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MVT goes int’l with Music Venues Alliance Austin

Music Venue Trust has set up shop in the 'live music capital of the world – Austin, Texas – which it says faces the same "core challenges" for venues as the UK

By IQ on 09 Dec 2016

Sixth Street, Austin, Texas, Larry D. Moore, Music Venues Alliance Austin

Austin's Sixth Street entertainment district


image © Larry D. Moore

The UK’s Music Venue Trust (MVT) has announced the launch of Music Venues Alliance Austin, the first international chapter of its Music Venues Alliance association.

The new organisation, headed up by Rebecca Reynolds, aims to “quickly pick up the challenge of protecting, securing and improving” the Texas city’s grassroots venues.

Despite its oft-quoted status as the ‘live music capital of the world’, Austin lost more than 1,200 music-industry jobs and wiped off over US$100 million from value of its live music sector from 2010 to 2014.

Reynolds says: “Here in Austin, we have been following the work of Music Venue Trust and the Music Venues Alliance in the UK with huge interest. The problems they are describing resonated very clearly with us here.

“Although we have our own unique drivers for what threatens the future of Austin music venues, the core challenges are the same”

“Although we have our own unique drivers for what threatens the future of Austin music venues, the core challenges are the same: gentrification; rising rents; a lack of cultural acknowledgement and respect for the work they are doing; and a music industry that needs to start backing these spaces if they are to continue to develop new and emerging talent. We found the work of MVT inspiring, and the progress they have made in such a short time [is] amazing.”

Austin venues interested in joining the alliance are invited to contact Reynolds at [email protected].

“We’d love to hear from more cities and countries around the world,” adds MVT CEO Mark Davyd. “Ultimately, we’d like to see the work of these venues respected globally by the music industry, government and the cultural sector. Joining together, we believe we can make that happen.”

 


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