Grow is Winter-Ready
Last winter, with support from Arts Council England’s Supporting Grassroots Music fund, we launched the Canalside Snug Series: 12 co-created live music events designed to reimagine Grow’s indoor space and make it somewhere audiences and artists would genuinely want to spend time during winter.
Improving the venue and your experience
The project was about more than putting on gigs. We replaced outdated lighting, upgraded our sound and stage equipment, invested in better seating and brought more greenery into the venue. We also trained our team in lighting, audio, and customer service training.
Together, these changes created a warmer, more comfortable and welcoming indoor space, while giving musicians a stronger environment in which to perform.
Across the 12 supported events, we welcomed over 1,500 people, with audiences rating their experience an average of 4.9 out of 5 and almost 100% saying they intended to return.
Audience feedback captured the atmosphere we were hoping to create:
“An inclusive warm welcoming environment.”
“Vibey, respectful, free open expressive ambience.”
“A melting pot of genre.”
Supporting grassroots music
Across Canalside Sessions, Jazz Jam and Not The Usual Jam, the programme brought together more than 35 creative professionals, bridging generations and drawing on African, Caribbean, Latin American and East London grassroots music networks.
The line-up brought pioneering artists including Orphy Robinson MBE, Cleveland Watkiss MBE, Roland Perrin and Jean Toussaint together with emerging talent including BBC Young Jazz Musician finalist Klara Devlin and drummer Miranda Radford.
Women instrumentalists, vocalists and bandleaders were central to the programme, including Harleighblu, Shirley Tetteh, Laura Impallomeni and Isobella Burnham, across music ranging from Latin jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms to hard-bop, neo-soul, amapiano and improvisation.
Musicians told us:
“A safe, supportive, mindful and fun creative space to explore one's musicality.”
“Beautiful communal feel. Brilliantly looked after by the staff. A delight to play here.” Musician
“Pivotal to the growth of an ever hard to thrive in music scene in LDN.”
Working with our community
The project also gave us the opportunity to work more closely with partners who share Grow’s values, including Repot, Growing Communities, Square Mile Coffee and Hackney Night Shelter. These collaborations brought new planting into the venue, introduced discounts linked to a new local veg pick-up scheme, and added free coffee and a special guest Espresso Martini to the winter offer. Our blanket initiative also raised £200 for Hackney Night Shelter. Together, these partnerships helped connect the project to wider community, environmental and social-value activity.
What we learnt
The biggest lesson has been that becoming winter-ready isn’t about one single intervention. Great programming, sound, lighting, comfort, team skill building, partnerships and audience experience all have to work together.
And importantly, the improvements don’t end with the funded programme. The equipment remains, the skills stay with our team, and we can continue building on what we’ve learned.
We’re now heading into autumn and winter with a venue we can confidently call winter-ready, and we’re already seeing increased booking enquiries and ticket sales for the coming months.
A huge thank you to Arts Council England, and to all the musicians, partners, audiences and team members who helped make this project happen.