Minister for Creative Industries Colin Brooks today announced a $3.9 million boost for music festivals, musicians, and live music venues that will share in the funding, alongside programs for emerging regional musicians, culturally and linguistically diverse artists, event producers and young performers.
The first round of 10,000 Gigs: The Victorian Gig Fund will fund 144 venues across the state to stage paid gigs by local artists – giving venues a leg up and emerging artists the chance to perform live.
Also part of the package, $1 million of Music Works grants will support 92 music projects involving 600 music industry professionals – giving both emerging and established artists the opportunity to take the next step in their careers. Over the past 9 years, the program has invested almost $13 million in more than 800 projects.
Live music venues awarded grants include iconic Melbourne venues such as The Tote, The Jazzlab, Mamma Chen’s and Laundry, with regional venues like Ballarat’s Volta, Barwon Heads Hotel and Theatre Royal in Castlemaine all part of the mix, along with suburban venues like District 14 in Narre Warren.
The Labor Government’s Live Music Festivals Fund will see 22 festivals in Victoria receiving grants of up to $50,000 to help them stage new or existing events.
Festival recipients include fan favourites Port Fairy Folk Festival, Queenscliff Music Festival and Riverboats Festival, alongside the return of Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues, and new events including GROUNDED to be held at Dookie Quarry, and Yass Queens Park, a queer-focused festival in Moonee Ponds.
As part of the package, the GRID Series artist development program is back in Geelong for a second year helping local emerging musicians build and establish their careers, while The Push All Ages Grants will support live music venues, booking agents, artists, promoters and community organisations across Victoria to stage eventsfor all ages.
Multicultural Arts Victoria will present its third iteration of its NEWPRINT program, offering professional development opportunities for artists and creative workers from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
Victoria's live music industry is one of the state's most vital creative sectors, and this boost will support the jobs of event organisers, artists, venue owners, staff, and crews. This investment ensures that Victoria remains Australia's music heartland, with festivals that not only entertain but also sustain our creative workforce.
The first rounds of the Live Music Festivals Fund and Victorian Gig Fund are being delivered by Music Victoria on behalf of the Labor Government. These latest grants are part of a $35.4 million package delivered in the Victorian Budget 2023/24 to support Victoria’s live music industry at all levels and in all parts of the state.
For a full list of recipients visit creative.vic.gov.au.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Creative Industries Colin Brooks
“We’re continuing to back our state’s live music industry at all levels, with funding for festivals and venues to stage great events and live performances, support for established artists and industry workers, and to help emerging musicians get their start in the industry.”
“While the live music sector continues to face challenges across the country, this investment will help strengthen our local industry – a vital creative sector for our state.”
Quote attributable to Member for Preston Nathan Lambert
“This vital investment is a testament to the incredible musical talent in Preston, ensuring local artists and venues continue to thrive and share their passion for music with audiences across Victoria.”
Quote attributable to Music Victoria CEO Simone Schinkel
“It’s great to see the Victorian Government continuing to champion local musical talent, showcasing original contemporary music from Victoria in live music venues across the state, alongside international acts at festivals, and supporting Victorian artists as they tour nationally and internationally. It will be hard to be in Victoria and not experience the direct benefits of such an investment.”
Applications for Creative Victoria's Live Music Restart Program - Festivals & Events have opened, with funding of between $250,000 and $1,000,000 available to support the delivery of a single live music festival or event (3000 capacity in-person or more) or a series of live music festivals/large scale events, in Victoria.
If you are an experienced event organiser with an established Victorian live music festival or event, hear directly from Creative Victoria as we work through the application process together spelling out requirements and key selection criteria to be addressed.
The Live Music Restart Program - Festivals & Events ('the program') is intended to support the return of large, complex live music festivals and events in Victoria (with a capacity of 3000 or more in-person attendees) delivered by event organisers with a proven track record of delivering these types of events.
The funding round will open 3pm 21 July 2022 and close at 3pm on 18 August 2022.
Applications for Creative Victoria’s Music Works grants have opened, with grants of between $4,000 and $40,000 available for a range of music projects.
Join us and the team from Creative Victoria for our online info session on the Music Works Grants (June 2022 Funding Round).
