The Goat’s Toe has a reputation for promoting live, original music from Bangor’s home-grown talent pool and hopes to entice bigger bands and support more varied genres of music over the coming year. It is also keen to host more festivals within the region and is planning venue upgrades to the stage, PA sound system and backline for touring artists. Expanding their in-house system will allow the shows to be viewed from the beer garden.
The Goat’s Toe Manager, Mark Ennis and Amanda Whittaker, marketing manager, Wolf Inns, will also use the £10,000 PRS for Music Back to Live Music Venue Prize to host more original music competitions, whilst investing money into a marketing and social media campaign to help promote events.
Mark Ennis, Manager, The Goat’s Toe, said: “The Goat’s Toe is thrilled to be awarded the PRS for Music Back To Live Prize. The venue has come in leaps and bounds since it opened its doors in 2011, with a focus on live music. The Goat will continue to support and showcase original, up-and-coming, and established musicians across the board. With the much appreciated support from PRS, we will grow and expand our ideas and our facility. We are excited to see where the journey takes us. Bangor as a city has a lot to offer, may we continue to shine!”
The devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the live music sector has been well-documented; between 2019 and 2021, PRS for Music saw an 84% decline in the number of live performance setlists reported to the organisation, falling from 124,000 in 2019, to 19,300 in 2021.
Andrea Czapary Martin, CEO, PRS for Music, said: “Venues that promote up-and-coming talent like The Goat’s Toe are vitally important to the health and growth of music in the UK. The Back to Live Music Venue Prize has emerged as a catalyst to support the teams behind local venues who play a real part in developing talent across the UK.”
Tony Barton, Head of Writer Relations, PRS for Music, said: “I’m very impressed with The Goat’s Toe and the talent it supports in the UK. Their enthusiasm and support for emerging talent is exactly what the UK music scene needs as it recovers from the pandemic. We wish the team there many more years success in enabling fresh talent to follow their musical dreams.”
PRS for Music’s Back to Live Music Venue Prize competition launched in March 2022 as the organisation’s direct response to the devastating effects of the global pandemic on live music venues in the UK. Open to independent live music venues who are not part of a national brand whose offering included music prior to pandemic closures, winning venues were determined by a judging panel made up of leading representatives from across the music, arts, and hospitality sectors. Complete prize terms and conditions can be found here. The final two UK regional Back to Live Music Venue Prize winners will be announced next month.
Amanda Whittaker (Marketing Manager, Wolf Inns) Mark Ennis (Manager, The Goat’s Toe )
Advertisement
