Live Music Society Announces New Round of Grant Recipients for Small Music Venues Today
Non-Profit Philanthropic Organization Offers Financial Support
to 16 Independent U.S. Music Venues
Live Music Society (LMS) is committed to giving $2 million in grants in its first two years of operation to support the live music ecosystem around the United States. In 2020 the LMS provided a lifeline to small, independent music venues forced to close their doors due to the COVID pandemic with over $800,000 in grants. LMS continues this support in 2021 as independent venues struggle to reopen in a challenging post-pandemic landscape. LMS announces the recipients of the second round of relief grants today, with 16 venues receiving individual grants between $10,000 - $50,000. With the first two rounds LMS will have dispersed over $1.5 million, with a third round of grants coming in Fall 2021.
This round’s grant recipients represent a broad spectrum of independent venues from the coasts to the heartland; all boast strong connections to their communities and run the gamut of genre orientations. On the West Coast, recipients include Berkeley, CA’s multicultural bastion the Ashkenaz Music and Dance Community Center, Santa Cruz CA’s intimate and innovative Kumbwaa Jazz, Seattle’s multidisciplinary Fremont Abbey Arts Center, Los Angeles’ The Mint — still rocking after 84 years — and more.
In the Midwest, grant-winning venues include Chicago’s historic, prohibition-era watering hole The Hideout, Milwaukee’s legendary rock room the Cactus Club, and St. Louis’ indispensable Jazz St. Louis organization. In the South, NOLA’s legendary Oak Street jazz, R&B, blues and rock mainstay Maple Leaf Bar, and Galveston, TX’s singer/songwriter’s haven Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe, both won grants this round. While on the East Coast, grantees include legacy venues like New Haven, CT’s favorite, historic “corner bar” Cafe Nine. For a complete list of this round’s grant winners, see below:
Spring 2021 Live Music Society Grant Recipients:
Ivy Room (Albany, CA)
Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center (Berkeley, CA)
Maple Leaf Bar (New Orleans, LA)
The Parlor Room (Northampton, MA)
Jazz St. Louis (St. Louis, MO)
Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe (Galveston, TX)
Zenbarn (Waterbury Center, VT)
Fremont Abbey Arts Center (Seattle, WA)
The Sunset Tavern (Seattle, WA)
Past LMS grantees included such noted music stages as Club Passim (Cambridge, MA), the famed 85-seat folk club founded as Club 47 in 1958; the Jazz Showcase (Chicago, IL.), the 170-seat Windy City landmark opened in 1947 by the late Joe Segal; Hotel Café (Los Angeles, CA.) the intimate performance space featuring acoustic-based songwriters; and Caffé Lena (Saratoga Springs, NY), the 110-seat coffeehouse where Bob Dylan performed in his folk-singing days. See full list of all twenty 2020 LMS grantees here: https://www.livemusicsociety.org/grantees
LMS grants supply philanthropic aid to music venues that have been in operation for three years or more with a sellable capacity of 250 occupants or less. Applications for the next round of Live Music Society grants open in August 2021. Look for updated information on grant criteria and applications at the LMS website: https://www.livemusicsociety.org/grantinfo
The Live Music Society also supports “Empty Spaces”, a video series highlighting small U.S. venues, and the stories of their experiences during different stages of the pandemic. Tune in on June 3rd for the premiere of Empty Spaces: Hi-Dive, which focuses on Denver, Colorado’s beloved the Hi-Dive, an institution in the city’s historic Baker neighborhood, an incubator for local talent, and a vital stop for touring bands. Learn more about Empty Spaces and watch previous episodes here: https://www.livemusicsociety.org/emptyspaces