Venue to provide beds for musicians thanks to levy

A music venue has been able to provide artists with accommodation thanks to a grassroots arena levy, which its manager called a "game changer" for business.

Renovation work has taken place at Voodoo Daddy's in Norwich to turn underused space in to a place to sleep and wash to help tackle rising tour costs.

The Stay At Night and Feel at Home scheme has been funded by a £1 levy on arena and stadium tickets for gigs with more than 5,000 people and aims to keep small music venues alive.

Ben Street, venue manager at VooDoo Daddy's, said: "It's a game changer for us, it puts us on the international scene, it puts us on the A-list of touring around the nation."

It is the first place to benefit from the work, with other projects earmarked across the country.

Street said: "To be able to offer that means it's the difference between not being able to take on a show because the costs on both sides are too much and actually saying let's go ahead and do it."

He said the touring scene across the UK was "unprecedented" and has already been able to book a band from Miami and a second one from LA with the draw of the accommodation.

"Norwich gets forgotten a bit. It's up in the armpit of East Anglia, but actually, we're becoming even more a market for international bands and touring," he added.

Twenty-one young people from Norfolk carried out the work and, between them, gained 16 qualifications.

With mentorship from professional tradespeople, they learnt skills including carpentry, painting, decorating and health and safety.

Alice Whitney, programme manager for the East of England at Volunteer It Yourself, said: "We enable young people to gain frontline trade skills and construction skills while working on a variety of different community places and spaces... music and cultural spaces are really important valued spaces in our communities.

"I'm super excited that we managed to secure the first project in this national programme for Norfolk in Norwich and for Voodoo Daddy's."

She said not only has the venue benefited from the work, but the young people have too.

She added: "They are gaining accredited training and work experience and boosting their employability skills, and crucially in Norfolk, these construction and trade skills are a big challenge for Norfolk — we've a huge skill gap there.

"It's brilliant we can do our piece towards meeting that."

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