Today marks the announcement from Music Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria of the new team who will lead the Regional Music Development Program.
Funded by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and delivered in partnership by Music Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria, the Regional Music Development (RMD) program will be focused on implementing music recovery projects across the State.
The pilot program brings together a team from three key areas of Victoria including Mallacoota, Shepparton and Castlemaine with a fourth team manager based near Heathcote. These Regional Music Coordinators will lead COVID-19 and post-bushfire recovery efforts in their community to address the needs of musicians, music professionals and music communities and is designed to create a long-lasting legacy by empowering regional music industry with the skills, networks and strategies they need to recover from the effects of COVID-19 and carry that increased capacity into the future.
Each of the local music workers will develop projects and initiatives to support local music networks and activity as well as act as brokers to establish connections with music representatives in other parts of the state, local governments, arts bodies and other relevant stakeholders.
“The Regional Music Industry Recovery Program is designed to support those working in the local music scene access the
skills, connections, and strategies they need to recover from the impacts of COVID-19.”
“The Victorian Government is proud to back these industry professionals who have what it takes to support our regional artists, venues and music businesses to become stronger than ever.” – The Hon. Danny Pearson, Minister For Creative Industries.
“While international borders remain largely closed, it’s clear that supporting regional and domestic initiatives will be key to navigating our way through the current period. We’re thrilled to be able to support these regions in driving this development” – Dale Packard, General Manager – Music Victoria.
“This team brings together an impressive range of skills and experience. We know that providing opportunities for regional music communities to respond effectively to their current challenges requires a mix of on-the-ground networks and connections to the wider industry, and we’re confident this group has an excellent balance of both.” – Joe Toohey, CEO – Regional Arts Victoria
The pilot project has just kicked off and the project coordinators in each area are as follows:
Fionna Allan – Regional Music Coordinator, Castlemaine (Mount Alexander Shire Council)
Fionna Allan is a Creative Project Manager with a background in tour management, venue booking, television production, festival operations, community radio and kitchen discos, amongst many other things. Prior to moving to Castlemaine in 2018, Fionna was based in Wales for 12 years and spent many years touring the world as a tour manager and production
coordinator for a variety of international artists, as well as working for the BBC, various music festivals and venues, and government arts organisations. More recently, Fionna has worked managing community radio station 94.9 MAINfm and in bookings and production at the Theatre Royal Castlemaine. She is also on the board of Castlemaine Circus. A terrible musician herself, Fionna is passionate about supporting musicians and the creative industries, living in Central Victoria, road trips and playing records at her friends.
Ree Peric – Regional Music Coordinator, Shepparton (Greater Shepparton City Council)
Ree is a 19-year-old artist with roots deep within Fiji, Croatia and Uganda. An artist living and working on the traditional lands of the Yorta Yorta people. Born in Australia, she grew up in Uganda before moving back to Shepparton in late 2014. Ree works across various mediums including visual art, performance, song-writing and music production. She is passionate about working with her community and forming creative expressions through all types of music and art.
Katie Symes – Regional Music Coordinator, Mallacoota (East Gippsland Shire Council)
Katie is Mallacoota and District Bushfire Recovery Hub Co-Coordinator with Bushfire Recovery Victoria. Katie sees her role as walking alongside her community to help navigate the systems of support in their bushfire recovery journeys. Katie is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts and has 20 + years experience in the not-for-profit, higher education, health,
music and cultural sectors as a producer, facilitator, communicator and manager delivering projects, large scale social change campaigns and events both in remote, regional and national locations and internationally. Katie’s years of experience in the music industry as a producer, artist and tour manager has seen her travel extensively to regional and remote locations, nationally and internationally working with numerous inspirational songwriters, musicians and music professionals. Katie is co-producer (a role she shares with Maurial Spearim) of international touring music project the
Homelands Collective bringing young and established First Nations singer-songwriters to connect songs across oceans through music mentoring workshops and live performance opportunities at festivals and gatherings around the world.
Jesse Nation– Regional Music Coordinator, Mallacoota (East Gippsland Shire Council)
Jesse has a passion for all things musical and is highly motivated to energise people in music performance and production. He is proud of his Aboriginal heritage and is keen to support inclusion and healing through story and song. He has been a long-time volunteer in regional communities providing musical entertainment to audiences across the State. Jesse is a self-confessed gear nerd with a home studio that has hosted many a jam session. He loves fixing all kinds of musical equipment and specialises in guitar repair. Jesse also brings with him over fifteen years of experience working with community as a Parks Victoria Ranger in Melbourne, Apollo Bay and Mallacoota. Drawn to Far East Gippsland through its unique spirit of place, he has made Mallacoota his home with his family. Jesse is committed to giving back to his community by supporting and empowering people through music.
