Blackburn Gigs

14th April 2025 By Jamie Turner

Actual Music delivered a live music and performance programme in Blackburn Town Centre between September 2024 and March 2025, featuring a total of 124 live performances across town centre venues.

The project, supported by Arts Council England and Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, through the Government’s pilot King William Street Accelerator Programme, was developed to provide performance opportunities for musicians, developing audience engagement in the arts and stimulate nighttime economic activity in Blackburn. Our continued vision is to promote community cohesion & cultural understanding – and a creative, vibrant, musical town centre.

Deliverables:

A fair & equitable open call application process for artists
A total of 124 live performances from local & regional artists
Investment in equipment enabling small scale performances
Training & development delivered to artists in live sound, recording/streaming & promotion
Established Blackburn Gigs design assets
Development of Blackburn Gigs website & Instagram page
Established Blackburn Gigs mailing list & regular email newsletter
Extensive PR & advertising campaign, including regular placements on digital billboards, bus stops and posters around the borough
PR highlights include a front page feature on Lancashire Telegraph and an interview on BBC Radio Lancashire Breakfast Show.

Evaluation:

Artists, venues and audiences were asked a series of questions on a 1 – 5 scale. The mean scores are as follows:

How vibrant was Blackburn’s live music scene before ‘Blackburn Gigs’ started? 1 (It Wasn’t Vibrant At All) to 5 (Very Vibrant): 2.0
How important is it to help to develop Blackburn’s Live Music Scene? 1 (Not At All) to 5 (Very Much So): 4.7
Have you noticed an increase in attendance & attitude towards live music in Blackburn during this project so far? 1 (Not At All) to 5 (Very Much So): 3.8
Do you think Actual Music’s ‘Blackburn Gigs’ project is beneficial to developing live music in Blackburn, going forward? 1 (Not At All) to 5 (Very Much So): 4.9

Feedback:

“My experience with Blackburn Gigs has been truly uplifting. The venue I performed in transformed as soon as the live music began; diners who were chatting and enjoying drinks suddenly filled the space with singing and dancing. It was especially rewarding to see people come specifically to watch me after enjoying my previous performances at another venue the year before. The staff clearly enjoyed the atmosphere, and their enthusiasm brightened their shift” – Kiki (Performer)

“I’m really proud to have been a part of the Blackburn gigs programme and it’s really refreshing to see more music related events and happenings in my home town. Thank you for supporting local artists and bands and hope to see/be involved in more of it soon!” – Leah Eccles (Performer)

“I liked having local music events to attend. It’s difficult getting to other towns, e.g. Manchester, because of the cost of travel, unreliability of public transport, and cost of hotels to stay over instead. Having events that weren’t just in pubs made it a friendlier atmosphere too, and open to more people.” – Audience Member

“Well managed and really beneficial to the community and to the musicians that perform both financially and for the night life itself. I noticed in every place I played that the attendance and amount of time customers stayed in venues as well as the revenue generated for the venues and staff easily doubled, just by the presence of “something going on”. It would be great to continue to provide services and performances but also to experiment with pop up events and possibly festivals going forward to engage the community.” – Hughzy (Performer)

“We are touring artists and were able to bring a show to a pub in Blackburn that may not have been able to afford it otherwise. With the rising cost of living, pubs are really feeling the pinch and their margins just don’t allow them to have a budget for musicians. We have heard from a lot of artist how much this has been hurting them, especially the ones who rely on this income. Blackburn Gigs is a beautiful project that is supporting both local musicians to grow and local venues to provide a home base for live music. Wonderful” April Moon (Performer)

“Blackburn Gigs has been a brilliant project that shows there is absolutely a demand for live music in Blackburn. The venues that support the project have a brilliant atmosphere and patrons have had great feedback as a result. – Victoria Chesterton (Performer)

“Blackburn Gigs is a massive push in the right direction for helping the music scene in Blackburn both for local businesses and young and upcoming talents to showcase what our area is all about.” – The Firepit (Venue)

“Fantastic from the start, some really brilliant music and its really helped bring more people in, singing and dancing – Turtle Bay (Venue)

“Loved the gigs at the Bureau and Prism. The artists were all top quality but also quite diverse and the look and feel of the venues worked well. Particularly loved the Prism gig and Laura James.” – Audience Member

“An admirable attempt to boost the town’s nighttime social scene, all the more difficult as the town centre has been allowed to wither, leaving 10,000 young people to look elsewhere for their nightlife, or to stay at home or local…A small nucleus of us are desperate for any type of nighttime renaissance” – Audience Member