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Manchester’s story has always been written by its bands and their tunes. It could well be our greatest export to the world, the city’s music.
And where does that legacy begin? Not the stadiums. Not the festival fields. But the small rooms, the sticky floors, and the bars where the next Joy Division, Blossoms, or The Verve first took to the stage, testing songs, building confidence, and lighting that spark that turned into something beautiful and beloved all around the globe. It’s not just a part of the city; it is Manchester.
Today, in a landmark step, Manchester City Council has opened applications for a new £245,000 discretionary fund to protect those essential grassroots venues, the places where culture starts, where young talent grows, and where communities gather not just to listen, but to belong.
Grants for Manchester’s small venues
Manchester’s The Peer Hat
With changes to national business rates putting independent venues across the country under real pressure, Manchester has chosen to lead from the front.
Instead of waiting for help to filter down, the city is investing directly in the foundations of its music ecosystem, ensuring artists still have somewhere to take their first steps and audiences still have places to discover something unforgettable.
Council Leader Bev Craig
Council Leader Cllr Bev Craig explained the importance clearly: “We understand the importance of smaller venues, the stages where talent is nurtured and the city’s music begins. We also know that across the country, grassroots venues are struggling. That’s why in Manchester we’re taking action to ensure that real support reaches our venues quickly. This swift delivery is virtually unheard of in the sector, but we are determined to innovate.
“Big gigs may hog the headlines, but we are pleased that, with the support of the Music Venues Trust, we’ve found a way to help their success support the grassroots venues which help launch acts and are an essential part of the ecosystem.”
It’s great to see Manchester City Council throw its weight behind these small venues, showing it’s not content to rest on its laurels, but trying to build on our musical future.
Money raised from big gigs goes where it matters, back to the grassroots. In a powerful circular model, this fund is made possible thanks to income from Manchester’s record-breaking year of arena shows, festivals, and stadium concerts. The success of huge events is now directly supporting the venues that make those events possible in the first place, where artists develop their craft before they ever fill a headline slot.
How The Music Venue Trust is helping Manchester’s small venues
To ensure support reaches the right places quickly, the fund will be administered by Music Venue Trust, the UK charity championing grassroots spaces. They’ll use their tried-and-tested systems to distribute grants of up to £20,000 or 35% of a venue’s business rates bill.
Jay Taylor
Jay Taylor, England Coordinator at MVT, said: “Identifying the challenges facing UK Grassroots Music Venues and then bringing about meaningful solutions is central to the work of Music Venue Trust, so it’s incredibly gratifying to be part of such a focused and impactful project from Leader of the Council, Councillor Bev Craig, and Manchester City Council.
“It’s equally rewarding to see recommendations from the forthcoming Music in the City Report already manifesting as tangible support for music venues. It’s dynamic interventions like this that cement Manchester as a truly progressive global music city, and a model for other regions.”
You can read the Music Venue Trust’s Music in the City Report by clicking here
How to apply for the Grassroots Music Venue Fund
Grant applicants must be able to demonstrate that they are a live music location in the city of Manchester; that they have a dedicated live music or performance space; that they put on live music at least three times per week or consistently feature it as part of a wider cultural programme, and that they have an organizational focus on music with other services (alcohol, food, merchandise) being subsidiary or dependent on music activity.
In short, this money is going straight to the real grassroots spaces: the rehearsal-room-to-runway stages, the community cornerstones, the places where sound becomes identity.
This fund arrives as the forthcoming Music in the City report highlights the need for urgent action to protect the region’s creative infrastructure. With applications open now and funding set to reach venues by January 2026, Manchester is proving what happens when civic pride meets cultural belief: It shows up. It supports its people. It invests in the culture that makes the city famous.
The size of grant awards will be based on an individual venue’s business rates liabilities with the maximum amount that can be applied for being 35% of its 2025/26 business rates liability or £20k.
How to apply for the Grassroots Music Venue Fund
Applications for funding will open via the Music Venue Trust website on Tuesday, 28th October and will close on Friday, 28th November, with applicants notified of outcomes by Friday, 19th December. Payment information will then be provided to successful applicants, and payments will be made by Saturday, 31st January 2026.
If you’re interested and would like to apply for the fund, please click here
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