Brixton Academy refuse racial profiling and talk ticketing and improving safety at hearing

nme.com:

Kicking off this morning with a defence of the iconic gig space’s “economic and cultural importance” and “not being one of those venues that’s on the police’s radar”, the two-day hearing at Lambeth Council will determine whether or not the Academy Music Group can continue to operate their licence at the building.

The venue was forced to shut its doors following a fatal crowd crush that occurred at an Asake concert back in December.The event — which left two dead and one in critical condition — ultimately led to the Academy having its licence suspended.

The Metropolitan Police have since claimed to have “lost confidence” in the safety of the venue and made a push for the location to close its doors for good.In the later afternoon session of today’s hearing, Philip Kolvin QC was defending AMG when it was revealed that there were plans in place to have meetings “at least monthly” with police, as well as going into detail about their processes of risk assessment which “make no reference to genres”.“My client is probably the leading host of music of Black origin in this country,” said Mr Kovin QC. “That’s a position that it values and would like to continue to be.Of the 13 different risks assessed by the Academy, he said that “none of them are racial”.“They’re all specific events: overcrowding, crushing, collapse of balcony, burn injuries etc,” he said. “The risks are disaggregated and they have nothing to do with racial typing.He continued: “What we are not saying is, ‘This is a hip-hop artist: beware’.