Founded at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 by London-based musician FRANK TURNER, the #saveourvenues campaign and movement has been tirelessly fundraising to save venues AFFECTED by the COVID-19 lockdowns from having to permanently close their doors. The campaign is run by the existing MUSIC VENUE TRUST charity, which has access to hundreds of venues across the UK. OVER 500 of these amazing places are facing an ECONOMIC CRISIS, so the #saveourvenues campaign began to bring together the grieving artists and fans in live streamed, online and Covid-safe events that provide an easily accessible platform for people to SUPPORT the cause.
This amazing work the campaign is doing has SAVED so many venues already, however, the pandemic is still ongoing, which is why we at Immersed are proud to be supporting the movement too, in the hope people will CONTINUE TO SUPPORT it so their amazing team can continue their heroic work.
This campaign is not only a cause worthy of endless support, but one that has given back to Immersed in a monumental sense, and for that we’re grateful. From INCLUDING our legendary event on their huge website and social media platforms, to allowing us to PUT UP POSTERS in some of the venues they support, and those they’re run out of. A special thanks goes to Sam Dabb from the fantastic LePub venue in Newport who has been an incredible asset to this festival.
Immersed is yet again trying to GIVE BACK to this cause, and thanks to the Illustration students at the University of South Wales, have created a T-SHIRT HIGHLIGHTING the plight of the pandemic on grassroots venues throughout the country, and what Immersed! 2021 is doing to remedy that. The design submissions were done by some incredibly talented STUDENTS, but the winning design – by OZZY CORBETT – is being sold to raise money for the #saveourvenues movement. Ozzy’s designs can be found on Instagram: @theuneasyartist, and we’re so grateful to have such a talented artist on board with supporting our cause.
The #saveourvenues campaign is ongoing, and has been SUPPORTING some of the VENUES we filmed our artists’ and bands’ sets in. At Immersed, we knew from the beginning of our extremely busy journey that this was a cause worth dedicating a virtual stage to – now our focus is being driven towards convincing our viewers of that too, but with such an outstanding team working for them, it shouldn’t be even remotely difficult for people to realise that the #SAVEOURVENUES MOVEMENT and everyone associated with them are truly real-life heroes.
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The Immersed! Blog team