More about: Anna CalviIndependent Venue Week

Independent Venue Week has announced Anna Calvi as its latest ambassador. The Mercury Prize nominee will take over from Novelist to act as the 2020 champion for small venues all around the UK.

Taking place from 27 January to 2 February in 2020, Independent Venue Week will celebrate the vital scenes that grassroots establishments foster and create. The initiative has already seen 194 venues, including 58 new establishments, sign up to celebrate.

“As an artist who spent many years developing my art in small venues across the UK, it’s such a pleasure to be named the ambassador of Independent Venue Week 2020” Calvi said of the honour.

The event will shine a light on some of the UK's best and most-loved independent venues, from Krakatoa in Aberdeen to St James in Guernsey, which is also the oldest venue on the list at 202. 

Venues vary from a humble capacity of eighteen in Halifax's Grayston Unity, to the impressive 1400 people space at OPEN Norwich.

Steve Lamacq will take his BBC Radio Six radio show on the road for the festival, speaking to the people who keep the UK's independent venues ticking. 

More about: Anna CalviIndependent Venue Week