National Independent Venue Assn. to Be Honored at 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony

Jem Aswad
·2 min read

The National Independent Venue Association — a.k.a. NIVA, the coalition that has played a monumental role in helping the country’s indie venues to survive the pandemic — will be honored for its work at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony in Ohio on Saturday (Oct. 30).

Formed just weeks after the pandemic forced nearly every independent venue in the U.S. to close in March of last year, NIVA, its leadership and its 2,000-plus members played a vital role in obtaining federal relief funding for independent venues via the $16 billion “Save Our Stages” act, which passed in late December after the organization led a savvy and effective awareness campaign on Capitol Hill. While problems at the Small Business Administration prevented the funds from being distributed for several months, NIVA worked to unblock that impasse as well, and the money began flowing to venues in earnest in July.

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“We are grateful for your hard work as NIVA leaders over the last year to keep live music alive,” R&RHOF president/CEO Greg Harris wrote in a letter to NIVA members. “Independent venues are vital to rock & roll. Every band in the Rock Hall first took the stage in a local club, bar or theater. Inside local independent venues we experience some of the greatest moments of our lives. …

“The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is here to support our Inductees and our Museum, and to champion live music through programs like our summer concert series, our artist in residence program, our Induction Week, and much more. This week we want to celebrate all of you, our venue friends, for making it through a dark time. We are banking on a brighter future — so let’s raise a toast to rock & roll and live music together on October 30th!”

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