Parliament’s jazz fans call for Lottery Project Grants Scheme to be restored

The All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group is urging Arts Council England to restore its National Lottery Project Grants Scheme "if ACE is not to make worse an already bad situation for jazz music in the culture-funding pecking-order". The group, which currently has well over 100 members from the House of Commons and House of Lords across all political parties, warns that bands and musicians whose current live work has been cancelled, will find themselves with no work next year if  "a relatively modest investment" isn't made to enable them to set up their 2021 bookings. They described as "particularly unhelpful" ACE CEO Darren Henley's response to their concerns, which noted that "protecting the infrastructure of venues used by performing artists required the Arts Council's full capacity at present".