Sarah DeBorre – Regional Music Project Manager, Mount Camel (City of Greater Bendigo)
Sarah brings over 20 years of involvement in the Victorian music community, combined with close to nine years of project management experience to her new role as Regional Music Program Manager. After four years of running Music Victoria’s Live Music Professionals program, which placed a heavy emphasis on regional participation, coupled with Sarah’s move to the Heathcote area in early 2020 and a new part-time role programming music at regional live music venue, The Shiraz Republic, Sarah is excited to lead this new project.
For more information please head to https://musicvictoria.com.au/regional-music-development-program/ or contact Sarah DeBorre at sarah@musicvictoria.com.au.
The Regional Development Program is funded by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.
In late 2020, select nominees of the Music Victoria Awards were given the opportunity for a paid and professionally filmed livestream event, thanks to funding from the Victorian Government’s Victoria Together Program.
These live-streamed concerts will provide a valuable income and promotional stream for the nine lucky recipients, along with providing income and networks to the crew behind the scenes.
Each Tuesday for the following 7 weeks, Music Victoria will introduce you to a new award-nominated artist, via live performances filmed at some of Victoria’s most iconic music venues, exclusively for Victoria Together.
Music Victoria presents Leah Senior – Live at The Thornbury Theatre
Presented by Music Victoria
Still and Video Production by Semiconductor Media
Leah Senior silences audiences with her ethereal vocals and unique lyricism. Her latest album The Passing Scene lilts between spring time baroque-pop and 70s folk, with lead single “Evergreen” nominated for Best Song at the Music Victoria Awards 2020. The Passing Scene effortlessly weaves together themes of impermanence, the natural world, loss and ultimately hope. When performing, Senior is joined by her sister Andi and guitarist/pianist Jesse Williams creating a tapestry of ethereal harmonies and jangly 60s guitar. The Passing Scene also features Tam Matlakowski on bass and Luke Brennan on drums. Leah Senior has performed extensively throughout Australia and Europe, playing at major festivals including Golden Plains, Boogie, Queenscliff Music Festival and OOAM (Switzerland). Early 2019 saw Leah Senior embark on her first headline international tour in support of her single Graves. Leah Senior will be returning to Europe and then joining King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard for their upcoming tour of America and Canada in 2021.
Catch a teaser of Leah Senior's set below and keep checking in weekly for the other concerts on Victoria Together's website.
Artist Social Media
Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Soundcloud / Spotify / Bandcamp
Leah Senior: Music Victoria Awards 2020 showcase from Victoria Together on Vimeo.
Leah Senior – Live at The Thornbury Theatre is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria
Today, the Victorian Government unveiled a $167.3 million Creative State funding package, which promises to support the sector as it returns to operation post-pandemic. This package reinforces the important role that Music Victoria and the Victorian Music Development Office (VMDO) play in the Victorian music scene. The investment will create more than 20,000 jobs for the Victorian creative industries.
Read the full press release here: https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/creative-state-future-be-bolder-and-brighter
Music venues in Victoria have today taken their punters' safety into their own hands by launching a NO QR, NO ENTRY policy. Initiated by Save Our Scene as a proactive measure to address the concerns of the Department of Health, music venues across Victoria are confirming their COVIDSafe compliance on a registry hosted by Music Victoria.
"We know that QR Code compliance is a big piece of the puzzle. We’re stepping up to show Health that music venues and music fans can be trusted to do the right thing."
– Simone Ubaldi, Venue Booker, The Croxton Bandroom; Manager, Amyl and the Sniffers.
To combat seemingly arbitrary disparities in restrictions between indoor non-seated venues (which make up the majority of music venues) and other industries or social settings – Save Our Scene and Music Victoria are working together to ensure that music venues have a QR code check in rate of 100%. This would enable fast contact tracing in the case of an outbreak and make live music one of the safest and most compliant industries in the state. This is ahead of the 28 May deadline announced on Friday.
“As an industry we are doing and will continue to do whatever is asked of us from Health in order to create safe environments for artists and audiences. That is number one priority, not just during COVID times but always.”
–Correne Wilkie, Manager, The Cat Empire and Boy & Bear.
In addition to this new policy, many music venues have a second line of defence, through their ticketing system with Moshtix, Oztix and Eventbrite implementing mandatory Track and Trace fields, for not only the ticket purchaser – but for each guest.
