Grassroots Networking Day 2026 is almost here. 📅 Tuesday 13 October 📍 229 London A day for the people who book and programme grassroots music - bringing venue bookers, festival programmers, promoters and agents together. We'll see you next week!

750+ artists have already signed the Artist Pledge. Have you? The idea is simple: If you get big, you give back. 📸 Phoebe Fox

That connection to grassroots venues doesn’t disappear as careers grow. These are spaces artists return to, audiences discover something new and live music can exist at its most immediate and authentic.

Even now my favourite shows to go to are a couple of hundred people in a room discovering a band for the first time. Before the big production and the quest for perfection. The authentic music experience.”

As they put it: “Without the grassroots there is no Kaiser Chiefs, we spent our formative years playing in small venues especially in Leeds but all over the UK from Aberdeen to Exeter. It’s where we learnt to be in a band.

We asked Kaiser Chiefs why they signed the Artist Pledge. For them, grassroots venues aren’t just part of where their story began. They’re where they learnt how to be a band, and they remain some of their favourite places to experience live music today.

The Association of Independent Festivals represents independent festivals across the UK and is one of the organisations behind Grassroots Networking Day, bringing the festival perspective into the room alongside the rest of the live music ecosystem.

They also create a vital link between grassroots venues and the wider live music landscape, with the relationships built across the sector helping great artists keep moving forward.

Independent festivals take chances on artists, build their own communities and create opportunities that can take artists from the smallest stages to some of the biggest moments of their careers.

Festivals bring the whole ecosystem together - creating spaces for artists to reach new audiences and for audiences to discover something new.

If you've ever found your people, your confidence or a part of yourself in a grassroots music venue, the Supporters Circle is a chance to help create that experience for someone else. Join from £5 a month and become a venue activist. 🔗 in our bio.

What develops there isn't always something you can put on a poster - sometimes it's a person becoming more themselves.

That's part of the social value of a grassroots music venue. The stage isn't just where music is performed; it's a place where people can take up space, find confidence and experience what it feels like to be heard.

Grassroots music venues can be places where you discover parts of yourself you didn't know were there. Where talent can develop alongside confidence, identity and relationships. Where you can find people who make you feel understood, and in doing so, understand yourself a little better.

Three feet isn't very far off the ground, but if you stand on the right stage at the right moment - it can feel like the whole world has changed. Because sometimes finding your voice starts with finding the people who want to hear it.

The Entertainment Agents’ Association represents agents across the UK and is one of the organisations behind Grassroots Networking Day, bringing the experience and perspective of agents into the room alongside the rest of the live music ecosystem.

They know their artists inside out - where they belong, who their audience is and which opportunities could take them to the next stage. They build relationships across the live music ecosystem that can turn a conversation into a show, and a show into the next opportunity.

Agents are the people who help artists find the right opportunities, connecting them with venues, promoters and festivals to build shows and develop careers.

The Association of Independent Promoters represents independent promoters across the UK and is one of the organisations behind Grassroots Networking Day, bringing their experience and perspective into the room alongside the rest of the live music ecosystem.

They’re the people who turn an idea into a night people can actually walk into - and who help artists find their audiences, build their careers and keep coming back to the stage.