News / Exchange
Exchange hopes to become Bristol’s first community-owned live music venue
One of Bristol’s most important venues for the grassroots music scene is set to launch an ambitious campaign to help secure its future.
The Exchange are gearing up to launch the campaign in September in a bid to raise £250,000 by selling shares to become Bristol’s first community-owned live music venue.
All share investments in the Old Market Street venue next to the Stag & Hounds pub will receive 30 per cent social investment tax relief.
It is the biggest effort to preserve a smaller Bristol venue since The Cube raised £185,000 in 2013 to buy the freehold to its own building.
The Exchange opened its doors as a live music venue in August 2012
Exchange manager Matt Otridge said: “Like many live music venues in the UK, we are struggling against the tide.
“With no arts funding and rising costs small venues are becoming less and less common, so we are going to take action and put the Exchange in the hands of Bristol music fans.
“This means that, together, we can keep the Exchange going as a place where there is a collision of musical styles and a space where audiences, artists and promoters can try new things and be creative, where anything can happen from DIY to larger productions.”
In recent years, the Exchange has hosted the likes of Idles, Four Tet, Sleaford Mods, Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, Beak> and Haim.
The campaign to raise £250,000 by selling community shares launches on September 4 with a launch party featuring a Q&A session with the directors.
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