"It’s in everyone’s best interest to have good contact tracing –especially with the delay in vaccine rollout – but for music venues –it’s our chance to prove that we are absolutely serious about working with the health department."
– Ben Thompson, Venue Booker, 170 Russell
With this new QR policy and such high compliance rates Save Our Scene expects to see the further easing of restrictions in June.
"We desperately need to keep pushing up the capacities of our music venues. Friday’s announcement has alleviated the pressure on about half of our venue members, but there are still many who remain severely impacted by the density quotient of 1 person per 2 square metres."
– Simone Schinkel, CEO, Music Victoria
The Victorian live music sector contributes over $1.7 billion per year 2 in GDP (including ancillary spending by patrons) and on an annual basis 116,000 full time equivalent jobs are created through the live music with every $1 spent on live music returning $3 in value.
Save Our Scene and Music Victoria urges live music audiences to get behind this campaign.
To see who is on the registry head to www.musicvictoria.com.au/the_registry
To register your venue head to www.musicvictoria.com.au/registration
Download and print the "NO QR, NO ENTRY" poster for your venue here
Good news in for live music in Victoria...
Density quotients of one person per two square metres will soon be lifted for small-to-medium sized venues across the state – but Victorians need to keep playing their part to help us stay safe and stay open by checking in using the Victorian Government QR Code Service through the Service Victoria app.
From 28 May, these venues can have up to 200 people per space (such as a dining room or band room) without any density limit, provided COVID marshals are on site ensuring all patrons are checking in to each space. These changes will apply for spaces that are 400 sqm or below, larger spaces still need to observe density limits.
This means Victoria’s live music venues, restaurants, bars and nightclubs, will be able to welcome more patrons in a COVIDSafe way. It’s also an important step for places of worship, with people able to register their details and gather in greater numbers within spaces smaller than 400 square metres.
From 28 May, all venues and businesses required to undertake electronic record keeping must use the Victorian Government QR Code Service through the Service Victoria app. This is convenient for Victorians and gives contact tracers access to the best data quickly.
While many Victorians are doing the right thing, public health officials remain concerned about low rates of check-ins. All Victorians are encouraged to download the Service Victoria app to make checking in as fast and easy as possible.
A recent survey showed only 41 per cent of visitors to hospitality venues checked in every time, while 24 per cent of sites visited by Authorised Officers between 30 April and 2 May were warned or received notices due to lack of compliance with electronic record keeping.
The public health advice is clear: in order to ease density quotients at venues, compliance with electronic record keeping among businesses and Victorians has to increase. Moving to a single QR code service through the Service Victoria app will increase compliance and allow restrictions to continue to ease in line with public health advice.
The Victorian Government will communicate with third party providers who engaged with the Visitation API process and ensuring continued strong management of any check-in data held during this three-week transition and implementation period.
Density quotients will also be removed for outdoor non-seated venues such as recreation facilities, community sport, pools, tourism services and non-seated outdoor entertainment (e.g. zoos). Existing COVIDSafe requirements will still apply, supported by use of the Victorian Government QR Code Service.
In late 2020, select nominees of the Music Victoria Awards were given the opportunity for a paid and professionally filmed livestream event, thanks to funding from the Victorian Government’s Victoria Together Program.
These live-streamed concerts will provide a valuable income and promotional stream for the nine lucky recipients, along with providing income and networks to the crew behind the scenes.
Each Tuesday for the following 8 weeks, Music Victoria will introduce you to a new award-nominated artist, via live performances filmed at some of Victoria’s most iconic music venues, exclusively for Victoria Together.
Music Victoria presents Shepparton Airplane – Live at The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Presented by Music Victoria
Still and Video Production by Semiconductor Media
Shepparton Airplane is a post-punk band from Melbourne, Australia. The band is driven by the twin guitars of Matt Duffy and Ezra Dowling and powered by the rhythm section of Steven Carter on drums and Stewart Rayner on bass guitar. Latest LP 'Sharks' is replete with unpredictable twists and genre-spanning soundscapes, signaling a sonic expansion for the band, all the while retaining the frenetic blend of jagged melody and pithy punk rock discourse found on 2018's 'Almurta' and 2016's self-titled debut. “Sharks” was nominated for Best Rock/Punk Album at the Music Victoria Awards 2020.
Catch a teaser of Shepparton Airplane's set below and keep checking in weekly for the other concerts on Victoria Together's website.
