Future for Inverness music venues Hootananny and Gellions looks brighter after being taken off a UK charity's 'at risk' list
Two popular Inverness music venues that faced the threat of permanent closure earlier in the pandemic have been removed from an influential UK charity’s critical “red-list”.
Hootananny and Gellions Bar in Inverness both launched crowdfunders with the help of the Music Venue Trust (MVT) in an effort to stay afloat.
They sought donations of up to £50,000 and £35,000 respectively as they fought for survival, although their crowdfunding pages currently show just £3,777 and £790 raised.
MVT, which represents hundreds of UK grassroots music venues, says the Inverness pair are among 13 of 30 establishments no longer in imminent danger of permanent closure.
An MVT spokeswoman said: “This is thanks to the Scottish Government creating a fund for venues to be stabilised until June.
“MVT have worked with Gellions and Hootananny to support them to put in their applications for the money that they need to ensure that they will survive until we hope that they can reopen.”
In November, MVT – which is backed by ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney – stepped up its hugely successful #saveourvenues campaign seeking to ensure every venue listed remained in business after the pandemic.
By lobbying the UK and Scottish Governments, the charity helped secure vital lifeline cash for music venues.
It also launched the crowdfunding campaign to help 30 venues who were ineligible, or wholly or partially unsuccessful in applying for UK Government-backed Culture Recovery Funds.
Mark Davyd, CEO of MVT, said: “We want to thank every artist, every audience member and every member of our community for taking direct action which means we are able to remove these 13 venues from the red list right now.
“The love shown for these venues continues to demonstrate how important they are to people and to our towns and cities.
“Music Venue Trust is committed to reopening every venue safely and we are going to carry on working through this crisis until that outcome is achieved.”
MVT is now reviewing the position of all other grassroots music venues to determine which are at risk and need to be moved onto the red list.
