Overview

The Grassroots Jazz charity was formed to address the shortfall in Government funding for the arts as we came out of Covid. It was widely felt that the available monies in the Culture Recovery Fund were assigned too eagerly, without proper planning, and with little consideration for the smaller organisations, especially those those who operate in non permanent venues such as pubs, church halls, community centres and the like. Even though it’s been a while since the lockdown ended, there is still a need for a fund such as this so I have continued the work.

These clubs invariably work on a shoestring, and (more often than not) are chaired by promoters of the older generation. Within this generation, there is a (completely understandable) hugely lower incidence of internet/IT proficiency, which in turn leads to chronic underuse of social media to promote events. 
In addition to this, there is a hugely reduced rate of bid submissions to the available money via Arts Council England from these promoters. This is definitely attributed to the same causation - A lack of the required skills required to make a coherent and competitive online bid. There are dozens of professional bid writers bidding for this same pot of money. Pitting these promoters against these professional bid writers is never going to see good result for grassroots venues. The likelihood of success is close to zero.

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Initial action

With reduced audience numbers, the profit margin became smaller, and for many, this became completely unmanageable.
As clubs began to close I decided to do something about it. My knee-jerk reaction was simply to raise money to keep these venues running whilst simultaneously lobbying the government for some ring-fenced funds.
Full details of this correspondence with the then Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries, can be viewed here. https://nigethejazzer.com/dcms/ace.
The initial letter was signed by 69 other previous recipients of All Party Parliamentary Jazz Awards.
Initially the outcome did not seem particularly good, but in the months since there have actually been funds ring fenced for exactly the kind of situation Grassroots Jazz was formed to address. Additional pressure from other organisations (notably Music Venues Trust) has helped bring about this outcome. However, the problem still remains because of the lack of confidence and/or willingness for older promoters to tackle the huge, unwieldly ACE forms.
 

Identifying the needy

The next job was to collate, as far as possible, the full number, locations and contact details of every UK jazz club. Through this work, it was possible to see that around 97% of UK jazz performances are being made in non dedicated venues. 
I then emailed all of these clubs and asked for them to share details of the Grassroots Jazz charity. Also asked them how things were for them. Many of them chose to lay dormant. With no rent cost for venues this is entirely possible, but many clubs have other permanent overheads, such as website fees, meaning that without any income, the coffers slowly empty. 
 

The recovery plan

I decided that the best course of action was to taker the immediate pressure off the most stricken clubs by issuing an initial payment of £500. Following that, I analyse the social media of each club. We then mutually decide on a course of action i.e. the increase in ‘followers’ required to fulfill the conditions for the second grant of £1500. I have been conscious and careful in spreading the payments across the country in order not to appear ‘London centric’ or indeed region specific in any way.

These are the clubs who have been in receipt of grants so far:

Swansea Jazz Club 

SoundCellar, Poole 

Jazz at Merchants Hall, Glasgow 

St Ives Jazz Club 

Bennigan’s Bar, Derry 

Scarborough Jazz Club 

Spike’s Place, Brentwood 

Chesterfield Jazz Club 

Bebop Club, Bristol

Norwich Jazz Club

Milestones, Lowestoft

Parr Jazz, Liverpool 

Highams Park Jazz Club
 

Finances

Funds have been raised through social media posts, and through (to date) three raffles which have been sponsored by various musical instrument companies - Fibonacci guitars (Worcester Park), Headwind Music (Bristol), Dawkes Music (Maidenhead). There has also been support from Ronnie Scott’s Jazz club in the form memberships as raffle prizes. Also tickets from Scarborough Jazz Festival, Cambridge Jazz Festival and Swanage Jazz Festival. There have also been private donations of instruments, including (notably) three jazz guitars from the collection of Big Jim Sullivan, through the kindness and charity of his widow, Norma.

Two of these clubs are yet to fulfil the requirements for their second grants meaning at this point the total amount assigned is £26,000. The total spend for advertising (raffles), prints and postage (of raffle prizes and business cards) is £1131.
Total £27,131.

As of 01/01/2025 the total amount raised through all sources is £32,366.79.
There are also some recent donations which are as yet uncalculated but total around £300.
This means there is a total available balance of around £5,500.
 

The future

This money is enough to help two or three more clubs.
After the honeymoon period donations tailed away significantly so I felt that the organisation needed development.
I had a meeting with ACE on September 5th 2022 as a direct result of my initial lobbying of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The meeting was also attended by Naomi Pohl (Musicians Union CEO) and John Spellar MP.
It was agreed that I was to formulate a plan of action for the charity and that the ACE would anticipate my subsequent bid.
The ACE does not fund conduit organisations. I.e. organisations who then pass those funds along to others. Therefore my request for funding was aimed and a. Education and B. Awareness. 

**update, as at 01/01/2025**.

The bid failed, so a second bid was made which has been successful.
 

A. Education.

This will be aimed specifically at promoters and will take the form of detailed walk-through videos of how to set up and use the three main social media platforms - Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. These films will then be presented on the Grassroots Jazz website. Filming will start in early January 2025.
https://www.grassrootsjazz.com
 

B. Awareness.

I am professionally videoing interviews with promoters, volunteers and fans to really get an inside view of the state of our UK jazz infrastructure. In this way, the situation will be presented in an engaging, emotive short film that will also contain instructions on how to support and donate to keep our vital jazz heritage alive.


Nigel Price
Founder, Grassroots Jazz
Former director - Swanage Jazz Festival
Former director - Shepperton Jazz Club
‘Best guitarist’ - 2016 British Jazz Awards
‘Best ensemble’ - 2010 Parliamentary Jazz Awards
Nominated for ’Services to jazz’ - 2022 Parliamentary Jazz Awards

January 1st. 2025