The vibe is not trivial

Those of you who come to our concerts regularly will know that we work very hard on the atmosphere at our gigs. We want everyone to feel welcome, both musicians and audience, both regulars and newbies, both locals and visitors to Edinburgh, solo gig goers and those in a group, young and old and everyone in between.

To paraphrase a favourite fiddle player of ours, Alasdair Fraser, ‘the vibe is not trivial’. In fact, we might say the vibe is everything.

We want musicians to feel looked after, to give them everything possible to make them sound great in the auditorium, to make them comfortable in the dressing room, and keep them fed and watered.

We want all audience members to have a seat (unless it is one of our rare dancing gigs), to be able to see the musicians perfectly, and to hear without distractions from a busy bar.

As we say very often, our aim is to create a community through a shared love of live music. And we want to make it accessible as possible by keeping ticket prices as low as we can, whilst also supporting musicians at the start of their careers with engagements that also help them move up to the next level (by filming and recording the performances for example).

You will appreciate therefore that all of this costs money. We regularly apply to funders to help us in this aim, but as budgets are always being squeezed and opportunities for funding are limited, we don’t always have the support necessary to keep those ticket prices down, or offer the extra supportive engagements for the musicians (the showcases and special commissions for example). Our forthcoming autumn programme, for example, is unfunded and so you will find ticket prices for those gigs are a little higher than normal.

To help with our funding deficit, this summer we are asking you if you can help. We have launched the Soundhouse Fund so that our regular audience members can pledge whatever they can afford. We have over 4,000 people on our email list and if just 10% of them gave us £20 that would be £8,000. And as we are a charity we can add gift aid to that of another £2,000. Each basic rate tax payer who gives us £20 actually gives us £25. Perhaps 50 of you are able to give us £100? That £5,000 would become £6,250. There maybe even some higher rate tax payers amongst you that could give a little more and get some tax relief on your giving (noting it on your tax return).

Any amount you can manage will soon add up and make a significant difference to what we can do in 2026 and going forward.

Whether an individual or corporate donor, you can find out more about the fund here or hit the donate button below. Don’t forget to check the gift aid box.

Thank you, your support means a lot.

Jane-Ann & Douglas

PS If you represent a company who would like to give a bigger donation or talk about sponsorship opportunities, please get in touch via jane-ann[@]soundhouse.org.uk