As the National Independent Venue Association’s (NIVA) 2,900 members hope for the passage of the Save Our Stages Act in Congress, NIVA has announced the formation of the National Independent Venue Foundation (NIVF).

A registered nonprofit 501(c)(3), it seeks to partner and fundraise through individual, corporate and foundation donations to expand upon NIVA’s mission to preserve, as well as nurture the ecosystem of independent live performance venues and promoters throughout the U.S. by also seeking to support a transparent, competitive marketplace serving a diverse and inclusive community of artists, fans and industry workers.

“The National Independent Venue Foundation is built on the same guiding principles as the National Independent Venue Association. While NIVA remains the advocacy, sponsorship, and membership trade organization branch of the cause, The Foundation has been created to focus on separate, supplemental initiatives, such as the Emergency Relief Fund,” said Hal Real, president of NIVF. Real is also president of World Cafe Live in Philadelphia and secretary of NIVA.

“The Foundation hopes to learn from existing best practices and training programs undertaken by NIVA’s members and expand upon them to provide education and community programming, employee training and support, and economic development initiatives to further develop both organizations’ efforts to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion. Long-term, we hope to establish an endowment fund to assure sustainability of NIVA and Foundation programming for years to come.”