Outernet Venues - home to the state-of-the-art, 2,000-capacity live events space HERE at Outernet, and The Lower Third, a 350-capacity venue dedicated to platforming breakthrough talent - has announced its first-ever yearlong charity partnership, pledging sustained support in response to the growing funding crisis.

At the core of the collaboration is a shared mission to nurture the next generation of music talent. From giving young artists, a stage to perform, to creating opportunities to learn behind the scenes, the partnership directly empowers marginalised young creatives across the UK.

Outernet Venues has confirmed a £5 minimum house guestlist compulsory donation at its HERE at Outernet space. With concerts from world-renowned DJ Kaytranada and singer-songwriter DIIV scheduled for this year, each guestlist donation will contribute to the vital work of the 'Rescue the Roots' fundraiser. 

Beyond the fundraising, Outernet Venues has granted the charity access to The Forge at The Lower Third, a cosy event space connected to their public cocktail bar, to host a series of gigs for Youth Music artists.

Together, we are also exploring training opportunities for the Youth Music NextGen community as part of this venture. The training events will allow young creatives to learn about different roles within the music industries, such as marketing, tech and music and event production.

Our Rescue the Roots campaign aims to highlight and mobilise fundraising efforts as without action, the future of young people’s lives in music will be even more bleak. We predict that in ten years, young people across eight UK regions will lose access to grassroots youth music projects.

This prediction is based on funding cuts over many years, the current cost-of-living crisis and the resulting impact on maintaining essential community music spaces where young people make music, make friends and develop their musical skills.  

To combat the crisis, our ‘Rescue the Roots’ fundraiser campaign will provide crucial support for over 18,000 young people. The campaign is a call to arms to everyone from individuals to organisations who care passionately about saving UK music to donate what they can. We will be match funding up to £1 million, taking the fund to £2 million. 

The impact of our work is reflected in a new ‘Rescue the Roots’ documentary by Tell Studio that powerfully illustrates the importance of music in young people’s lives, socially, personally and musically. Watch it below.