St James joins in independent venue celebration
PERFORMERS have been getting on stage in Guernsey as part of Independent Venue Week.
The UK-wide initiative aims to showcase the important role independent venues play in supporting grassroots performers.
St James hosted two events last week – a comedy club with Grant Sharkey on Friday night and then a music event, with local and overseas bands, on Saturday night.
St James executive director Jon Bisson said Guernsey did have some independent venues, like themselves and the Fermain Tavern.
‘It is important to remind people of how important independent venues are,’ he said.
‘We focus on original music and young bands.’
Around 150 tickets were sold for Saturday night’s event, which saw music from Beach Riot, Stone Cold Fiction, The Tarantulips and Case on the Base.
St James has been trying to widen its offering in recent years. While it has always had a good schedule of classical music, the venue is now stretching more into modern music, comedy and theatre.
Mr Bisson said things had been really taking off and they were now able to reach a wider section of the community.
‘We’ve gone from having classical to being able to offer something for everybody,’ he said.
‘We are very happy with it. It’s been a journey to get people to see what we do.’
