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Inner City Music

Inner City Music is an award-winning charity that exists to celebrate music and its power to engage, inspire and unify. 

Duration
5 Years
Cost of capital
6.5%
Turnover
£1,382,000
Amount invested
£300,000
Product type
Unsecured loan (incl. overdrafts)

Challenge 

In our venue, Band on the Wall, and through our wider programmes and activities, we enable all people to discover, explore, enjoy and participate in the best music from around the world.

Band on the Wall has been at the heart of Manchester’s cultural and music landscape for more than a century. While making a name for itself for bringing the finest jazz, folk, blues and international music to Manchester. Band on the Wall became central to the town’s famed post-punk scene in the late 1970s when Buzzcocks, The Fall and Joy Division played some of their earliest gigs at the venue.

Solution

Since 2019, Inner City Music has delivered a programme of learning and participation activities called World of Music. The programme uses music as a tool for engagement with social and cultural heritage and identity, focussing on the migrant communities of Manchester, while tackling loneliness and providing enjoyment and mental and physical wellbeing for all ages.

Despite its cultural significance, in 2014 a full review concluded that the building was too small to support a live music venue without substantial subsidy. We embarked on a six-year, £3.5 million project to transform the building to truly make it the best showcase music venue of its scale in the UK, expanding its capacity with new learning spaces and opening a second venue for emerging artists.

Revenue

Inner City Music operates the live music venue Band on the Wall in Manchester.

In 2019, CAF Venturesome offered us a £200,000 unsecured loan to initiate the pre-construction enabling works in spring 2020. Only £50,000 of this was used before the project was paused due to the pandemic, with the remaining amount recycled back to CAF Venturesome. Construction began in November 2020 and in 2021 CAF Venturesome offered a new social investment of £250,000 consisting of a £150,000 loan and a £100,000 standby facility. 

This standby facility provided the flexibility to protect against future uncertainties around building costs, construction delays and other unexpected complications.

Impact

Along with the transformation of the building, we have transformed the organisation, refocussing our mission on celebrating the music of all the diverse communities of the UK. We aim to be a truly inclusive and international facing music venue and provide opportunities for local communities to get involved in music making and produce accessible digital content to educate people online.

Activities, which are often subsidised or free to attend and with instruments provided, include:

•    Choirs for adults and children
•    Music workshops and clubs
•    Programmes of music lessons and performances for teenagers
•    School visits to learn about the heritage of the building and neighbourhood, musical and cultural traditions and careers in the arts
•    Six-month paid internships
•    Lunchtime concert series
•    Artist residencies to celebrate local unsung musical histories
•    Archiving activities to preserve the history of the venue and raise awareness of the positive cultural impact of migrant communities and how music tells our history

We have also partnered with The Manchester College to operate as a pathway for students into the music industry by providing venue space, access to specialists and performing artists, work experience opportunities and a range of classes and activity programmes.

“CAF Venturesome was a perfect partner and critical friend throughout the process of developing and funding our project. We found their in-depth analysis and due diligence to be helpful and, with support from their highly professional and capable team, encouraged us to critically test our own assumptions in a positive way. The CAF Venturesome approach was intelligent and refreshing and should act as a model for others considering social investment.”

-    Gavin Sharp, CEO of Inner Music

“We wanted to support Inner City Music to re-develop their culturally important venue, Band on the Wall. But they are so much more than just a music venue. ICM works with local schools and community groups providing in-person workshops and digital learning programmes on music of the migrant communities of Manchester. We are proud to support their heritage and their inclusive learning programmes.”

-    Nayantara Nath, Investment Manager at CAF Venturesome