In this session, hear directly from Creative Victoria as we work through the application process together spelling out requirements and key selection criteria to be addressed.
The Music Works Grants program accepts applications from Victorian-based contemporary music industry professionals. This may include artists/bands, managers, promoters, labels, and other music industry businesses and organizations across all genres and career stages. Applications close on June 30th, 2022 for activities commencing from October 1st, 2022.
For more information on the Music Works Grants, including Guidelines, Assessment Criteria, etc head to:
https://creative.vic.gov.au/grants-and-support/programs/music-works
As we are all coming out of lockdown and heading into the holidays, it's tough to balance life and stay afloat. Jumping straight back into gigging, work, and socializing can be exhausting. If you are a musician, performing arts, or music industry worker, the Support Act COVID-19 Crisis Relief Grants are still available, but applications must be in by December 3rd to be processed before Christmas.
Music Victoria understands that the application process can be confusing, so we are partnering with Support Act and Songlines to host an info session to assist you with the application process. Kiwat Kennell will be joined by Support Act’s First Nations Community Engagement/Social Worker Cerisa Grant and Songlines Co-CEO Kiernan Ironfield. The current round of funding is almost running out, so be sure to listen carefully and send any questions you may have to the team at Support Act or Music Victoria, listed below.
As we’re all coming out of lockdown, we think it’s best to hear what’s going on around in our local area.
Join the City of Port Phillip’s Live Music Lead and Music Victoria’s Project Coordinator Kiwat Kennell for a chat about the recently implemented Live Music Action Plan.
In this session, we discuss recently released programs that support local venues, grants, music events, musicians and the wider industry.
Sustaining Creative Workers provides quick-response grants to individual creative practitioners as well as creative collectives and micro-organisations to help them through the challenges of the pandemic and plan for reactivation.
Music Victoria ran an information session on the grant application process. This session will tailor to the wider music industry.
A series of short stories from creatives who have found alternative ways to be inspired and earn some money whilst live music has been off the table.
Collaborating Online – Terry Man and Narayana Johnson (aka River Boy)
Streaming: The Pros & Cons – Erin Shay and Si Hopman
Thriving in the New Normal – Kee’ahn
Australians who have had their hours of work and income significantly affected due to state lockdowns, will be eligible for a temporary COVID Disaster Payment.
The rapid support will be paid weekly to those workers who reside or work in a Commonwealth declared hotspot and are therefore unable to attend work and earn an income as a result of state imposed health restrictions, which last for greater than one week.
Eligible recipients will receive up to $500 per week for losing 20 hours or more of work, and $325 per week for losing under 20 hours. They must not have liquid assets of more than $10,000.
The payment will be made in respect of the second and any subsequent weeks of restrictions.
This support will be available for Australian citizens and permanent residents and eligible working visa holders. Individuals who are already receiving income support payments, business support payments, or the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment will not be eligible for this new payment. To qualify, people will need to have exhausted any leave entitlements (other than annual leave) or other special pandemic leave.
The payment will complement existing payments including the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment.
By making these payments available, the Australian Government will ensure that Victorian workers get the financial support they need to stay at home during this outbreak.
Access to Services Australia Disaster Assistance will be open to the public from Tuesday June 8 at www.servicesaustralia.gov.au or over the phone on 180 22 66.
The Melbourne Live Music Census released in April 2018 reported the value of door/ticket revenue generated by live music events at $389.2 million. Ancillary spending by patrons (food/drink/transport etc) attending those events was calculated at $1.03 billion, for a total economic generation of $1.42 billion.
While that was as accurate as possible at the time, it relied in part on 2016 Live Performance Australia data to estimate attendance and spending at major ticketed events (concerts, festivals, theatres) across the live music performance sector. We now have the LPA’s 2017 Ticket and Revenue Survey which reveals that 2017 was a bumper year for the performing arts, for Victoria and live music in particular.
What this latest report reveals is that in calculating the revenue generated for 2017, we should add $277 million to the figure reported in the Census, which increases the value of Melbourne’s live music in 2017 from $1.43 billion to $1.7 billion.
Thanks to all of the artists, venues, industry workers and fans who contribute to our amazing live music industry. Here’s to another bumper year in 2019.
Read the full Melbourne Live Music Census 2017 Postscript here