide AdFiona Hyslop, Culture Secretary, accepted the live music sector faced an “an incredibly difficult time” and added: “This fund, part of our ongoing commitment to support cultural sectors during the pandemic, aims to do that by ensuring financial support reaches a wide variety of music venues across the country.
This was the second of two funding rounds. To date, over both funding rounds combined, 85 venues across Scotland have now received a total of £6.2million - £2.2millon was awarded in the first round in September 2020.