Artist Social Media
Facebook / Instagram / Soundcloud / Spotify / Bandcamp
Shepparton Airplane – Live at The Gasometer Hotel Collingwood is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria
Sui Zhen: Music Victoria Awards 2020 showcase from Victoria Together on Vimeo.
The below is provided via the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions:
Today, Friday, 30 April 2021, is the deadline for businesses in selected industries to sign up to either the free Victorian Government QR Code Service or another API compatible digital record keeping service.
The Victorian Government QR Code Service or an API compatible digital record keeping service is mandatory in most customer facing industries, to help with COVID-19 contact tracing. The list of the sectors can be found at coronavirus.vic.gov.au. The list of API compatible services can be found at www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/visitation-api-connected-third-parties.
If you already use the free Victorian Government QR Code Service for your record-keeping, you don't need to do anything. This QR code system already integrates with the Department of Health's contact tracing system.
If you need to change providers because your current provider is not connected to the Victorian Government Visitation API, the Victorian Government QR Code Service is easy to use and is free for all Victorian businesses and organisations.
By using the Victorian Government QR Code Service, both you and your customers can be sure your data is secure. Data is deleted after 28 days.
Please make sure that visitors check-in with a QR Code. Checking-in allows contact tracers to quickly get the information they need to contain a COVID-19 outbreak.
Calls will continue to be made to remind businesses to use a QR code service that is connected to the Department of Health’s contact tracing system, by Friday, 30 April.
All businesses must have an active, up to date COVIDSafe Plan. Download and display the signage available to remind people of the need to check in and other safety measures.
Remember, if you or your workers have even mild COVID-19 symptoms, please get tested. Every test helps keep Victorians safe.
Visit coronavirus.vic.gov.au for more information or call Business Victoria on 13 22 15.
In late 2020, with funding from Victoria Together, Music Victoria commissioned select nominees and winners of the Music Victoria Awards 2020 to perform professionally filmed live concerts at some of Victoria’s most iconic music venues.
Commissioning these artists also resulted in the employment of video and audio professionals, mastering, captioning, and venue hire – pumping $63,000 back into the Victorian music industry at a vital point in the COVID19 recovery.
Each Tuesday starting from today, this 9-week series will introduce you to a new award-nominated artist, via their live performances filmed at some of Victoria’s most iconic music venues, exclusively for Victoria Together.
The featured artists are:
Birdz
Black Jesus Experience
Cable Ties
Elizabeth
Freya Josephine Hollick
Kee'Ahn
Leah Senior
Shepparton Airplane
Sui Zhen
We are thrilled to announce that the first of these concerts has just gone live, starring Sui Zhen live at the Night Cat, Fitzroy
Catch a teaser of Sui Zhen's set over here and keep checking in weekly for the other concerts on Victoria Together's website.
Music Victoria presents Sui Zhen – Live at The Night Cat, Fitzroy
Presented by Music Victoria
Still and Video Production by Semiconductor Media
Experimental pop and performance artist Sui Zhen’s work zooms in on the intersections between human life and technology - how to exist in the digital age, as well as the ways in which we risk losing true sight of ourselves in the process.
Her last album "Losing, Linda" was released in 2019, the same year she won Best Electronic Act at the Music Victoria Awards.
In 2020, she was nominated again in the Best Solo Artist category.
Artist Social Media
Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Youtube / Soundcloud / Spotify / Bandcamp
Sui Zhen – Live at The Night Cat, Fitzroy is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria
Sui Zhen: Music Victoria Awards 2020 showcase from Victoria Together on Vimeo.
This week, Music Victoria provided a submission for the Inquiry into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism and events sectors. You can read the full submission here.
Our other recent/current work includes:
Here’s how you can help:
Dear Members and the Music Community,
While many of you may already be across this (because you are so directly impacted by it), I am writing to clarify the present situation for Music in Victoria.
Firstly, New COVIDSafe Settings introduced on Friday 9th April have had little to no positive impact on our industry.
While the first line of the announcement may read that we are back to 100% of total capacity - the devil is in the detail.
We have communicated our industry's grave concerns around these restrictions to the Department of Health (DH), and disappointingly, they have not yet introduced any changes to remedy the situation. We are continuing to have these discussions with them, in order to bring about the changes our live industry needs to be operating at optimum levels.
We want to make the current situation clear to those inside the industry and to those who just care about music more generally.
We share your absolute and total frustration with the current situation and are working to do all that we can to make it change.
Our recent/current work includes:
Here's how you can help:
We're in this together and we're fighting for you.
Simone Schinkel (CEO) and the team at Music Victoria