“These are amazing places to be. People love to brag about the first time they saw a band, and that only happens in small venues,” says Toni Coe-Brooker, Campaigns & Comms Manager at Music Venue Trust (MVT).
Toni would know. Growing up in Woking, a not exactly globally renowned music hub but one where creativity most definitely exists, she became very aware of how a lack of music venues can be a barrier to experiencing culture. Later, she moved to Brighton and became the programming and production manager at the city’s 300-capacity Green Door Store venue. “When I moved to Brighton I was suddenly part of a whole music ecosystem of venues that were all thriving. My mind felt like it was exploding,” she remembers.
Through Toni’s past experience and her current work at the MVT, she and her team understand the shared experiences that only a small venue can bring. But, as music venues continue to make little profit or are forced to close entirely, she is also painfully aware of the struggles they face.
That’s where a festival like Everywhere at Once is looking to help. With Everywhere at Once, the MVT has teamed up with The National Lottery to bring live music to your doorstep, wherever you may be. Want to see hardcore music in London or folk in the very northest part of Scotland? Everywhere at Once is making that happen. From 26-28 July, Everywhere at Once takes over more than 400 venues for a truly UK-wide festival.
The scope is vast. Newcastle natives can see Tinie Tempah perform in a local bar while country bands play in tiny huts found in deepest, darkest Welsh countryside. But while a partnership with The National Lottery may bring big names to small venues a majority of the programming comes from the venues themselves, using the knowledge from their local areas to curate something for their own communities.
“[The venues involved] pretty much all programme their own shows, and we put a massive PR campaign around it to be say how special it all is,” says Toni. “We’re all coming together for this moment.“
This, says Toni, helps create a deeper infrastructure for independent venues in the longer term. “Everywhere at Once is really about celebrating the UK’s grassroots music culture on a national scale,” says Toni. “We often think about live music through the lens of massive festivals, arenas or stadiums, but the reality is that music culture starts in grassroots venues. These are places where artists develop and meet their audience for the first time.“
It’s perhaps easy to think of venues as Saturday drinking spots or places that host battle of the bands and local up-and-comers. These are still vital spaces for nightlife, but independent venues are where future headliners are born and cultural seeds are planted. From the pubs that birthed punk and the dancehalls that gave us Notting Hill to the rave spaces of Manchester and Liverpool, independent venues are much more than a local hangout.
In Toni’s own words, the reason for Everywhere at Once was not only to create something that honours music legacies found within four walls on a major scale, but also something that feels incredibly local. A large-scale festival (of sorts) in spaces that don’t require a tram, taxi and train to get to, but places at the end of your road. “It’s about potentially finding your new favourite artist and supporting the local music economy as well,” says Toni.
Whether it’s a city, town, village or hamlet, non-green field festivals create a mini-ecosystem beyond just the ticket price, something that’s becoming more vital amidst dying high streets. “People often don’t realise that when you go into a local music venue, you’re also helping the local business economy,” says Toni. “You might go for a drink beforehand in the local pub or get a bite to eat. That’s helping everyone. And once you’re through the door, the money you’ve paid for the ticket doesn’t just pay for the artists. It goes to the local photographer, the sound engineer, the lighting engineer and the people behind the bar.“
Hyperlocal scenes promotes many things. Sometimes, they can create friendships with neighbours you’ve only said hello to before. Other times, it’s just about being able to be back in bed by 11pm. But there’s also some unseen benefits. “If you have a local venue you’re not driving across the country or buying loads of tents that you’re going to end up leaving at a festival,” says Toni. “It’s all on your doorstep.“
It’s not the first time the MVT and The National Lottery have worked together. In 2021, the Revive Live Tour brought the likes of Sam Fender, Fontaines D.C. and more to small venues in effort to support them post-COVID. But Everything at Once may be its biggest project yet.
“I’m not going to pretend it hasn’t been a lot of work,” laughs Toni, but there’s always a reminder behind the work. “Local venues and local nightlife in your own community, there’s so much at your fingertips already.“
“People sometimes need a bit of reminder of this,” Toni goes on to say. “It’s pretty special when you have a grassroots music venue. It really changes the way young people develop and how they connect with culture and politics and other human beings.“
The festival isn’t just born through a halcyonic need to inspire new generations, though. It comes through necessity.
In 2025 35 music venues shut its doors, including heritage spots such as Liverpool’s Zanzibar and Leicester’s The Shed, while a report from Ticketsource recently found that for every 100 new venues opening, 69 are closing their doors. Furthermore, around 11,000 pubs, bars and grassroots venues have closed since 2019. Festivals are also facing similar hardships.
“It’s terrifying,” says Toni on venue closures. “There’s a multitude of reasons why venues need support. There’s a price hike in gas and electricity and a lot of competitiveness when it comes to suppliers too. There’s brewery ties, licensing issues, noise complaints and ownership of buildings.“
It’s for these reasons why Everywhere at Once isn’t just a flash in the pan weekender, rather something that adds to the MVT’s wider goals. One part of that is seen in MVT’s Own Our Venues campaign. This radical initiative, operated through the Charitable Community Benefit Society Music Venue Properties, aims to bring at least 15 venues into community ownership by the end of 2026, thus securing their futures.
This model for MVT came not from music, but from sport. “The idea came from grassroots football,” says Toni. “In football, all the people who are creaming the profits are at the top but it’s always down to a community who come together to buy a local club to make sure it can survive.”
The parallel may seem unlikely at first. But just like football stars are born in muddied parks and astroturf pitches, the musicians of tomorrow are found in community spaces across the UK. And ultimately, Everywhere at Once is aiming to ensure that can continue.
“Despite all the serious challenges facing the sector at the moment, the feeling around this festival is incredibly hopeful and celebratory,” says Toni. “There’s a real sense of people wanting to champion their venues and be part of something positive together.“
Everywhere at Once takes place 26–28 June 2026 in venues across the UK. Find your nearest event here.
The post ‘People love to brag about the first time they saw a band. That only happens in small venues’: Music Venue Trust’s Toni Coe-Brooker on building the UK’s biggest festival appeared first on Festival Insights.
