National Venue & Promoter Directory: A user-friendly resource for Black-led music groups in the UK – London Arts (2002)
Author(s): London Arts
Organisation/Affiliation: London Arts
Date: 2002
Each year, through the National Touring Programme (NTP), the Arts Council of England funds around 70 jazz, world music and folk musicians to tour the UK. Alongside the NTP, London Arts and other regional offices fund a number of small, high-achieving Black-led music organisations. These produce music in a huge range of styles (some traditional, some contemporary), have built up a loyal regional following and, in some cases, have achieved international success, touring overseas and making award-winning albums. However, despite promoters being increasingly keen to programme a diverse range of music in order to develop new, younger audiences, few musicians have a high UK touring profile. We want to help musicians and Black-led organisations to develop relationships with promoters who are interested in programming the music they produce. At present, these relationships often fail to develop. The result is a huge number of lost opportunities on both sides – business development opportunities for artists and audience development opportunities for promoters. This venue and promoter directory is an attempt to begin that process. We hope that you will find it useful, and that it will enable you to develop relationships with promoters all over the UK and perform your music to more people in more places.