Grow has received a great deal of support since we started in 2014 epitomising the sharing economy of Hackney Wick by collaborating with artists, musicians, techies, residents, local breweries, community enterprises and suppliers and the Grow team (past and present). The community have shared skills, knowledge, talent and tools and spent hard earned money with us. That is what got us where we are today and we thank every single one of you.

We give continual huge thanks to the Music Venue Trust who campaign and give guidance to hundreds of grassroots music venues across the UK.

2025/26
With the support of Arts Council England’s Supporting Grassroots Music Fund, we are now able to invest in enhancing our indoor spaces. This ensures that Grow can be enjoyed comfortably throughout the year by improving the experience for artists and audiences alike, and by enabling us to host a new programme of events: Canalside Snug Series running from December 2025 to March 2026.

2024
In our 10th anniversary, we found ourselves at a pivotal juncture we also had to confront a sobering reality: without immediate investment in our long-term sustainability, we might not have survived our 10th year so we launched a Crowdfunder. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we reached £10,000, giving us the vital support so we could take the action needed to survive at that time.

2023
We were recipients of the Music Venue Trust Pipeline Investment which helped us with 50% of emergency replacement of audio equipment.

Support during the Pandemic 2020-2021

After the pandemic hit, we’re incredibly grateful for the support of the Arts Council Emergency Fund in April and the Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund 1 & 2 administered by the Arts Council England in 2020 and 2021. We used this funding to continue to share music and art and support musicians, artists and our technical teams through these challenging times.

We were also supported by the Mayor of London’s Culture at Risk Business Support Fund through the Grassroots Music Venues Crisis Fund which ensured we could stay open this summer before the Cultural Recovery Fund was announced in October 2020.

Pre-Pandemic

Also, just before lockdown in March 2020, we had begun working with the Future Venture’s Foundation and the Radical Arts Fund to research the impact of Grow in a non-quantitative way.