Out of Place: Making Space(s) for Music
Music venues and rehearsal spaces are quickly disappearing from cities. This is an extremely important and urgent problem that gets too little attention. Without independently owned spaces to encourage musicians to create and perform, our entire industry will collapse. We’re not talking about arena level venues or those owned by international corporations like AEG and Live Nation, but rather the 100 - 500 cap spaces that our underground scene desperately relies on. This panel looks at recent examples, both locally and globally, of cultural agencies, organizations and individuals developing innovative solutions for creating and maintaining independent music venues and rehearsal spaces. How can we make space when space is actually the issue? Can we turn existing buildings into multi-purpose collaboratives to give rising artist a chance? We'll examine the cultural and economic impact of these sites while discussing collaborative ways to encourage the development and support for more independent musical sites.
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Romy Poletti (CA)
PhD STUDENT, CARLETON UNIVERSITY
Romy Poletti, a PhD student at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, began her academic career tracing the history of roller rink music. Her current research continues to investigate the relationship between sound, music, space, and architecture, which unearths the history and foundational role of basements in Canada. Romy's previous experience in the music industry includes event and festival production in North America and Europe, and she is the lead vocalist of a doomcore band in Iceland.
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NORA DYRVIK (NO)
KULTURROM
Nora Dyrvik is an architect and advisor at Kulturrom, a national grant programme managing over 80 million NOK to create better stages, rehearsal spaces, and practice rooms for music, theatre, and dance across Norway. With a background in both architecture and the cultural sector, she serves as a bridge-builder between the two fields. She is currently developing the handbook "Kultur i eksisterende bygg" (Culture in Existing Buildings) – a practical guide to navigating building regulations, municipal processes, and property negotiations for cultural venues.
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Fritz-Ragnvald Rimala Pettersen (NO)
VATERLAND
Fritz-Ragnvald Rimala Pettersen is part-owner and booking manager at Vaterland Bar in Oslo. He is involved with multiple other music venues and part of the Valo Rock Festival way above the Arctic Circle.
He is also a somewhat active musician with his current band ATTAN, and has, over the last 25 years, spent a fair amount of time in rehearsal spaces of various quality.
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Chris Sherrington (UK)
MUSIC VENUE PROPERTIES
With a career in the music industry spanning 25 years, Chris has promoted shows, curated festivals and exhibitions and set up his own successful grassroots music venue in the North of England. He joined Music Venue Trust in 2020, where his background in process mapping and training, combined with a deep understanding of the challenges faced by venue operators, has helped him support grassroots music venues across the UK. He is now a key figure at Music Venue Properties, securing venues through community ownership as part of a revolutionary shift in ownership models, which has already safeguarded seven venues and raised over £5 million.
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Hein Rikar Steen Michaelsen (NO)
SEB's HOTEL
Hein Rikar Steen Michaelsen has been promoting and running venues since 2009. At 25, he and a friend bought a really worn down pub, a classic basement dive bar, 150 cap, no backstage, 14 PAR lights and a trusty old Turbosound PA with parts falling off it. Many amazing years of shows on that rig.
Live music was always the main drive, so they gradually invested in new PA, more lights, and eventually a proper lighting console. Then the whole pub burned down in 2022.
He's now back, renting a wooden church from 1889, and with the support of Kulturrom has the chance to get back in the game with a massive new everything rig.