Oh Yeah…We Did It!

The Oh Yeah Music Centre was celebrated as part of the annual Music Week Awards in the JW Marriot Grosvenor House in London. The Belfast venue is the first in Northern Ireland to win this major award at last night’s prestigious event in London.

The winner from a shortlist of ten venues from all over the UK including The Windmill in London, The Green Door Store in Brighton and the Leadmill in Sheffield was decided by public vote.

Led by Music Venue Trust the award signifies the importance of venues across the UK. Against the backdrop of two grassroots music venues closing per week due to chronic underfunding and crippling rising costs, this award is a positive step in recognising and supporting their important function as incubators of live music and talent development.

Since 2007, the Oh Yeah Music Centre, a registered charity, has provided ‘open doors to music’ from its base in the Cathedral Quarter area of Belfast. They dedicated the award to the music community in Northern Ireland, highlighting it as a collective win for the significant impact NI Music has on the community, as well as its contributions to events, tourism, and the broader music industry.

"To win this award means everything. Not only is it official recognition at a major industry awards event but it's also a public endorsement of our work. Live music makes a huge collective economic and social contribution to our lives, and we are so proud to bring this home to Northern Ireland. Thank you to everyone that voted for us and massive thanks to Music Venue Trust for making sure grassroots venues are recognised at this prestigious event," said Charlotte Dryden, CEO Oh Yeah Music Centre.

"This award is about recognising the incredible work delivered by hundreds of fantastic grassroots music venues in every part of the UK. The Oh Yeah Centre is the perfect winner of this award, encapsulating the very best that the grassroots sector offers; fantastic programming, community engagement, support for the very best new talent. The Oh Yeah team have done so much for music in Northern Ireland and beyond, and it's great to see that work celebrated with the Spirit of the Scene Award," added Mark David, CEO and Founder Music Venue Trust