SACHA LORD LAUNCHES ANNUAL PROMOTER FUND TO SUPPORT BREAKTHROUGH TALENT IN GREATER MANCHESTER

Sacha Lord, the Night Time Economy Adviser for Greater Manchester, has launched an initiative to support young music promoters across the city region.

Open to residents of Greater Manchester aged between 18 and 25, the Annual Promoter Fund will provide £10,000 per year to four new promoters to develop and host a new music event concept in the city region.

The four recipients - chosen per quarter - will receive £2,500 each as well as mentorship by Lord, co-founder of The Warehouse Project and Parklife, the UK’s biggest metropolitan festival.

Funding will be provided through The Sacha Lord Foundation, the charity set up by Lord and his wife, Demi, to support young people in the hospitality and cultural industries. The Annual Promoter Fund is the first initiative from the Foundation since its launch in 2023.

Speaking on the initiative, Sacha Lord said:

"Discussions over the last couple of weeks have all been about the global superstars performing at large arenas, but we need to shine a light on the smaller grassroots events which can catapult acts into the mainstream. Without these events, there wouldn't be arena tours and names like Raye and Stormzy would never have been discovered.

"We have some great music promoters in Greater Manchester who put some amazing nights on in these smaller venues, but we need to encourage more young people to come into the sector who have the big ideas and drive to create something special. These are the promoters who will go on to create the Parklifes, Glastonburys and Creamfields of the future and provide the stages for new music acts to come through."

"As I've been speaking about recently in my book, when I was starting off my biggest hurdle was finding the money for venue hire, DJs, marketing and so on. I want to take this hurdle away and help young people who have the ideas but no way of breaking through."

To apply for funding, first-time promoters should email NTEOffice@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk, proposing their idea, why the event would be a success in Greater Manchester and details on how the entrant plans to utilise the funding.

Entries should be unique to Greater Manchester, forward-thinking and diverse, and music across all genres will be considered.

Shortlisted entrants will then be asked to present their concepts to Lord and his team in person, before four winning ideas are chosen for development over the next 12 months.

The closing date for the first round of entries is 30 June 2024.