Music / Bristol Nights
Council music scheme wins international award
An initiative designed to place the local music ecosystem on a sustainable footing has been recognised on the global stage.
The council-funded Bristol Nights project developed A Ticket to the Future which maps out the steps towards establishing a Bristol Music Fund to prop up the city’s independent venues.
The initiative won the Music Cities Award for Best Music Policy at an event in Hull in June.
It was recognised for its collaborative approach, as well as the ambition to create a self-sustaining music ecosystem as an alternative to government funded schemes and in a way that ensures the value is felt by the local music community.
Carly Heath of Bristol Nights accepted the award at the Music Cities Convention in Hull last week – photo: Bristol Nights
A Ticket to the Future proposes that funds generated through a one per cent contribution from gig goers on top of the ticket price would be placed in a community-owned fund.
This pot of income would be managed through a Community Benefit Society comprising members of the music community, giving them a direct role in deciding how the money is distributed.
The project’s research phase found Bristol’s music events generate between £42m and £70m annually in ticket sales, so adding one per cent on top is estimated to raise between £400,000 and £1m per year.
Surveys also found that 93 per cent of respondents would be ‘happy to pay or feel okay about paying’ the extra one per cent on top of the price of a ticket to support the fund.
“A Ticket to the Future was built with the music community, and this recognition belongs to everyone who has contributed their time, ideas and experience to shaping it,” said Carly Health, the Bristol Night Time Economy Advisor who heads up Bristol Nights.
“The work is about asking how we create a fairer and more sustainable future for music. It is about recognising music as part of our civic infrastructure, not just something that happens in venues at night.
“There is still a lot of work to do, but this award gives us confidence that the approach we are developing here has international relevance. It shows what can happen when cities listen to their creative communities and work with them to shape policy from the ground up.”
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A Ticket to the Future was recognised alongside finalists from Australia, the USA and Colombia.
It is the third Music Cities Award for Bristol Nights, with wins for Bristol Rules in 2021 and the Women’s Safety Charter in 2024.
“(This award) is incredible recognition for what Bristol’s music community has achieved together,” said Saffron founder Laura Lewis-Paul who was part of the group of venues, promoters and artists that worked with Bristol Nights on the project.
“A Ticket to the Future and the Bristol Music Fund were created because people across Bristol’s music ecosystem came together to imagine a better future for music in our city.”
A Ticket to the Future is now entering its second phase of development, focused on the ‘cultural, ethical and strategic’ foundations of the fund which Bristol Nights suggests will include “mission, vision and values, ecosystem mapping, research partnership insights, belonging and participation principles, and the development of a Theory of Change and impact framework”.
A phase two report is due at the end of June, and further community conversations will follow.
“The Bristol Music Fund represents a new way of thinking about how we support culture in our city, placing community ownership, fairness and long-term sustainability at its heart,” said Bristol City Council leader Tony Dyer.
“Music is integral to Bristol’s identity and to the social and economic life of our city. This work shows what can be achieved when artists, venues, industry and the public sector come together with a shared ambition to protect and grow something that matters deeply to our communities.”
Main image: OMG Bristol
Read next:
- International accolade for Bristol Nights initiative
- Music festival with a difference lands in Bristol
- Grassroots music: thriving or surviving?
- Super Furry Animals – ‘We were so lucky to live near Bristol’
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