Ben Reid, 21, from Croft between Warrington and Manchester has just completed his degree at Newcastle University & dreamt up a very unusual fundraiser to raise awareness of the crisis for small cultural venues and grassroots music.
He will be cycling from Manchester to Newcastle on a child’s bike complete with stabilizers.
He is doing this as a fundraiser for Cobalt Studios, a not for profit, community venue in Newcastle that offers a home for artists of all sorts, live music, educational events and club nights. He also aims to raise awareness of the crisis within the grassroots music sector that many small venues are facing right now.
He will set of from Manchester on July 30th and is hoping to hit IRO 40 miles a day, arriving in Newcastle approximately Aug 3rd or possibly later than this. The ride is 148 miles long with plenty of hills on the way, he will be taking the scenic route through rural Yorkshire.
“I’m doing it for Cobalt because it’s given me a lot in the last three years and I wanted other people who come to university here in the future to be able to have a chance to experience the same things that I have, because it’s magic. When I got wind of how delicate the finances were I wanted to help, this place has got too much to offer culturally for it to be lost to the cost of living crisis or the crisis of all the venues closing down. I wanted to do a fundraiser, that’s crazy enough that people read about and think, woah fair enough, here’s a fiver even if they aren’t involved with Cobalt. I think that it’s a massive challenge – anybody could do it on a normal bike but on a kids bike it’s going to be really hard, at the moment I am excited about it and ready for the challenge!”
Ben
“Running Cobalt has never been particularly easy, but currently year on year its gets harder and harder, the current cost of living crisis combined with the impact of covid and the rising cost of everything else is just a daily challenge and we are constantly extremely close to tumbling over into not being able to do this anymore. Myself and my co-director are unable to take a salary, so we work day jobs before Cobalt responsibilities and it all often feels very untenable. Despite the challenges we passionately believe that our direct community and the wider music & arts community really benefit from spaces like this; they bring people together, they cater for all ages, they often tackle social isolation, promote diversity, inclusion and belonging. Many small venues, Cobalt included, also offer education opportunities – as well as being a bedrock for the music industry for many they are also places of positive mental health, learning and connection. Capitalism leaves no room for these projects and we need to fight hard to protect them across the UK. We are beyond grateful that Ben is doing this ride for us, we will support him as much as we can and we ask that people along the way also do the same.”
Kate Hodgkinson, founder & creative director of Cobalt Studios
Resoures for Ben’s Campaign and Cobalt Studios
Learn more or donate at: bit.ly/ridingforgrassrootsmusic
Follow Cobalt Studios’ blog for updates: https://cobaltstudios.co.uk/zine/ben-on-a-bairns-bike/
Follow Cobalt Studios & Ben Reid on instagram for updates: @cobaltstudios.ouseburn @benreido
Follow our Youtube channel for updates: https://www.youtube.com/@cobaltstudios.ousebur
