Apply for Early Career Promoter Fund (2nd Round)- United Kingdom

In recognition of the important role promoters play in supporting the talent pipeline and bolstering music ecosystems, the Fund will offer grants to contribute towards the costs of the booking, programming and promotion of gigs, concerts, club nights, showcases, tours, festivals and other performances.

Managed by PRS Foundation and funded by Arts Council England using Supporting Grassroots Music funding from DCMS, the Early Career Promoter Fund will also help to address underrepresentation, ensuring support reaches a diverse range of promoters, and proactively encouraging grantees to support a diverse range of artists and music genres nationwide.

Funding Information

• Grants of up to £3,500.

Eligible Activities

• The booking, programming and promotion of events including:
  • Gigs
  • Concerts
  • Club nights
  • Showcases
  • Tours
  • Festivals and stages at festivals
  • Multi-venue events
  • Other performances
• Costs associated with music activities including, but not limited to:
  • Venue hire
  • Artist fees
  • DJ fees
  • Crew fees
  • Production (including A/V hire costs, production freelancer/staff fees and other production costs)
  • A fee or contribution towards promoter time to deliver the related activities
  • Administration costs relating to booking, production, and promotion of events (this might include specific events insurance, public liability insurance, utilities, etc.)
  • PRS for Music related costs to ensure songwriters and publisher are paid
• Other related costs
  • Promotion costs including, but not limited to:
    • Design costs
    • Print costs (e.g. posters, flyers)
    • Distribution costs
    • Advertising
    • Digital marketing costs
• Capacity building including, but not limited to:
  • Mentoring
  • Coaching
  • Shadowing and partnering with other promoters, festivals or venues
  • Attending workshops, masterclasses and/or conferences (they recommend attending at least one industry event and using the grant to cover costs if needed) access to other support to build skills and connections
  • Membership fees (i.e. to join relevant music trade bodies or sector specialist organisations such as the Association of Independent Promoters (AIP), Jazz Promoters Network (JPN) or the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF))
  • Any other capacity building exercises relevant to your own development needs
• Other expenditure which helps grantees to programme a diverse range of artists, develop new audiences, take environmental responsibility and build their skills:
  • This might include using funds to hire different venues, to improve sound/lighting or other production for events and/or being more ambitious with the level or type of acts being booked
  • Promoters are expected to consider how they can improve accessibility or add accessible features to their events (e.g. additional costs associated with wheelchair access or accessible facilities, paying for BSL services, setting up and advertising ‘calm’ zones for neurodivergent artists or audience members, or reducing the cost of tickets for some audiences)
  • Support for environmentally sustainable costs e.g. green riders, limit use of plastics, encouraging use of public transport’

Ineligible Activities

• Events or tours which take place outside England.
• Capital purchases including van/car purchases, equipment, A/V purchases, building work or building a studio.
• Projects requesting funding that will or would be covered without the requirement of funding support.
• Activities which take place before funding decisions are communicated
• Attendance at international events taking place outside the UK.
• Promotion of events taking place outside of England.
• Events where the proceeds will go to charity instead of re-investment into the grassroots music eco-system.
• Applicants who have concurrent or previous funding from the Arts Council Supporting Grassroots Music programme. Note that if you are successful in receiving Early Career Promoter support, you would not be eligible to apply to the Arts Council Supporting Grassroots Music programme for projects that begin before activity funded through the Early Career Promoter Fund has ended.
• They cannot fund capacity building exercises for other members of your promoter collective. The fund is for individual development for the named applicant only.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible applicants must be based in England and funding will be available to early career independent music promoters.
• Based on discussions with live sector bodies, they will allow promoters to self-identify as ‘early career’ and provide the following guidance to help potential applicants to determine whether or not they will be deemed eligible by PRS Foundation and external advisors:
  • They are highly unlikely to support those who are completely new to booking and promoting shows, and most eligible applicants will have promoted at least two events (or will bring relevant transferable skills from other similar and relevant roles).
  • Likewise, they are unlikely to support those who can be deemed as established promoters regionally or nationally.
  • More established promoters should instead apply for support through Arts Council England’s Supporting Grassroots Music Fund.
  • They do not apply upper age limits and want to be clear that ‘early career’ eligibility can apply to any age group. Applicants though do need to be over 18 years-old at the time of the application.
  • It is likely eligible grantees will be operating on a small-scale in terms of the capacity of events they have been promoting, and the scale or setup of their business.
  • Most eligible promoters will be working part-time as promoters and supplementing income elsewhere.
  • Their forms will ask you to describe the scale of activities and level of income to establish whether applicants are too established for this fund.
• While the Early Career Promoter Fund does not accept applications directly from promoter collectives as organisations, they do accept applications from individuals operating within collectives.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Promoters based outside England cannot apply to this fund.

For more information, visit PRS Foundation.