{"id":2309915,"date":"2026-03-03T08:32:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T08:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2309915"},"modified":"2026-03-03T08:32:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T08:32:32","slug":"auckland-independent-music-venues-to-receive-upgrades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/auckland-independent-music-venues-to-receive-upgrades\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland Independent Music Venues to Receive Upgrades"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>T\u0101maki Makaurau Auckland independent music and comedy venues are receiving some support as part of a new initiative.<\/p>\n<p>The <span class=\"il\">Spark<\/span> <span class=\"il\">Arena<\/span> Community Events Fund (SACEF) today announced a landmark venue support initiative, providing more than $100,000 in initial resource support to independent venues across the city centre.<\/p>\n<p>The pilot programme is providing funding for high-spec, artist-facing equipment, including microphone packages, monitor wedges, and professional DJ gear, directly to the city centre venues \u201cthat serve as the incubators for Aotearoa\u2019s next generation of headliners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLive Nation acknowledges that the music community needs a healthy ecosystem of venues,\u201d says Mark Kneebone, MD Live Nation.\u00a0\u201cArtists\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0start at <span class=\"il\">Spark<\/span> <span class=\"il\">Arena<\/span>; they start at places like Whammy and The Classic Comedy Club. By helping to upgrade the equipment in these rooms, we are ensuring local artists have world-class tools to develop their craft right here in the city\u00a0centre. This pilot\u00a0programme\u00a0has shown us that the need is there and the impact is real.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Initial beneficiaries of the 2025 intake include Whammy Ltd (major acoustic and audio infrastructure upgrades across its three-day complex); The Classic Comedy Club on Queen Street (fixed digital broadcast and post production system dedicated to live recording of comedy and events); Neck of the Woods on Karangahape Road (new industry-standard <wbr\/>monitoring and lighting packages); The Mothership on Shortland St (professional-grade DJ mixers and sound reinforcements for electronic artists); and Ding Dong Lounge on Wyndham St (essential backline (amps and drum hardware) to reduce costs for emerging bands.)<\/p>\n<p>The 2025 pilot programme specifically targeted independently owned venues in the city centre with a capacity of under 400 that focus on original live content.<\/p>\n<p>Vincent\u00a0Lipanovich, Director of Partnerships for\u00a0T\u0101taki\u00a0Auckland Unlimited, on behalf of the <span class=\"il\">Spark<\/span> <span class=\"il\">Arena<\/span> Community Fund Committee says, \u201cIndependent venues are where Auckland\u2019s music and comedy scenes are grown, tested and shared with the world. This pilot backs the places that nurture emerging talent and keep our city centre creative, lively\u00a0<wbr\/>and distinctive. We are proud to support a partnership that strengthens the full live performance ecosystem, from grassroots stages to global tours.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"observer-sub-form justify-content-center my-3 p-0 d-flex align-items-stretch bg-dark text-white\">\n<div class=\"observer-sub-form-info p-3\" style=\"justify-content: start;\">\n<h2 class=\"h5 mb-0 observer-title\">Love Music?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"observer-desc mb-2\"> Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian\/New Zealand music and globally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"spinner d-none\"> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Tom Anderson of Whammy Bar adds: \u201cThis support from the <span class=\"il\">Spark<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"il\">Arena<\/span>\u00a0community fund is huge for us. It means we can move past just \u2018making do\u2019 and start putting in the acoustic treatment and gear that these spaces deserve. Whether\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a local act learning how to be a touring musician or an international pro playing an intimate 1 a.m. set,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0making sure the vibe is there. Everything we do is driven by love for the community, and this allows us to\u00a0actually build\u00a0on that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Previous\u00a0beneficiaries of the\u00a0<span class=\"il\">Spark<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"il\">Arena<\/span>\u00a0Community Fund include Tuning Fork\u2019s Sounds Fun for Kids, Emerging Artists at Tuning Fork (Next On),\u00a0T\u0101maki\u00a0Makaurau Senior Regional Kapa Haka Competition and Mana Moana.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');fbq('init','243859349395737');fbq('track','PageView');fbq.disablePushState=true;<\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source au.rollingstone.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>T\u0101maki Makaurau Auckland independent music and comedy venues are receiving some support as part of a new initiative. The Spark Arena Community Events Fund (SACEF) today announced a landmark venue support initiative, providing more than $100,000 in initial resource support to independent venues across the city centre. The pilot programme is providing funding for high-spec, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2309916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[424698,447442,447443,447444],"class_list":["post-2309915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-auckland","tag-auckland-music-venues","tag-auckland-venues","tag-spark-arena"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Auckland-Independent-Music-Venues-to-Receive-Upgrades.webp.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2309915"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2309917,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309915\/revisions\/2309917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2309916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2309915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2309915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2309915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}