The Music Venue Trust has announced details of their new patrons, including Bob Vylan and Daniel Avery.

Artists have been at the forefront of the trust’s aims to raise money and awareness for the struggles facing grassroots venues in the UK across the COVID pandemic, supporting the the Music Venue Trust’s #SaveOurVenues campaign among other fundraising efforts.

Earlier this year, The National Lottery joined forces with the Music Venue Trust for the Revive Live series of gigs and tours in a new initiative to boost live music across the UK, including an intimate UK tour from Wolf Alice.

One act who took part in the Revive Live series was Bob Vylan, who gave a welcome speech when being announced as a new MVT patron.

He said: “Grassroots venues offer a place for musicians to hone and build on their skills in a real live environment. They allow all the hard work and rehearsals that have taken place beforehand to be loudly displayed and they remain the starting ground for bands that may go on to sell out arenas and stadiums.

“We’ve been incredibly blessed to be able to travel around some of the grassroots venues in the UK and they’ve offered us a place to create and participate in a community fuelled by their love of music and desire to connect with others.”

Watch the speech below:

Mr Scruff, James & The Cold Gun and Bradley Zero have also been unveiled today (November 18) as Artist Patrons for the trust, while Emma Davis, Business Support Manager at live music agency One Fiinix Live and Steve Zapp, live agent at ITB, are announced as Music Industry Patrons.

Beverley Whitrick, Strategic Director at Music Venue Trust, said: Our patrons have always played an invaluable role in supporting the work we do. In recent times that role became critical as they helped mobilise financial assistance and awareness during the darkest days of the pandemic.

“We are incredibly grateful for the commitment and breadth of knowledge and experience our patrons bring to MVT, so it is with great pride that we announce the newest members of our team.”

It was recently revealed that the UK’s grassroots music venues are facing £90million of debt due to the spiralling costs incurred by the coronavirus pandemic and being shut during lockdown.

“The grassroots music venue sector is more than £90million in debt,” MVT CEO Mark Davyd told NME. “Getting that paid off isn’t going to be done this year, it likely won’t be done next year and might not be until 2024 or 2025 if things keep going as they are.

Visit here for information on how to help or donate the #SaveOurVenues campaign.