Collective Futures symposium and live show

Collective Futures is a one-day symposium designed to celebrate and explore Community Music Venues and the role they play in local neighbourhoods across the UK. Led by Future Yard and Sister Midnight, it is an opportunity to understand how Community Music Venues are structured, their financial models and the impact they have in communities.

Collective Futures is here to bring together current and ‘would-be’ Community Music Venues from across the UK in a solidarity network, to collaborate, share knowledge and approaches. It is for those working in and supporting communities, to understand the role Community Music Venues play and the impact they can have in towns and cities.  

The first Collective Futures symposium, taking place at Future Yard in Birkenhead, will feature contributors from organisations such as Music Venue Trust, Independent Venue Week, Arts Council England, Band On The Wall, Nesta, Crowdfunder, Youth Music, Unconvention, Regenda, Plunkett Foundation and more.

Across a number of discussions and workshops, the symposium will focus on key aspects of what makes a Community Music Venue: community-led programming, revitalising neighbourhoods, building scenes, creating (and measuring) meaningful community engagement, placemaking, grassroots-led cultural regeneration – and the various funding models needed to achieve these goals.

The daytime symposium will be followed by an evening show, headlined by Goat Girl. The award-winning quartet graduated through the grassroots open mic and music scene of South London.

Community Music Venues are accountable to, and often owned by, the community they’re at the heart of. Numerous structures exist, including Community Benefit Societies, Co-Operatives, Community Interest Companies; but the core premise is consistent: Community Music Venues exist to benefit their local neighbourhoods, not shareholders.